ok i am growing bhut jolokia (i think lol thats at least what the pack said)and habeneros.my bhuts are about 2 and a half months old i have been giving them miricle gro every other week and the plants range from a foot to about 16 inches tall some of the leaves on them are about 4 maybe 5 inches long i mean huge for a pepper plant but still no blooms.not even a sign of any pepper at all.i was told by a friend it was the fert im using.he said i need to stop using it b/c it was good for the plant but would make it not produce.he said the fact that the leaves were so big was a sign of this and that the leaves on these plants dont normally get that big.so waht5 im here for is to make sure he was right or do i need to keep up with the fert.P.S. these plants are beautiful not a discolored leaf or a scratch anywhere.
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a few questions concerning my plants
- Thread starter gnomepunter
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Leaf size is determined by genetics. My bhuts don't usually have giant leaves but some of them do, 4 to 5 inches long is not exceptionally big for a chinense leaf. Some of my chinenses have leaves that are ~8 inches long, I have some trinidad scorpions that have leaves bigger than my hand and I have pretty big hands.
Bhuts generally get bigger than other peppers and take longer before they flower, and when they do flower they usually get to a large size before they set any pods. Most of my bhuts didn't really start putting out flowers until they were 2-3 feet tall and were very large and bushy before they started setting pods. They are listed as 120 days to maturity (from transplanting, not from seed) whereas most peppers are 60-90. 2.5 months is very young for a bhut jolokia. It is commonly said that plants fed a lot of nitrogen continue putting on vegetative growth in lieu of setting fruit, but it sounds like they just aren't ready. You could back off on the fertilizer a little if you want, but if the plants look healthy I wouldn't be too concerned right now.
Bhuts generally get bigger than other peppers and take longer before they flower, and when they do flower they usually get to a large size before they set any pods. Most of my bhuts didn't really start putting out flowers until they were 2-3 feet tall and were very large and bushy before they started setting pods. They are listed as 120 days to maturity (from transplanting, not from seed) whereas most peppers are 60-90. 2.5 months is very young for a bhut jolokia. It is commonly said that plants fed a lot of nitrogen continue putting on vegetative growth in lieu of setting fruit, but it sounds like they just aren't ready. You could back off on the fertilizer a little if you want, but if the plants look healthy I wouldn't be too concerned right now.
thank you very much for the input. so should i stop the fert after a couple more months then to help with flowering?
i wouldn't. keep fertilizing on a regular schedules. peppers need green growth to set fruit just because of their branching structure.
also, yeah, leaf size is partly genetics, but at the same time, I have a couple of 7 pots growing in my backyard from various sources and their leaf size doesn't compare at all to what i've seen some people pull off around here, so there's a lot of environmental factors determining leaf size.
there's an even more marked effect when it comes to my chocolate habs (which are true as far as i can tell, since I got one pod over the winter).. way bushy, very few large leaves.
also, yeah, leaf size is partly genetics, but at the same time, I have a couple of 7 pots growing in my backyard from various sources and their leaf size doesn't compare at all to what i've seen some people pull off around here, so there's a lot of environmental factors determining leaf size.
there's an even more marked effect when it comes to my chocolate habs (which are true as far as i can tell, since I got one pod over the winter).. way bushy, very few large leaves.
Find a better fertilizer than MG. It's extremely high in nitrogen, the first of the three numbers, which means it grows huge plants with little flowering/fruit setting. One other drawback to high nitrogen fertilizers is they produce the types of plants that aphids LOVE to wheeze the juice out of. Find a fertilizer that's in the 5-5-5 range or even a lower nitrogen number.
Good luck
Good luck
i have some mg for tomatoes it has 18-18-21 but thats prob still to much
Yeah that's still real high. I use a fert called Chili Focus and it's 2-1-4 but has all kinds of other goodies that pepper like. Lots of folks talk about worm castings and worm tea. The numbers on worm castings are 1-0-0 and since you're not adding any other ferts to worm tea it also would be 1-0-0. It's the other goodies in worm castings that really help the peppers grow. With worm tea you add molasses which feeds all the good bacteria and other enzymes that help the plants.
There are a lot of folks on this site who don't use any commercial fertilizers and grow great peppers. Most of those use compost or old manure. Good stuff.
There are a lot of folks on this site who don't use any commercial fertilizers and grow great peppers. Most of those use compost or old manure. Good stuff.
Hi, what I generally do is use a side-dressing of 10-10-10 around the perimeter of the base of the stem at planting time, at the flowering stage, and to promote the 2nd crop. Nitrogen ferts are fine in moderation since it promotes leaf growth which helps shade those wonderful pods, hence preventing sunscald. I also top dress at flower stage with well established compost. As well as using epsom salts once a week also diluted solutions of cal-mag, pure blend pro, liguid karma at flower time and have had wonderful luck with my tomatoes and peppers in hot weather using blossom set. Good luck on your super hots, once they appear you'll be amazed how fast the'll ripen in hot weather.