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.