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Didn't know to overwinter habanero, what can I do now?

9 years ago

I bought a habanero plant last year and it gave many beautiful peppers. Being a novice, I had no idea about overwintering, so I am stuck with a beautiful habanero bush. It flowers, grows tiny peppers that never ripen or grow. Is there anything I can do to make it productive again?

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Comments (6)

habjolokia z 6b/7
9 years ago
Is this Habanero plant in the ground or in a pot? Seems like you did overwinter it, it made it through the winter without dying. Have you given it any fertilizer? What are the temps like, day time and evening?

Mark
absentmindist
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for responding Mark. It's in the ground. We are in LA, so the weather has been very mild, we didn't get much of a winter, I guess. Right now, the weather is quite warm 80s-90s during the day. Nights are about 60s. It's been this way for a while. Is it just in need of fertilizer? What kind do you recommend?
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habjolokia z 6b/7
9 years ago
Very mild weather when the pod set most likely the cause for small pods that are underdeveloped. Usually I experience that with spring pods. You can either leave them on or pick them all and the next flush to set in the warmer weather you are having now will be normal pods. Do you have a pic you can post of the plant? That will help with suggestions if fertilizer is needed and what kind.

Mark
PunkRotten
9 years ago
I had a plant just like this. What I did was I gave it a haircut then fertilized it with a liquid fertilizer with the Nitrogen a little higher than the other values. Once I started seeing good growth and some flowers growing I switched to a fertilizer with a higher P and K.
absentmindist
Original Author
9 years ago
Mark, here is a photo. You can see a little pepper close the the center of the photograph.
habjolokia z 6b/7
9 years ago
Your plant looks great and healthy, I would say the cooler temps are the reason for the pods being small. If you can stand the stuff (the smell) Alaska fish fertilizer is a great one to use for an in ground plant. Though sometimes I use what I have on hand like MG tomato plant food 18-18-21 with some micro nutes. But I container garden more than in ground.

Here is a pic of one my plants using the MG, only has two lonely pods but can't see them in the pic.

Mark

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