Maybe there is something to topping your plants… I've experimented with it in the past, but this year I had no choice with the rainforest plant. Had multiple rounds of stalk boring caterpillars infest this plant within the first month of planting. The first time I had to lop off nearly half of the plant. Then a couple weeks later after recovering it happened to the same plant, and had to cut another big section off. Fast forward a couple months and it is by far the bushiest plant I have out of like 50. This is even after tying it back a few times so I can still get through the walkway. I really had never even heard of stalk boring caterpillars or whatever they are on peppers before this year, but I'm not even mad about it now.
by regular-cake