plant_newbie_2010 they may have confiscated them at the post office the lady caught me off guard and asked me to fill out a customs form when i slipped n said seeds was in the envelope .... i will get another batch sent to you friend .

they should have arrived by now thanks for letting me know they have not ottawapepper seeds took i think near 5 days only to reach me i am gonna use a new method this time around (smile)

tell them guys at customs if they want in on are seed action here at the GardenWeb ...to make there own account btw i how they enjoy the burn of the dried Bhut ... LOL

Oh wow! Thank you so much Armageddon!=D Its seriously so sweet of you to do that!=) Awesome! I can't wait to grow bhuts!=P I just hope they don't confiscate it again and destroy perfectly good seeds!! Cause it's such a waste when they do...=/

Oops! Didn't see your last message when I posted!=P But, lol, boy do I hope they were lucky enough to get to touch it at least!XP

not sure why they would really mess with vegetables seeds to begin with but ....what ever floats there boat i guess.

On the lookout for potentially invasive species, most likely. Both in terms of what the seeds grow into and what sort of micro-organisms could be on the seeds. Same reason you have to declare fruits and veggies on international flights.

For example, there is a type of fruit fly we don't have in the states that could wreck havoc on the citrus groves in Florida if it managed to sneak in and get itself established, so they take it pretty seriously.

Oh, and as for topping to increase bushiness, do it when its a little shorter than the height you want it to be as what grows out as side branches will start growing upwards again as well, so it'll start getting slowly taller again.

As for above/below the node, that'll depend on what results you want. Cutting above the node means new growth will appear from that node. You'll get more instant bush right there, but if left untended it will likely just grow straight up. If you cut below the node, it will take longer to regain the full lush appearance, but will spread out more horizontally.

I don't pinch, prune, or re-pot my peppers until they have at least 3 - 5 sets of true leaves.
I pinch the tallest seedlings so that the shorter seedlings can catch up (under the lights).

Josh

Edymnion is correct, however peppers are naturally bushy and the leader splits to several branches on their own with each flush. Unless you really have need to keep the plant especially short and wide, I wouldn't bother.

Edymnion: I don't think peppers are likely to become invasive in my area, with the cold and all!XP But anyways, thanks a lot!=) The stuff about the node and topping shorter than desired was exactly what I was looking for!=D

greenman28: I don't grow under lights, so it's okay that mine are at such different heights. Though I'll keep your tip in mind!=) It's helpful, thanks!=D

Capoman: Thanks for the tip about the leader splitting further!=D Now I know what to expect!=) I will have to trim mine, cause my mom does not want any plants growing crazy in her garden, plus there's no space to let them go tall(they're going to go under a ledge)!=P

Anyways, thanks a bunch guys! Now I feel way more prepared than before!=D

Yeah, but customs doesn't still wants to track what is crossing the boarder when the potential for invasive species is there.

Odds are they'll just go "Oh, pepper seeds. NEXT!" and send 'em on through. They might pop the package open just to make sure they aren't obviously pot seeds or anything like that, but you shouldn't have any problems.

I didn't mean to imply that height is the only consideration ;-)

When you remove the main growth tip of most plants, the growth hormone Auxin is redirected
to lateral branches and lower nodes, which causes a flush of growth and resulting bushiness.
It is a great technique to help develop a sturdy canopy that can support lots of peppers.

Josh

Yup, you *CANNOT* kill an established pepper by pruning it in one go (obviously you could if you chopped off every leaf it puts out over a couple of weeks/months, but that would be fairly extreme).

I make bonchi out of my peppers at the end of the year. Trust me, they recover just fine from being chopped back to glorified sticks a couple of inches tall.

Okay! Awesome! Thanks guys!=D Hope I can execute all your advice properly, and make mine bushy and steady too!=P