One Sole Ripened Habanero!

[Mr FootOfDavros]

Hi folks

I grew two Habanero plants from seed this year and here on 20th September (!) I finally have one ripening pepper!

The weather is really beginning to tail off now (not that it was great anyway!) so I'm wondering if I'm likely to see much more happening with this plant? There are a few more green peppers on there but I'm not sure we're going to get too much more sun / heat.

I also have a second plant which is outside, in a bigger pot and grew to a bigger size. Again, it has a developed a few green peppers but I can't see them ripening - Unless they can do that as the UK temps drop into October?

I kind of regret putting the second plant into a bigger pot - I read somewhere that these plants will grow in line with their container but now I'm thinking, given our relatively poor summers in general, never mind this disaster, I'd have been better with a smaller plant.

So another question I have is - can I heavily cut the bigger one back and repot into the same size as the above picture before over wintering? (I think these plants can produce for a few years, so that was my plan). I guess I may also have to cut the roots back a bit. Will this be okay or cause any issues?

Thanks for reading / any suggestions...

 

[MoreRootsMoreFruits]

i'm still learning to grow peppers and i haven't grown that type of pepper before but maybe you won't get much more off them after the next couple of weeks. my peppers are grown outdoors and usually suffer badly with the weather from the beginning of october.

maybe try thinning out the plant a bit, might increase the resources to the remaining flowers/fruits.

from what i've seen on youtube you should be able to keep some plants for overwintering by (if i remember correctly) chopping the stems and roots back, just keep a few tiny leaves on and put them in a much smaller pot with some fresh weaker soil mix, not much water and in a frost free sheltered place, basically dormant. i haven't tried doing it myself yet though.

 

[Anniekay]

Peppers need a lot of heat and sunllight. On a windowsil in a pot will not do to produce a decent pepper crop. Outside it's probably just not hot enough. A greenhouse, or glasshouse would do the trick.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I grew from seed saved from last year, there is a bit of variation in the plants, but not much. They are in buckets, 14 litres, with a bit of wood in the bottom, so about ten litres of soil. They are in the greenhouse and still ripening, though I have far more green ones than red. Tried a new one called Tokyo Hot, (the originals were 'Devil's finger.) they are all green still and I think I will be lucky to get any changing colour now.
The literature said let them get almost dry before watering, the plant that was in a tray with my sweet peppers and stayed wet all along did far better than the others which I followed the advice with. As us old folks say "C'est la vie, it goes to show you never can tell".

 

[Mr FootOfDavros]

I grew from seed saved from last year, there is a bit of variation in the plants, but not much. They are in buckets, 14 litres, with a bit of wood in the bottom, so about ten litres of soil. They are in the greenhouse and still ripening, though I have far more green ones than red. Tried a new one called Tokyo Hot, (the originals were 'Devil's finger.) they are all green still and I think I will be lucky to get any changing colour now.
The literature said let them get almost dry before watering, the plant that was in a tray with my sweet peppers and stayed wet all along did far better than the others which I followed the advice with. As us old folks say "C'est la vie, it goes to show you never can tell".

Good luck with them.

Since posting the OP I have had a second one turn colour! I've also now got the plant back in prime position as daughter number one has returned to Uni and her window sill has become available again!

But really, yes, like you said - a greenhouse would be better for these plants. But not withstanding that, I think my learning curve here is that they may have done better just kept indoors all summer. I was worried about them getting scorched but really, it probably just wasn't warm enough for them to fruit well.

Although, having said that, the second plant I put in a bigger pot did grow a lot bigger than the first one. Maybe overwintering these plants rather than starting from scratch will also help next year...

 

[MoreRootsMoreFruits]

Two hot chilies I had very good results outdoors on the patio with were 'thai red dragon' and 'machu picchu'. Although I've learnt to keep any peppers I grow in the greenhouse for a few weeks to begin with and not in direct scorching sun until they've put some roots down and grown a bit stronger

 

[Mr FootOfDavros]

Two hot chilies I had very good results outdoors on the patio with were 'thai red dragon' and 'machu picchu'. Although I've learnt to keep any peppers I grow in the greenhouse for a few weeks to begin with and not in direct scorching sun until they've put some roots down and grown a bit stronger

Did you ever overwinter chili plants? I've just got these two habanero plants which was a first year experiment at our new house. I guess I could just keep one and try another variety next year.
I think a greenhouse would be best but unfortunately we don't have space for one on the side of the house which gets the most sun. We do have a large shed though, so I am thinking of appropriating some that for greenhousing by removing some of the wood on the east / south side and replacing with perspex or suchlike. A job for the new year...

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Did you ever overwinter chili plants? I've just got these two habanero plants which was a first year experiment at our new house. I guess I could just keep one and try another variety next year.
I think a greenhouse would be best but unfortunately we don't have space for one on the side of the house which gets the most sun. We do have a large shed though, so I am thinking of appropriating some that for greenhousing by removing some of the wood on the east / south side and replacing with perspex or suchlike. A job for the new year...

I have always treated them as annuals, I shall watch to see what responses you get, and where from. Edinburgh won't be the kindest climate encountered by members here

Be careful choosing the plastic, I have just taken some down the dump that was supposed to be for roofing and has gone hard and split. Polycarbonate has lasted for me. Try a google for greenhouse plastics, some admit more light wavelengths than others, not an issue for me, I tend to use them as temporary cloches for germination and such.

 

[MoreRootsMoreFruits]

I usually grow from seed but I have tried to with two 'maui purple' hot peppers, indoors.
I just chopped them back to about a few inches tall of main stem. No real branches really just some stubs with a few tiny lower leaves near the base. They looked good for a while but someone watered them and they quickly rotted so as far as I know any moisture in the growth medium should be minimal like most dormant plants with hardly any leaves I'd imagine.

Also I vaguely remember leaving a couple of plants out in the cheapo plastic cover greenhouse one year but the pots were raised off the ground and I covered the whole plant with fleece cocoons and they were on the shadier side of the greenhouse. They came back really well in spring.
It was a long time ago but I'm pretty sure they were 'yellow luchbox' sweet peppers though which I still grow but from seed the last few years.

That sounds like a good idea with the shed. I'm definitely thinking of experimenting with using some sort of cover/polytunnel set up for most plants next year but that's mainly part of a strategy I'm planning to ward off blight. which seems to come down a lot with the rainfall. Hopefully it will give extra heat to help production too.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

That sounds like a good idea with the shed. I'm definitely thinking of experimenting with using some sort of cover/polytunnel set up for most plants next year but that's mainly part of a strategy I'm planning to ward off blight. which seems to come down a lot with the rainfall. Hopefully it will give extra heat to help production too.

Three days rain and i lost my outdoor tomatoes, the ones in the greenhouse were fine. I have used hoops of blue mains water pipe covered with mesh to keep off pigeons, blackbirds and cabbage whites, depending what I am growing, but they are good with plastic over them as cloches as well, closing the end is always the problem.

 

[MoreRootsMoreFruits]

Three days rain and i lost my outdoor tomatoes, the ones in the greenhouse were fine. I have used hoops of blue mains water pipe covered with mesh to keep off pigeons, blackbirds and cabbage whites, depending what I am growing, but they are good with plastic over them as cloches as well, closing the end is always the problem.

Yeah, after last year's disaster I kept my tomatoes in the greenhouse this year with a much better outcome.
I like the sound of that mains pipe hoop idea with plastic over it for the peppers. I think having that control over the rainfall to avoid pooling, splashing and soil soaking should prove to be a great benefit.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Yeah, after last year's disaster I kept my tomatoes in the greenhouse this year with a much better outcome.
I like the sound of that mains pipe hoop idea with plastic over it for the peppers. I think having that control over the rainfall to avoid pooling, splashing and soil soaking should prove to be a great benefit.

I guess if it was for that it wouldn't matter about the ends being open. I cut four foot bamboos in half, stick them in the ground and slide the pipe over them, it stops them blowing away in the wind, but it is also simple to lift off if you need to get in there.

 

[Mr FootOfDavros]

We actually did okay with our tomatoes.

Only problem is that we've still got a load left which I don't think are all going to ripen:-

That's the ones I did in the mini tomato grow house. I grew a few extra plants into pots which did okay at the back of our house but are sadly all still green at this stage.

Just as an experiment I also put some things into a wee patch at the front of house which is pretty much to the North and only gets light later on in the day when the sun gets over the neighbours semi.

This was just soil, which I'd sifted stones from earlier in the year. I just cut it with some compost and added some fish blood and bone. Weirdly, despite the low light, the tomatoes there did okay-ish. Just green now, so probably no use but still, more than I expected... Lettuce also grew fine there but the beetroot (which I've just pulled up) was a failure - the plants grew but the beets were tiny. Maybe the soil just too compressed for them?

 

[MoreRootsMoreFruits]

I guess if it was for that it wouldn't matter about the ends being open. I cut four foot bamboos in half, stick them in the ground and slide the pipe over them, it stops them blowing away in the wind, but it is also simple to lift off if you need to get in there.

Yes that's kind of what was thinking too. The air flowing through would hopefully be a good thing anyway. The main thing I think would be the ability to control the watering better and protect from the heavy downpours and hopefully the extra heat might help with production too. I've been meaning to try out some looped watering lines anyway to make watering everything a bit easier

 

[MoreRootsMoreFruits]

We actually did okay with our tomatoes.

Only problem is that we've still got a load left which I don't think are all going to ripen:-
View attachment 105227


That's the ones I did in the mini tomato grow house. I grew a few extra plants into pots which did okay at the back of our house but are sadly all still green at this stage.

Just as an experiment I also put some things into a wee patch at the front of house which is pretty much to the North and only gets light later on in the day when the sun gets over the neighbours semi.

This was just soil, which I'd sifted stones from earlier in the year. I just cut it with some compost and added some fish blood and bone. Weirdly, despite the low light, the tomatoes there did okay-ish. Just green now, so probably no use but still, more than I expected... Lettuce also grew fine there but the beetroot (which I've just pulled up) was a failure - the plants grew but the beets were tiny. Maybe the soil just too compressed for them?

They look good those tomato plants, healthier than mine which got mildew on the stems. There was a few leaks in the roof of the now quite old cover but I've managed to harvest most of the tomatoes so far anyway.
I just keep taking the tomatoes off as they ripen in the hope that the plants shift to ripening what remains. Might still end up with a few green ones though.
Perhaps you could prune the odd bit of foliage if needed to get some air flowing through to the tomatoes or a fan might help with ripening.

I don't grow beets but it could be compression I suppose like with other types of root veg.