habanero chili peppers

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by gregsydney, Feb 19, 2008.

  1. gregsydney

    gregsydney Member

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    i currently have 6 habanero chili plants growing in my backyard. i live in sydney australia so we there are no frosts to worry about. i bought the plants at 3 inch seedlings about 5-6 weeks ago. i planted the plants along with a basel plant which is taking up about half of the pot. most of the plants have little hanging buds and some are starting to flower. how long approx untill fruit will appear? any advice on growing? and what can i do with the one plant that seems to be not growing at all and is being squashed by the other plants?
    thankyou
     
  2. natureman

    natureman Active Member

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    1) About the pot issue, chilis can grow very,very large (even though those are hydroponically grown, you can do the same in soil if it has the time, as chilis are perennials) if you let them, they should be moved to separate larger pots, or even inground if conditions allow.

    2) If they're not large enough (they probably aren't), you should pinch off the flowers, this will signal the plant to vegitativly grow, and when the plant branches off again, it will produce more flowers (and in turn fruit, rather than them dropping flowers) at a later time. The wait is worth it.

    3) Almost immediatly after you see a flower, there will be a small green ripened ovary (the fruit, being the habanero) right in the middle of the flower. In a few days-week, the flower pedals will drop, and the ovary will grow, it can take anywhere from 2-3 months, maybe more or less, for a habanero to ripen.

    4) The plant that's being squashed, simple move it somewhere else so it isn't squashed, unless you want to play survival of the fittest ;)

    5) Chili plants love Magnesium, as do others in the Solanaceae family. I'd recommend fertilizing every couple weeks IF NOT flowering. (Or, use an 'in flower' fertilizer on them, per. instructions on the packaging).

    6) Watering: Habaneros, and others of Capsicum chinense, enjoy being almost dried out between waterings. Overwatering may kill the plant, and produce bitter chilis. The more stress you give the plant, the more capsaicin it will produce, the hotter the pods will be (in most cases).

    Definitly take a look at this page. Fatalii is a master of chilis, great guy too, I've spoken to him many times. You should look at 'Step Four: Flowering' for further information. Good Luck!
     
  3. gregsydney

    gregsydney Member

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    thanks alot
    ive attached a picture of my habanero's. i moved the plant that wasnt growing to an old aquarium with a fluresant light.
     

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  4. natureman

    natureman Active Member

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    Nice, just wondering, what happened to the lower leaves in the ones in the pot?

    And I suggest, for the plant under floro., that you keep the light within 7cm of the top of the plant.
     
  5. gregsydney

    gregsydney Member

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    i pulled the lower leaves off someone told me it helps with growth of the flowers. there used to be a basel plant behind them but i moved it to another pot. should i move the plants to individual pots to promote growth? this is my first time growing chili's thanks for the help. attached side on view of plant in old aquarium.
     

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  6. natureman

    natureman Active Member

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    That large pot should be ok for them all. I'm not sure about the leave=helpful_for_flowers thing. Becuase flowers/fruit production takes a lot of energy and 'food', thus the need for photosynthesys; leaves. I'd suggest letting the leaves fall when they need to, let them do their own job.
     
  7. Durgan

    Durgan Contributor 10 Years

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    26 July 2007 Capsicum annuum 'Explosive Ember' Hot Pepper

    In the fall two plants were dug and put in gallon pots, and one of my Vietnamese neighbors is growing it indoors and it is thriving.


    http://quuuf.notlong.com/ 26 July 2007 Capsicum annuum 'Explosive Ember' Hot Pepper
    http://etooj.notlong.com/ 31 August 2007 Harvest of the produce from five plants.


    26 July 2007 This small edible ornamental pepper was grown from seed and was put in the garden on 1 June 2007 in Zone 5. There are five plants, and they all thrived and are laden with fruiting bodies. I tasted one and indeed it is very "hot". The pods were dried and dry blended, and now I use the fine mixture as chili powder. The five plants yielded about one liter of dried powder.

    Where this pepper rates on the Scoville Scale is not known.
     
  8. natureman

    natureman Active Member

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    Wow, nice harvest indeed!
     
  9. gregsydney

    gregsydney Member

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    fishtank gardening

    just wondering if this setup would work?
    plant is orange habanero chili. gets 12-14 hours of fluorescent light each day. tank has no form of drainage
    cheers
     

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  10. natureman

    natureman Active Member

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    Re: fishtank gardening

    Habaneros DO NOT, whatsoever, like moise environments, especially not wet soil. It will die soon. If you read the Fatalii's how to grow chilis that I suggested in your previous thread, you'd know about watering.


    P.S. You already made a previous post about the habaneros. You should've continued on there.
     
  11. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    (merged threads)
     
  12. skeeterbug

    skeeterbug Active Member

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    Durgan-- those peppers look a lot like an unknown pepper I used to have and regrow from seed, but the ones I had grew a little taller and turned from purple to cream to yellow to orange then red. I do not know how they rated on Scoville, but I can tell you they were as hot as habaneros--but the heat was a slow building heat that took 2 minutes to peak. I used to use them in pepper eating contest.

    Skeet
     
  13. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Skeet and Durgan - I grow those purple ones down here, where they're called Dragon's Teeth. I let them bake in full sun and water them at night, and they get so hot that I can't handle them without gloves - the capsaicin comes to the surface of the pepper and burns my hands. So, I'd say they rate fairly high on the Scoville scale. And definitely a really slow-building but intense heat; 3-5 minutes to peak scorchiness.
     
  14. skeeterbug

    skeeterbug Active Member

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    Lorax, do the Dragon's Teeth peppers turn from purple to cream to yellow then red?
    How tall are the plants? The ones I used to have would get about 3 ft high in one growing season. I wish I could find them again.
     
  15. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    They do, and they're hottest when they're red; I actually prefer them at the purple stage because they don't burn me too badly then. My bushes got to 4 feet, then I pinched some leaves and they got super bushy and threw about 100 peppers each. But then, I don't have a cold season, just a wet one and a dry one.

    They're rare even here; since I moved I haven't seen them again (*sob*) - what's growing up here seems to be the Aji types. I guess I'll just have to go south again.
     
  16. skeeterbug

    skeeterbug Active Member

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    If you ever find them again, I would like to get some seeds and will gladly reimburse cost.
     
  17. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Might be tricky to mail seed from Ecuador to Florida, but hey, it's worth a try. If I find them again, I'll pm you.
     
  18. natureman

    natureman Active Member

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    I'm wondering about "dragons teeth", maybe it's another name for Bolivian Rainbow chilis. They change the similar color patterns you were mentioning, they're easy to find in the USA.
     
  19. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Looks really similar; my leaves were a little rounder but that may just be regional variation. Very cool; I'm glad I won't have to try mailing seed.
     
  20. skeeterbug

    skeeterbug Active Member

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    I looked at the Bolivian Rainbow--that description is certainly very close. I think I will try them--- Thanks for the info-- Skeet
     
  21. Dairylea

    Dairylea New Member

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    Hi guys, I know this is an old thread but my question is the same and I didn't want to open up the same topic twice. I have 5 plants, 3 of which are 'budding' How long should I be expecting to wait for the harvest?
    Thanks in advance,
    Lea.

    These are my plants :)
     

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    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 13, 2014
  22. Shadowxsx

    Shadowxsx New Member

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    Just wondering if this habenero looks right.... I harvested some a few years back and this one on my plant this year looks really odd and large... Maybe it is a cross breed? I have no other pepper plants, so no clue what it is if it is a cross breed.

    IMG_0097.jpg
     

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