inkcube

what you are doing is cutting the leaves that have yet to unroll, effectively preventing them from exserting and elongating. the leaves exserting from the center will be those that were destined to be the later leaves in the plant's growth cycle, i have done this hundreds of time as i am sure others here have - it is an effective way to make an 8 ft tall plant fit into the house in the fall. as far fruit production, i have seen no indication that this does what it is claimed to do, theoretically it makes sense as the plant does not have to use resources to develop the leaves that are removed and can use them for fruit (most likely this would not happen) - i know of no plantation in Central America that does this to improve fruit production.