I like everything about the pushing the envelope and experimenting. The approach sounds solid, other then I am not sure you want no flowering. I do not see the harm, unless you think it would stress the plant more. What are your thoughts on the goods and bads of letting it flower? We have one plant started on Dec 1 that will probably stay in a pot outside, but I may try and throw it in the garden. Lots of MH light, plenty of supercropping, light nutes and it is not in one of the bubbler tubs to keep it's growth more sedate.

Here it is at 5 weeks

Take some good pics and keep us up to speed on your progress

I wonder if adding the mycorrhiza later, near the time of transplanting, might be a better option than inoculating the plant with these beneficial fungi earlier. The introduction of the fungi close to transplanting or even during transplantation may help lessen transplant. What do y'all think?

I'm wondering if I should fertilize the plants indoors with more nitrogen than normal to encourage vegetative growth, and then phosphorous and potassium during and after transplanting- which would presumably encourage the transplanted plant to do most of it vegetative growth before transplanting, and fruit production and rooting after transplantation. Are is this just too simplistic.

Zack, I think pinching off the flowers before transplanting will make sure the plant stays in a fruiting mode after transplanting...but maybe I'm wrong about this as well. Its seem the shock of transplant can actually be used as a signal directing the plant towards fruit production...the idea I have is that if too much of the fruit production process occurs before transplanting the less likely the plant will adapt to the new condition (at least in terms of fruit yield).

I'm thinking deep watering and fertilization for rooting immediately after planting...with compost all around the transplanted soil which will also encourage rooting and provide some but not excessive nitrogen. Maybe a couple of weeks later start on a program of fertilization exclusively to encourage flowering and fruit set?

Would appreciate input from experienced growers on the ideas I'm throwing out here.

(that first post was from my dad Larry)
Don't wait to add the mycorrhizae, it takes a long time for it to become established in non-oxygen-infused grows. Add it in when you first mix up your grow medium so that its well entrenched before you get it outside. If you wait to add it until the transplant its benefits will not come into effect until 4-6 weeks later. It will protect your plant from in-ground pests and pathogens as well as ease the transplant process by advancing into the new soil along with the roots. I would encourage aggressive supercropping to keep the plant at a manageable size and to get it as stout as possible. If you do this the fan won't help much and would also prematurely pollinate any flowers that slip by you. I'm not sure potting up would help much since a good mycorrhizae colony will rapidly take over the surrounding soil once you get it outside, but I can't see it hurting anything either. You are correct about heavy nitrogen to delay fruiting and to encourage heavy vine growth. Its tricky to get this kind of fert without using a nitrogen-only fertilizer, which you DON'T want to do. The plant needs some, albeit relatively small amounts, phosphorus potassium sulfur magnesium and so fourth which you usually only get from a general purpose fertilizer which contains more potassium and phosphates than you would like. The solution is to use an organic fertilizer that I swear by called Fish Emulsion. It is a 5-1-1, the perfect ratio for vegging out a tomato plant. It also contains just about every trace mineral under the sun and then some. I would recommend fertilizing with it and fast-acting lime for a calcium boost so that your plants can load up on it preemptively. Fast-acting lime does raise the PH of your soil so you may want to counter-act it with some garden sulfur as well. Calcium is very important for forming the cell walls of the tomato fruit and a deficiency in it is the cause of blossom end rot. Better to prevent this than have to treat it down the road and if you succeed in getting a massive flush of fruit from an over-sized transplant then you will have abnormally high calcium and potassium uptakes. I'm going back and fourth on what I think of your flower-pinching idea. On one hand it will indeed prevent the plant from producing fruit which it won't be prepared to do with its low potassium and phosphate levels. On the other I see having flowers on the plant on the day of the transplant as a way of getting a head-start on your yields. Personally, I think since you are in an indoor setting lacking the insects and steady breeze (if you ditch your fan) that normally pollinate the flowers you should leave as many of them on as possible. I would only pinch off flowering locations that inadvertently became pollinated and started to swell at the base indicating the early formation of a tomato. Leave the rest. When you take the plant outside the flowers should rapidly pollinate from wind, insects and all of the jostling about that will surely occur when you transplant. Other than that I think your theory is very solid and should get you sun-belt yields in a short-summer climate. Good luck and happy gardening!
-Zach

Thanks for the input Zach, great advice. I think I'll use the fish emulsion and maybe seaweed as fertilizer, good thinking on a way to provide lots of nitrogen and small amounts of other essential nutrients when growing indoors.

The idea behind the potting up would be improve root strength and adapt them to transplanting, also would enable me to introduce the garden soil gradually. According to this link repotting reduces yield

but I'm not sure I buy this entirely. My thinking is that aggressively encouraging flowering/fruiting starting one to two weeks after transplanting may prevent the plant from shutting down it's fruit production while the repotting will produce a very robust plant- best of both worlds? Or maybe I should just stick to one large pot...I have mixed feelings about this one.

http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137ch26.html

oops. Here is the link I mentioned in the previous post.

Lots of things determine fruiting - age of the plant, daytime temps, nighttime temps, soil temps, lack of or too much fertilizers or nutrients. There is no one area that will speed up production.

Plants typically have a time frame that says they will produce ripe fruit X number of days after transplanting. That "transplanting" isn't exactly defined; it can mean when the seed first sprouts, from when it gets its first true set of leaves, when it is moved from a seedbox to a container or when it is put in the dirt or hydro unit. But to complicate matters, companies list days until ripe differently. You can usually add 10-15 percent to the number of days listed unless you are growing in ideal conditions.

IME, trying to speed up the flowering process or even having early flowers will not seriously impact the production of fruit.

One note: some Superhot chili peppers, such as Bhut Jolokia or Trinidad Scorpion can take 150 days or more before a pod is ripe. One trick some of use is to trim them back to just nubs in the late fall, overwinter them and stick them back outside in spring. They generally are very prolific.

Mike