I'de leave them be for now & only be wary of how many buds & flowers (in-progress peppers, not mini-peppers yet) they have on them at the time you plant them outside.

Can anyone elaborate the concern or what to do with buds/flowers?

As a general rule, itÂs best to do a search to see if your question has been asked and answered before. Also, a little more info is helpful. For example:
-type;
-two months old but how tall;
-how long before youÂre moving them outdoors;
-size of pots theyÂre in;
-growing medium in the pots and;
-any feeding done.

That being said, here are "my" general thoughts on your question.

Buds lead to flowers and flowers lead to peppers. Allowing this development to continue when the plants are small means their energy is going to fruit development and not growth and this is fine if youÂre not interested in larger plants with higher yields.

If you are going to pinch them off, I find it easier to wait until the flower starts to develop. There is less chance of damage pinching flowers than trying to pinch small buds off.

I have recently read that if left go, peppers will flower and fruit again later in the season but IÂve never tried it. Personally, I pinch the flowers to encourage growth.

The photo below illustrates what can happen if you do let them develop to fruit. This is a Dragons Claw that I started from seed January 5, 2009 to do some germination testing. It started to flower and I let it go because I was planning to start new ones closer to my setting out date. YouÂll note the plant is fairly small for 3.5 months old. Although the pepper is a good size, it only produced the one.

And yes, the yellowing plant is a sick I need to give it an epson salt treatment

Bill

Every time I think of asking a question I try and formulate a search. The risk of asking questions here is that yes someone has answered it already.

But starting with this hint, I could tell there was something behind it. "I'de leave them be for now & only be wary of how many buds & flowers (in-progress peppers, not mini-peppers yet) they have on them at the time you plant them outside."

I was not sure what to query on "buds, flowers, transplanting" that would not return a lot of out of context articles. And your quick answer was spot on and I thank you for it. Now I know enough to query.

As a followup to the idea..... I thought light controls flowering in fruiting plants not age. Why would three month old plants in a 18 hour light cycle think of flowering??? Planting them outside at the beginning of the season would not provide the kind of light found in the fall. In the mean time, I have a pair of pliers to grab the flowers and yank them off the plant.

Thanks for helping me grow bigger peppers !!! I have at least 32 pots that I am currently caring for....

Peppernc,

Please do not take my response as chastising in any way. I fully understand that search terms can be challenging. That being said, itÂs always best to include as much info as possible when posting a question. Pictures, like the original post are great but donÂt always tell the whole story. Yep, IÂm guilty of posting these types of questions myself. IÂve just found that the long time veterans and experts (not me by a long shot) on this forum are happy to help if you provide enough information.

IÂm glad you found my response informative. IÂm sure others will chime in if I am wrong or have more info to add. To answer your follow-up; light is not the only factor to consider when early flowering occurs. Pot size, nutrients in potting medium, temperature, etc. etc. can be causes. For example, I currently have four 10 inch Black Cuban ornamental peppers in three inch pots under flo lights that are flowering like crazy. Pinching them off every day or so until I get them into bigger pots and encourage root growth vs. flowers.

Peace and good growing,

Bill

Sorry Bill about not providing the correct info. Pepper enrc and I have the same question I guess. Sorry about not providing enough info.

-type: Poblano
-two months old but how tall; 4" inches tall
-how long before youÂre moving them outdoors; Mid May (25 days or so)
-size of pots theyÂre in; 32 OZ pot
-growing medium in the pots and; Potting Soil
-any feeding done. some basic miracle grow fertilizer (bluish looking diluted in water)

No worries Brian.

Other than what I already said in my original post thereÂs not much more I can say except that from what I can determine from your photo, your Poblano looks happy. IÂd also add that four inches is about the size I would expect for a two month old plant.

It really comes down to your choice to pinch buds/flowers or not. As I stated earlier, I personally choose to pinch to focus energy on root and plant growth.

Bill