I am growing my garden in containers this year. Everything is coming along beautifully. [I'm near Eugene, OR]

However, all of my pepper plants are flowering and the plants aren't very big yet. [This actually happened last year also, when I was growing in large raised beds.]

What I have been doing is pinching the buds so that the energy will go into growing the plant.

Is that the right thing to do?

Any blooms that develop on a plant that can't feed and support them are usually dropped anyway. So assuming it has the space and nutrients it needs, just let the plant do its thing.

Dave

So you can do exactly what Dave says. But whether you should depends on what you are trying to achieve. For earlier fruit, do it. For greater harvest, keep pinching a little longer.

Angie

Since the plant grows in approximately 2 week cycles of foliage growth and then blooming, if all blooms are removed prior to transplanting then new blooms shouldn't appear for another 10-14 days.

Pinching those blooms it ends up being almost a month after planting (assuming proper planting time and proper transplant size). That would seem to greatly reduce production since it would put many growers into the high heat periods where blossom-drop and dormancy become the main issue.

Dave