Gardening - Habanero Peppers

[9supratt4]

I planted a Habanero Pepper plant back in the Spring and I was getting a few peppers here and there, but now it seems to be bearing peppers like crazy now!! I just picked 4 ripe orange ones off and there are about 10-12 green ones about to turn...and I am still finding baby ones coming out.

I'd love to have this plant continue to bear peppers all year long, but with the cold coming in, I'm sure it will be dying soon. So my question is, can I dig up the plant as carefully as possible and move it to a pot to take indoors and have it continue to bear peppers?? Or do the flowers need to be fertilized in order for the peppers to come through?

 

[howze01]

I'm sure CJ (Gluttonousblahblah) willl be able to tell you. He's a regular pepper expert after he spent a summer on the Rutgers farm doing a pepper trial.

 

[malulu]

tagging along...

 

[TanksNStuff]

My bro-in-law just moved in with us and he has two potted pepper plants that are just potted. They are both about 3' tall and have countless peppers growing on them. I think one is habaneros and the other is jalapeno (one has orange peppers, the other is red).

Anyway, he seems to have quite a crop growing on each so I guess he might be able to help. I'll ask him about your situation tomorrow Steve.

 

[GluttonousSolarWrasse]

Habanero peppers are a broad classification, basically a 'type' encompassing many hybrids, cultivars, and landraces of peppers arising from the species Capsicum chinense. In other words, there are many pepper plants with differing cultural requirements called simply 'habanero peppers'. In Central/South America, where the pepper complex evolved, and where cultivation first arose, C. chinense peppers (and many other species) ARE grown as perennial crops. The only peppers that this is impossible for is Capsicum annuum. (Hence the species name of annuum)

If you pot them up and bring them inside, the temperature should be suitable for them to survive. However, they may not actually produce. It is possible that allready being out in the cooler night temperatures, and shorter day lengths, are pushing the plants into a dormancy state. So they may simply overwinter, bearing no fruit. The reality is you won't know until you try! At the research farm, we did just what you are describing, but with a different species: C. pubescens, because we could not get it to bear fruit during the summer. It was too hot, and C. pubescens is cultivated in the cooler highlands of South America. Keep in mind peppers need a TON of light. If you find that the plants are not bearing flowers and fruit any more, you may be able to break any potential dormancy by increasing heat & daylength incrementally, using artificial lighting.

Worst case scenario? 1. you tried, and 2. Just save some seeds if you like the variety. However C. chinense outcrosses at about a 60% rate (field conditions) (I think, don't quote me) so the seed may not be true to the parent. 3. Keep them alive over winter, and replant them in spring.

 

[howze01]

I told ya!

 

[9supratt4]

Hey CJ.....I took a couple of peppers and removed their seeds and dried them. Now as you are aware...these seeds are tiny. Is it one seed to one plant? I would assume so.

Also...I plan on growing the next plant indoors. Maybe one outdoors too. When should I plant the seeds so they are ready in the spring?

Thanks!

 

[BigRed]

In addition to all of that, you can pollinate an indoor fruiting plant by hand. Just gently shaking the pepper plant should bring out enough pollen to get to the other flowers. I've had lots of luck with indoor pepper plants, but I always had them under grow lights.

Brett