Hi all. New member, been browsing for a while.
This is my second year of growing hot peppers and my first year was an orange habanero that I seeded from the supermarket.
Over this past winter, using an Aerogarden 7 pro, I started another orange habanero, and a Bhut Jolokia. After these plants got so big, I had to cut the machine apart to get their stems out. Going from hydroponics to soil is also a bit stressful on the plant, and I think that is what aided in the below story of almost losing the plants.
I transplanted them all into pots/buckets in March and kept them near a sliding door. A while went by and aphids decided to take up residence on all of my plants. How aphids got indoors, I have no idea. This took about a month to get rid of, spraying with rubbing alcohol, soap, garden hose, etc.. It was very bad. I decided to throw them outside, and I was being careful and hardening them off slowly, but they kept losing leaves from the aphids. After a while the plants all looked like they'd be a lost cause, so I just left them out and watered them every now and then. They had maybe 5-10 decent leaves each, and looked very bad.
3 Months later, the bhut is doing amazing, with some pods almost ripening. One habanero was reduced to a small bush(first year plant) but is now growing healthy, and the second AG hab is growing very strange, but its producing peppers.
Heres pics of what I have right now. The bhut is better already than the habanero was last year. Last years habanero gave me somewhere around 100+ pods which I turned into flakes and hot sauces. This year should be exciting. I'll be buying a dehydrator and a coffee grinder to make powders.
This is my second year of growing hot peppers and my first year was an orange habanero that I seeded from the supermarket.
Over this past winter, using an Aerogarden 7 pro, I started another orange habanero, and a Bhut Jolokia. After these plants got so big, I had to cut the machine apart to get their stems out. Going from hydroponics to soil is also a bit stressful on the plant, and I think that is what aided in the below story of almost losing the plants.
I transplanted them all into pots/buckets in March and kept them near a sliding door. A while went by and aphids decided to take up residence on all of my plants. How aphids got indoors, I have no idea. This took about a month to get rid of, spraying with rubbing alcohol, soap, garden hose, etc.. It was very bad. I decided to throw them outside, and I was being careful and hardening them off slowly, but they kept losing leaves from the aphids. After a while the plants all looked like they'd be a lost cause, so I just left them out and watered them every now and then. They had maybe 5-10 decent leaves each, and looked very bad.
3 Months later, the bhut is doing amazing, with some pods almost ripening. One habanero was reduced to a small bush(first year plant) but is now growing healthy, and the second AG hab is growing very strange, but its producing peppers.
Heres pics of what I have right now. The bhut is better already than the habanero was last year. Last years habanero gave me somewhere around 100+ pods which I turned into flakes and hot sauces. This year should be exciting. I'll be buying a dehydrator and a coffee grinder to make powders.
