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Orange Habs look small!?!?

inolan22

inolan22

Hey,

I germinated a few (4) Orange Habanero seeds in late March. Here are some pictures of them today. They are only 3(ish) inches tall but appear to be growing many many leaves. They are currently in 16 ounce cups to give you an idea of size. They seem to be growing slowly in the vertical direction. They have been outside on the back porch for a few weeks now getting about 6-8 hours of sun each day. Is this typical to the Chinese variety? Or do I need to give the plants some Calcium or Magnesium?

Orange Hab 1: The largest of the bunch (growing many leaves!!)
OrangeHab16-9-09.jpg


Orange Hab 2: The 2 yellow leaves in the dirt just fell off today
OrangeHab26-9-09.jpg


Orange Hab 3: This one looks pretty wicked
OrangeHab36-9-09.jpg


Orange Hab 4:
OrangeHab46-9-09.jpg
 
Can you give us a bit more information? Did you put holes in the bottom of those cups so that the soil can drain? What type of growing media are you using for them? What is the average daily temperature outside during the day? Is your soil continually soggy, or do you let it dry out a bit between watering? Any info that you can provide about their environment or your regimen could help pinpoint an issue. Also, they may be outgrowing their cups. Perhaps you could get them into something larger.
 
imaguitargod said:
I'm sure they are way past needing a transplanting to a bigger pot. Pot up now!
Click to expand...


I dont think its that, peppers can grow pretty big in a small container :P i think it might be too wet or a nutrient
 
These do look small for being planted in March. I'm assuming they just recently went into full sun? I'm with iamguitargod... pot up to 6" pots now and give them as much full sun as possible. Then pot up again after 4-6 weeks to final pots. I'm wondering if they are dropping leaves because they are getting rootbound.
 
Steve973 said:
Can you give us a bit more information? Did you put holes in the bottom of those cups so that the soil can drain? What type of growing media are you using for them? What is the average daily temperature outside during the day? Is your soil continually soggy, or do you let it dry out a bit between watering? Any info that you can provide about their environment or your regimen could help pinpoint an issue. Also, they may be outgrowing their cups. Perhaps you could get them into something larger.
Click to expand...

Yes, the cups each have about 5 holes in the bottom (1/8" holes).
I am not 100% sure on the growing media...the bag of soil was a last minute buy so I could pot up some plants. I already threw the bag away and I do not recall what it says (it was orange though hehe) EDIT: Pretty sure it was not Miracle Grow.
Average outside temperature is around 80 ish.
The soil really doesnt seem to get dry very quickly. When the top of the soil looks dry I give em a little soak (every ones in a while It will be a good flush down).

I do have bigger pots laying around that I recently got. So if potting up is the answer, I am ready to do so. The Jalapeno M and Sweet Banana peppers that I am growing got about 8-10 inches in those cups and grew much more quickly. If I do pot up, they are most likely going straight to 12" (3 gallon) pots.
 
Ok,

Based on the above comments, I am planning to pot these Orange Habs up to 12" pots today. Should I go ahead and get some Epsom salts or Dolomite to add to the new pot? Or should I wait and see if they start to grow/turn more green?
 
inolan22 said:
Ok,

Based on the above comments, I am planning to pot these Orange Habs up to 12" pots today. Should I go ahead and get some Epsom salts or Dolomite to add to the new pot? Or should I wait and see if they start to grow/turn more green?
Click to expand...


Yes to epsom salt!:cool:
 
I think you would be better advised to let them get stronger before potting up. Any repot is a shock. Not good to shock weak plants. If you are giving them any nutes, stop. The potting soil you got probably already has too many nutes. Water them less, wait for the cups to get "light" in weight. Give them more light, but if they are going outside, shade only for a for quite some time until they get stronger. Protect them from wind for a while too. They all will recover and be fine plants if you're careful and diligent.
 
I say toss them and get better soil, ferts, lights, etc. I have several habs that I planted about 6 weeks ago and most of them are now 6-8" tall in 2" cups smaller than yours. Since I didn't have enough larger pots I was only able to plant up half of them. The ones that got a bigger pot are even taller.
 
if the plants are tossed the growing season in IN is too short and he may get nothing trying to start over. I say transplant into some high end organic soil, don' water too much and see what happens. It has been cooler in the midwest lately so if you transplant and give them some time you never know.







LGHT said:
I say toss them and get better soil, ferts, lights, etc. I have several habs that I planted about 6 weeks ago and most of them are now 6-8" tall in 2" cups smaller than yours. Since I didn't have enough larger pots I was only able to plant up half of them. The ones that got a bigger pot are even taller.
Click to expand...
 
allenstu said:
if the plants are tossed the growing season in IN is too short and he may get nothing trying to start over. I say transplant into some high end organic soil, don' water too much and see what happens. It has been cooler in the midwest lately so if you transplant and give them some time you never know.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I have done. I have potted 2 of the plants into larger (3-5 gallon) containers and the other 2 in 6" containers. They have been put in some organic soil along with some epsom salts (The jalapenos and banana peppers I put in this organic soil have shot up like crazy, almost 1.5 feet tall). When potting up the plants they did not seem root bound. I have the feeling the soil I used was too "strong." The few bell peppers that I put in that soil also seem to be growing slowly. I guess that means I will be stearing clear of that soil from now on. :banghead:

And yes, it is a little bit late for me to start over on these. I have faith that they will grow fine now! :P
 
I'm glad you didn't chuck them. I have quite a few plants that are very similar, they just don't want to grow or even look nice. Give your ones a chance and I'm sure they'll be fine.
 
Ok, I am still working on the recovery of these 4 Orange Habs. I have repotted them all to 6+ inch pots. At first I did not change out the current soil they were in when repotting. They did not seem to make any progress after roughly a week, so I dug them out of the pots and got rid of all the previous soil around the roots and replaced it with new (non-crappy) soil. They really haven't taken off on new growth yet, but I will give it a bit more before I do anything drastic.

The only thing I have recently noticed wrong with the plants is some of the leaf tips are turning brown. I haven't found too much information on why this may be, other than too much Nitrogen in the soil? and to flush the pots really well the next few waterings.

Here are the pics: (Each pic is a different plant)
OrangeHab17-4-09.jpg

OrangeHab27-4-09.jpg

OrangeHab37-4-09.jpg

OrangeHab47-4-09.jpg
 
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