Peach Habanero 2 turns two years old

.. and is having a terrible birthday at that!!

Originally I had this plant under a 400w HPS indoors, when summer came around I put her outside and got some fruits over the summer, then when winter came I have brought her inside, repotted her into a 3 gallon container (she was in a 1 gallon) with some garden tone (4-6-6), and a little gypsum for good measure. After a week or two I scratched some used coffee grounds into the soil and gave her two waterings of diluted coffee solution. She went under a 250w HPS in a closet. SHE BLEW UP!! Flowered up a storm too! Problem is the flowers all dropped off and no fruit set. Ive read peppers hate nitrogen so Im assuming thats the cause. Although there was another problem.

After a few weeks or so having her in I noticed she was INFESTED, severely, with aphids

Here she is after a few weeks under the 250W HPS:





Here are some of her bloom sets, unfortunately they all fell off




So shes not having a very good birthday needless to say... lol


I tried to battle the aphids with a dish soap/alcohol spray (1.5 teasp soap/3/4 cup alcohol per 1 quart water) and it worked great, it kept them undercontrol and I thought almost got rid of them. I slacked off and after a week she was infested again. So I put her outside in cold temps for 3 days to get her away from the other plants. I have a pretty purple pepper plant about two weeks from breaking ground and a couple more peach hab seeds Im waiting to break ground and dont want them getting infested. The cold killed most all the aphids, and she was still hanging in there. This is one tough plant!

So I didnt know what to do but I wanted to try to save her. After reading the bonsai mum post here at ICMAG, I went to town with shears and trimmed her all the way down. I then scrapped out the top 4 inches of soil off the top of her container and then layed her on the ground and sprayed the crap out of her with the garden hose. I replaced the lost soil and added some more garden tone and a little gypsum. Then I drenched her with the soap/alcohol spray as well as soaked the top of the new potting soil with the solution in an attempt to make sure no aphids are brought in.

I gotta whoop these aphids

Heres how she looks after the massacre, in the closeup I know it looks like there are some aphids on the leaves, theres not. I diligently inspected the underside and every leaf. Although that doesnt mean that in a week I wont have them all over

I have her isolated under a single 42w cfl until I can make sure she is aphid free.









So I have a few questions for you guys:

1) I have never pruned a plant like this in my life. Does it look like I did it correctly? I tried to leave at least a few small leaves and fresh growth on each branch to keep it alive as per the bonsai mum thread. I think she will bounce back??

2) How long do you think I should wait until I put her back under the 250w HPS with the other plants to make sure she is aphid free? two weeks or so should be sufficient dont you think??

3) As mentioned, I soaked her, as well as her top soil with the soap/alcohol spray. Next time I water, this is certainly going to leach it down to her roots. Will this cause problems?

4) As far as the bloom dropping problem I had previously, temps where appropriate, and previous to the coffee treatment she was setting fruit fine. After the coffee she grew fantastically, but dropped blooms so I have to think it was to much N. I was planning on not using the grounds, but instead giving her only one or two waterings of coffee since it made her veg out so fantastically, as I want her to recover quickly from her "haircut". I dont want to mess up her setting fruit later though so only planned on two coffee waterings then straight water (or maybe some casting tea and molasses). Anyway, I then planned on only fertilizing with garden tone (4-6-6) as a top dressing at 1 tablespoon per month.

Do you think thats a good plan? If not what would you suggest so I can get her vegged back up quickly, and then get her into fruiting at her fullest? Im kind of scared of N at this point with her, but do want her to fill out quickly.



Heres my pretty purple pepper plant, and the few peach habs waiting to break loose under the 250HPS. Lighting is @ 14/10.









One final question for you:

5) This pretty purple pepper plant is already budding! Its like 2 inches tall! lol ... since coffee obviously explodes vegetative growth do you think I could use it to delay fruiting and make her bigger? I had planned on growing her out and then transplanting her into a 3 gallon pot, but shes already budding I have a long way to go. I was thinking I could water with coffee or high N to get her to grow and not set fruit, then flush her real well and give her garden tone or maybe some bone meal or something high in P to induce fruiting. I would like to stay to organics. I would consider using fish/seaweed extract if need be. What do you guys suggest??

I have gypsum, molasses, worm castings, garden tone, fish emulsion, as well as a bunch of old and weathered (but not composted) horse manure on hand.

thats what my habanero looks like right now. chopped down to nubs of fresh growth. only thing different is i got over 150 habaneros this season. whenever i have blossom drop on peppers i top dress with some rock dusts, always helps and improves plant health too.

1) I have never pruned a plant like this in my life. Does it look like I did it correctly? I tried to leave at least a few small leaves and fresh growth on each branch to keep it alive as per the bonsai mum thread. I think she will bounce back??

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keep it warm ,it might go dormant for some time but it will come back.

2) How long do you think I should wait until I put her back under the 250w HPS with the other plants to make sure she is aphid free? two weeks or so should be sufficient dont you think??

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wait until there is no aphids. and keep on the conrol.

Do you think thats a good plan? If not what would you suggest so I can get her vegged back up quickly, and then get her into fruiting at her fullest? Im kind of scared of N at this point with her, but do want her to fill out quickly.

Click to expand...

just be patient, dont rush the plant specially after what is has been through. before you know it your mouth will be on fire from your own peppers.

whenever i have blossom drop on peppers i top dress with some rock dusts, always helps and improves plant health too.

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What kind of rock dusts specifically? Rock phosphate?? Any others?

I would cut that root ball way back too (unless you already did, but it doesnt really look like it, but if you did then I would just put it in a smaller pot before puttin such a small plant in such a big pot, but i like to have stuff well rooted out before i repot it to a bigger pot)
if you arent careful that sort of situation can easily lead to soil imbalances and root rot, because the plant has so much root mass that it no longer uses and needs

also alcohol in the soil is a no-no

What do you do with that many habeneros? Jesus those things are hot.

What do you do with that many habeneros? Jesus those things are hot.

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I eat them

lol .... I did not cut the rootball back, and I havent seen any aphids ... its been about a week so I put it back under the 250 HPS with the other plants and will keep a close eye on it.

Soooo .... Do I need to pull it back out of its pot and trim the root ball??

Im all ears and open to any suggestions guys

Thanks a ton!!

if I can add my limited experience

peppers don't hate N, if to much it can retard flowering, but you'll see dark dark green then mutated leaves ( rounding off ) before that happens usually.

I believe there is a couple reasons they drop there flower set, to many to get into, and I'm sure half are just guesses.. just know if you plant drops some flowers it's fine, but all of them there is a problem, but as stated before so many reasons / theories out there ..

Hi ,, cool stuff and photos

Peppers are annuals,, although they can also be grown as bi-annuals. After the 2nd year they cease to exists because they are not perennials.

Collect and sow the seed from the 2nd year fruit (which if grown in isolation from other peppers will be selfed) and you can perhaps grow them again.

We cut back the first seasons plants in the glasshouse and bring them indoor (20-25c) under low light levels (kitchen window) in winter,, then place them back outside in spring to reap an early crop that usually lasts until the following winter.

Next season grow a few of the same plants together,, this will help the genetics stay strong,, we usually keep 4-5 plants in isolation from other varieties as a way of working towards our own IBLs (FRT BlackTwighlight now completed)

Hope this helps

peppers are perennials. they are simply cultivated as annuals. there are no annuals in solinacaea.

I'm on my fifth year with a rocoto and my 8th year with a thai hot ornamental.

To anyone who might know...

To anyone who might know...

Could the reason that the flowers all dropped off & he got no fruit be because they were never visited by bees? Do the flowers need to be pollinated before they will grow into fruit?

nope they'll set fruit in a basement garden with no wind and no bees

its either temp differential between day and night or the N:K ratio