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chinense My First Habanero!

R

ryanmark

After lots of questions and waiting, I finally spotted a small green habanero growing underneath the canopy! I was worried because all the flowers were falling off, but now my plants seem to have matured.

I've posted my setup before, but here it is again:
Two indoor plants in a rubbermaid hydroponic setup with fluorescent lights. Plants were purchased from a hardware store's garden section around the beginning of August and pruned back to a stump; now they are very bushy but still not very tall!

One question: I pruned some of the longer branches in order to both maintain a bushy appearance (rather than viney) and also to help the plant concentrate it's energy on the existing buds and pepper. Similarly, I have heard that picking the first pepper when it is still green will let the plant make many more. How big should I let this first pepper get? Should I pick it now (it's tiny) or should I pick it right when it starts to ripen?

I wish I could post a pic of my first ever pepper, but I don't have a nice camera.
 
Yay! Your plants sound like they're finally coming on!

I don't do hydroponics, but as long as the plant is large enough to support the pepper, I wouldn't worry about picking it until it's ripe. I pinch back the first few flowers and buds on my outdoors-in-the-ground plants because I want them to put more energy into roots and vegetative growth the first couple of weeks, but I gather that's not important when you're doing hydroponics.

I think it was willard3 who said he compared picking off the early flowers and buds and not picking off the early flowers and buds on two of his plants, and that he didn't see any difference in later pepper production.
 
Same here first winter orange hab.... Almost ready :hell:
Not sure about picking the green pepper.
I had to prune back most of my hydro plants to stubs. HPS makes them grow way to big.
I added a 54 watts T5 pure actinic light and it sure helps to keep the plants smaller.

First orange hab of the season...wooohooo
IMG_2846.jpg
 
habman said:
Same here first winter orange hab.... Almost ready :hell:
Not sure about picking the green pepper.
I had to prune back most of my hydro plants to stubs. HPS makes them grow way to big.
I added a 54 watts T5 pure actinic light and it sure helps to keep the plants smaller.

First orange hab of the season...wooohooo
IMG_2846.jpg
Click to expand...

Wow! Those look fantastic. I'm thinking of taking a stab at growing some peppers.
 
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