Hi everyone...! I have been gardening for years. Often, I buy seeds and have fun watching plants grow from tiny sprouts. I also buy plants at local nurseries. This Summer, I bought a Habanero pepper plant. I placed it in our screen-room in a small pot. It's grown well, branching heavily and blooming profusely. The leaves are green and ample. But---Only THREE of the peppers have actually grown. (The flowers fall off, for the most part.) Do I need to hand pollinate them? (no bees indoors!) Or is it a nutrient issue?? Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated! We've taken it inside and now it's on a South-facing windowsill, behind glass.
I've grown Habanero Peppers for the past few years and I don't seem to get many more than that per plant. We just don't get the heat the plants want here in Ontario. Indoor lighting could be an issue as well.
Most pepper plants are self pollenating however I have not checked to see if habaneros are. I bet they are though. I raise them every year. One thing that they do need is good soil and lots of heat. Peppers in general do not do well in pots indoors. They must have that bright sun in summer to do well. Next year start early, plant them outside, keep well watered as they grow but don`t drown them, they need to dry a bit between waterings and I bet you will have more than you know what to do with. I would plant two plants about three feet apart. Mine make way more that I need. Being as you already have one, I would try hand pollinating.
I am going to try playing with the amount of phosphorous given to the plant. Maybe this is a sign of too little P? We get a lot of direct sunlight even in NYC. The big issue is, behind glass, the plant gets NO UV light, as UV rays can't pass through glass. When the Habanero plant was in the screen room, it received a good amount of light, including UV spectrum. It was very hot here this summer. I'm going to try researching myself regarding whether Habaneros need hand-pollination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_WkpTBYRrc This guy on YouTube demonstrates how hand pollination affects yield. (I'm DEFINITELY trying this!) I think I use too much N, too little P. The leaves are nice and big and dark, so I probably have the ratio off. I like a lot of N, so I'll up the P and tell what happens!
My son, who was deployed to Afghanistan at the time wanted me to make him some pepper jelly using Habanero peppers. I planted 4 plants. They grew very well and produced very well also. They just kept on producing. I honestly dont know how many I got per plant, but I made his jelly and sent him about 15 jars. I planted the peppers outside. I never watered them other than when I first planted them. I finally got rid of the plants in the fall when I tilled the garden and they were still loaded with peppers and blooming. My ground is very alkaline, don't know if that has anything to do with how well they did or not.
I recently got a large batch of Habanero seeds from a relative's friend. He told me 120 peppers per plant, though I assumed that I misheard him, but after seeing this... I wonder. I've got 18 plants going... soon to be transplanted into hydroponics... uh oh.
