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dragod

first time habanero growing

Dragod
9 years ago

Hey guys I'm new here and this is the first time growing peppers so hope your bare with me. I bought some habaneros from the store last summer dried 2 of them and planted the seeds this February. The thing that I find weird is that some of the leaves, the old ones, are huge - 20 cm - 8 inches and the stems are getting really dark - purple dark. Is the growth ok? They are in my balcony, they get 3-4 hours of sunlight in the morning and just skylight afterwards.
My questions are:
Is it ok to have such large leaves and is the stem getting darker a problem?

Thank you in advance
Best regards
Dragos

{{!gwi}}

Comments (12)

  • habjolokia z 6b/7
    9 years ago

    Purple on the stems are fine, large leaves are a trait of C. Chinese variety. Post a pic so we can see exactly what you are describing. But it's sounds like all is going well.

  • stoneys_fatali
    9 years ago

    Looks like your image is broken.

    Stoney

  • Dragod
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I've uploaded the pic... Don't know what happened that it disappeared. Anyway here are the pics.
    [IMG]http://i59.tinypic.com/2qxxs7q.jpg[/IMG]
    [IMG]http://i61.tinypic.com/2w53r54.jpg[/IMG]
    It looks to me like a really healthy plant although kinda short. I'm planning on putting it in a bigger pot maybe it will grow taller.

  • StupidHotPeppers
    9 years ago

    Yes I would get a bigger pot and if it's not outside get it outside. It wants to stretch for mother son. I think it needs a little more light. Good luck!

  • habjolokia z 6b/7
    9 years ago

    Agree with MorugaMan, make sure you harden it off if the plant has not been outside. Plant looks great!

    Mark

  • Dragod
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    actually the plants is not gonna go out. i'm desiging a special corner in my apartment for it and a few others with controlled temperature and light. so there is nothing wrong with it except for the fact that the pot is a bit small?
    why do you say the plant is not getting enough light?

  • habjolokia z 6b/7
    9 years ago

    Because it looks small for this time of year, based off assumption without the knowledge of your growing environment. What kind of lighting are you providing? Other than pot size being on the small side, the plant looks overall healthy. How old is the plant? This will give us a better idea of its progression.

    Mark

  • stoneys_fatali
    9 years ago

    It looks great but agree it needs a larger container. This will help it get bigger with better yield.
    They do much better out but you said you want it indoors. Lots of sunlight. Good luck!

    Stoney

  • Dragod
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I have planted all of them as seeds on the 30th of march in a small box. I moved them out at the begining of may and it has been growing steady since then under a 50w halogen light thats been off for the last 2 weeks as it was getting really warm where they were. I'll restart the light as soon as i change the height of the lighting fixture, because it has passed the bulb in height. The plant has a couple of flower buds that i really dont want to cut but do you guys think it will benefit not having them right now?

  • Dragod
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Here is a pick of the lighting fixture i've build from scratch with aluminium square rods and a 3d printer. The 2 smaller habaneros were repotted 3 weeks later than the larger one and it looks like they stopped growing after the 3rd pair of leaves, i'm guessing its because of low lighting or pot is too small.
    Thanx for your patience guys :)

  • Dragod
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    So my habanero plant has 30 flower buds but its quite short - about 1.5 feet. Does it stop growing? Should I cut them off or leave it as is?
    How much lumens do you guys think will be enough to keep this plant indoors? I am building a 2 x 2000 lumen lighting fixture with nichia 90 cri leds. Will that be enough?

    Thanx

  • DMForcier
    9 years ago

    I'd leave the flowers on. The plant will edit itself.

    Unless you can provide more light, I'd keep the pot size pretty small. Habanero can get very large - much larger, I'm sure, than you want in your apartment - and a smaller pot will keep it small.

    You can't give it enough light to hurt it. Nothing you do will get even close to the brightness of the sun. Peppers are high energy plants that eat sunlight for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if they can get it.

    Overall, the plant looks very healthy. It should provide you with nice, hot pods!

    Good luck,
    Dennis

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