Hello,
I'm posting for some advice regarding my approximately 1 year old habanero. I picked up a small plant from Home Depot last year and have been growing it in the back yard in a medium sized ceramic pot that was left by previous tenants. It did alright initially, but for most of it's life appears to have a nutrient deficiency - the leaves are a light shade of green and for lack of a better term "tacod" - folded together along the inner seam of the leaf..
To make matters worse, we had a freak hail storm last week and my plants all got buried beneath 2-3 inches of ice. (Keep in mind I live just east of Los Angeles, and it had been 80 degrees the previous week and is no back to 80 degrees.) I was able to get the ice off within 30 minutes or so, but the majority of the plants leaves were knocked off by the hail.
I'm assuming that the issue is some form of nutrient deficiency, but unfortunately I don't have much information regarding the soil I'm using, or the the ph of the water here. I'm using "Black Magic" potting soil (I thought I remembered a friend telling me it was decent many years ago, but I'm definitely considering a change this year), and the water is from the tap in Covina, Ca. I havn't been able to find any information regarding the ph of the soil or of my tap water, so that could be an issue. Also, the habanero has been outside all year, and temperatures have dipped to around freezing on a couple of occasions. The habanero has appeared to do worse when it gets cold, and really hasn't been doing well since the end of last summer.
I'm hoping that someone can give me some pointers or advice as how to bring it back, and maybe identify if there are any soil amendments that are needed (dolemite lime or something like that?)
(NOTE: will add pics as soon as i figure out how to upload em.)
Thanks a bunch gang,
Mike
I'm posting for some advice regarding my approximately 1 year old habanero. I picked up a small plant from Home Depot last year and have been growing it in the back yard in a medium sized ceramic pot that was left by previous tenants. It did alright initially, but for most of it's life appears to have a nutrient deficiency - the leaves are a light shade of green and for lack of a better term "tacod" - folded together along the inner seam of the leaf..
To make matters worse, we had a freak hail storm last week and my plants all got buried beneath 2-3 inches of ice. (Keep in mind I live just east of Los Angeles, and it had been 80 degrees the previous week and is no back to 80 degrees.) I was able to get the ice off within 30 minutes or so, but the majority of the plants leaves were knocked off by the hail.
I'm assuming that the issue is some form of nutrient deficiency, but unfortunately I don't have much information regarding the soil I'm using, or the the ph of the water here. I'm using "Black Magic" potting soil (I thought I remembered a friend telling me it was decent many years ago, but I'm definitely considering a change this year), and the water is from the tap in Covina, Ca. I havn't been able to find any information regarding the ph of the soil or of my tap water, so that could be an issue. Also, the habanero has been outside all year, and temperatures have dipped to around freezing on a couple of occasions. The habanero has appeared to do worse when it gets cold, and really hasn't been doing well since the end of last summer.
I'm hoping that someone can give me some pointers or advice as how to bring it back, and maybe identify if there are any soil amendments that are needed (dolemite lime or something like that?)
(NOTE: will add pics as soon as i figure out how to upload em.)
Thanks a bunch gang,
Mike