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About C.L. Fornari
Expertise
Annuals suggested for specific situations (sun, shade, windowboxes etc) New or unusual annuals are a particular interest of mine, and I grow many of these from seed. I am happy to help problem solve, answer questions about maintenance, and guide you to sources of unusual plants.

Experience
I am a garden writer/speaker/consultant and host of a weekly gardening radio program in the Northeast. I have been gardening all my life for my own pleasure, and started as a professional gardener and garden communicator 15 years ago. I work part-time at a garden center, selling and tending shrubs/trees/annuals/perennials...and doing some propagation and design work. I often think that all these professional activities serve to put a somewhat legitimate framework around a serious case of plant-lust.

You are here: Experts > Home/Garden > Roses > Annuals > Habanero Pepper Plants

Annuals - Habanero Pepper Plants

Expert: C.L. Fornari - 10/21/2009

Question
Why does my Habanero plant; which is in a pot indoors, after being outside in ground, only have one pepper on it and taste like a green bell pepper?

Answer
Shawn,
It's pretty hard for peppers to bear fruit indoors, and if it was in the ground first, then dug and put in a pot, it is suffering both from the transplanting process that cuts off roots, and from being indoors where the levels of light are less. Also, all peppers like long, hot summers. This is why they can grow them so well in places like Arizona, but they don't grow as well in Wisconsin or New England.

If the pepper isn't hot, it hasn't produced much capsaicin, probably because of cool temps outside, or transplantation into the pot. Pepper plants produce hotter peppers when the growing temps are in the 90's and when they are allowed to go a bit dry in between waterings.
Here is a good article on hot peppers, including, at the end of the article, tips about growing them in cooler climates: http://www.ngb.org/gardening/fact_sheets/fact_details.cfm?factID=20

I hope this helps,
C.L.

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