August 2016 Habanero Plant Update

August 23, 2016 | Article Topics: ,

For those following along on Twitter, my poor habanero plant has had its butt handed to it the moment pods started forming in early July. An unidentifiable critter/insect had been burrowing into unripened pods and essentially killing them off one by one — sometimes two or three in a night.

It got to the point that I began isolating the potted plant from the rest of my peppers. I did’t want that little bugger jumping to multiple plants and slowing destroying them. Hell, the photo above was the last straw. After spying the damage it had inflicted, I decided to get medieval on its butt the next day and trimmed the habanero back a good amount, removing all pods and blossoms.

I even moved the pepper to the back deck on the opposite side of the house from the others just to be on the safe side. It continued to get the same fertilization and watering treatment as the rest through this whole ordeal and I can safely say now that the plant is flourishing! I’ve even got a couple dozen pods on the little guy of varying sizes — and no sign of any sort of insect damage.

Habanero
Habanero

And now with about 6-7 weeks left in the season, its looking like I’ll have a pile of ripe fruit to dry for the long, cold Winter. Fingers crossed.