Pruning for what purpose? Overwintering? Bonchi?

im trying to set my plant back to prevent budding for a while as well as trying to keep it short wide and sturdy. I was told at some point a while back that pruning my plant would give me higher yields and leave me with more of a lower wider "bushy" plant but i have no idea how to prune a chile plants and don't want to do something to badly affect my plant. I apologize if that doesn't make any sense, I'm not the best at explaining things.

Short wide and sturdy can depend on what variety you are growing. Most don't live in zones where pruning is beneficial. I've tried and it does not benefit me in zone 6/7. If you have multiple plants you could try on one or two to see for yourself. You don't list your zone so I am not sure if pruning will benefit you or not, commercial growers like Tabasco will prune but that's on a very large scale and they are in the right zone. C. Chinese varieties usually get 4X4 feet like a small tree.

It's an indoor plant and it is a reaper (hopefully) so c. Chinense

This is how I would prune it back:

Interesting question and as noted, depends on what you want to do. There's a great "intro" to pruning & topping here.> A Simple Guide to Topping and Pruning

Hope this helps! NECM

Thank you all for the advice, it is much appreciated.

If you prune the top, prune the roots equally.

NECM posted, "depends on what you want to do. "

Willard posted, "If you prune the top, prune the roots equally.".

I totally agree if you're prepping plant for movement from a 5 gal. pail to a 1 gal. pot for overwintering. But if the plant already in a small pot and you want to "set my plant back to prevent budding for a while as well as trying to keep it short wide and sturdy", I believe just topping correct avenue,

Thanks NECM

I wouldn't prune a chinense ever...they're already bushy through genetics. If you want to delay fruiting, just prune the buds/blossoms. Environmental conditions(ferts, watering, amount of sun, humidity, air circulation, temps, etc.) seem to be the major factors in yield, imho.

Kevin