Just picked up this habanero plant from a shop and it’s absolutely loaded with fruit. It’s currently in a tiny ~1.3L pot and looks a bit cramped, so I’m guessing it needs some help ASAP.
What would you guys do as “first aid” for it? Repot immediately? Harvest most of the ripe peppers first? Change soil, fertilize, or let it acclimate before doing anything?
The fruits are already bright red and wrinkly, so I think they’re ready, but I don’t want to stress the plant too much.
Any tips on what to prioritize in the first few days would really help.
Car for scale.
by Numerous-Bug3874
25 Comments
IMO you should:
– pick all ripe fruit
– repot immediately
The plant doesn’t look bad at all. Removing the ripe fruit will redirect energy. Repotting will provide more nutrients and room for root growth.
wow that is an immense fruit load in such a tiny pot
Ehm, that’s not a Habanero lol
Pretty sure that’s a reaper or some other superhot.
Pick the fruits, they’re ripe.
Repot and maybe cut it down a bit, but not too much
Edit: may as well be a habanero with fruits weeks past their ripeness and dried up in the sun
Looks like a 7 pot Congo plant to me
Good find, that’s a great plant to find in a shop. Needs repotting but looks otherwise very healthy and vigorous
If that’s a habanero then those are way passed ripe.
On the plus, if you want to you can open em up and keep the seeds for future use.
maybe needless to state, but use gloves when picking and handling the peepers.
that’s a crazy amount of peppers for that size, my reaper hit the ceiling of my balcony and made max 10 at once
move it to a larger pot, it needs at least 10L of soil
Red Habs have a lot of varieties. I’ll agree it seems like there is a bit of a stinger on some of them but from the reapers I have grown, these lack the typical ripples and twists. Maybe a hybrid but these look like they could be a type of Red habanero, Caribbean or Maya maybe. My maya red Habs are only about 2 inches tall but in a couple months I’ll have fruit to compare
https://preview.redd.it/vnrvzboamgqg1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=54df4036086f4e31d00c483c0cc0a67649f9abef
I thought this was one of my cat subs at first
Pick the peppers to help reduce stress on the plant.
Step one. Get larger pot.
Step two. Plant this in the larger pot.
Step 3. ????
Step 4. Profit
Has kitty been tasting the chili’s, puss looks angry.
I wish I had a plant that looked that nice to save 😂. It’s root bound.
Cat is so proud of their harvest :3
You put in bigger pot now
I put my plants in 10gallon pots this year. (They’re 3 years old) I’d be lucky to get this many peppers in one yield. And I live in Hawaii. What am I doing wrong?
https://preview.redd.it/l2jrnsxbxgqg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ff163344691e63ef18d25018f4ec248ffc0e4f1
Pick and replant. I’d also get a cheap bpa free bucket and drill holes every couple inches so you can set it in a tray for bottom watering or water run off. Probably wouldn’t hurt to fertilize to.
The plant looks fairly ok, I’d remove every bit of fruit and upgrade to a bigger pot it would be struggling to have enough water and nutrients with a base so small
Harvest for fuck sake 🙂 and then a bigger pot
It’s starving for nutrients, feed it.
My best producing habaneros have lived in 5 gallon pots.
Id harvest all fruits, the wrinkly ones are past ripe and can be dried and used for seeds. Then transfer to a 5gal pots with 50/50 organic topsoil/compost
Id also throw something to capture drainage before water settles on your floor.
Habaneros like deep roots. I would put it in a much taller pot that’s much wider.
Gorgeous plant. Based on what I can see they look well ripe if not overripe. I would definitely harvest everything.
That plant clearly had no problems filling out with fruit in that size pot and in that soil, so I’m not sure why everyone’s so quick to recommend repotting. You certainly could, I just don’t see it as necessary as everyone else.
Harvesting all of the fruit and giving it a reasonable feeding is probably all it really needs.
Kitteh has some storylines worth hearing.