Habanero Hot Pepper

I have a few hot pepper varieties growing. A few of them got powdery mildew out of the gate and got stunted even after I treated them, and I get one or two peppers every so often. THIS habanero exploded with no powdery mildew even though it is close to the infected plants, and I am out there every day now collecting bowl fulls of peppers from just one plant. Pests are afraid of this pepper plant lol. One seed planted into one small raised box and the plant is literally spilling out all over the place onto the concrete and it doesn't care. When it started taking off I put two bamboo stakes in to help it out, and the plant literally kicked them out and just did its thing. I am in South Florida and my mangos are getting bigger. Hope the timing isn't off between the two, because I plan on making mango habanero hot sauce. Right now I have a gallon zip lock bag full of habaneros, and at least 2 dozen more on the plant that I am waiting for them to fully turn yellow/orange from green. I have already given a lot away to friends. So I am going to call this a bumper crop from just one plant. Being in Florida, pest pressure and disease is a year-round struggle with the humidity, and treating everything organically, and not chemically, is a slow process of constantly going out there and inspecting. With this habanero, the only attention I need to pay it is cutting the fruits from the plant. Definitely a winner.

I always start my habaneros indoors, with some as early as February. I use these as testers for my super hot peppers, like the bhut jolokia, to make sure I have optimal growing conditions. These don't disappoint. I use a waterproof heating source and a good light source and these usually pop up in 5 days and start growing.

My plant is about 2 feet tall, lots of blossoms,cant wait to start harvesting and making some hot sauce.

Grew this plant last spring (2011). Took a while to germinate. Almost gave up hope and then 7 of the 8 I planted came up. When the plants were 1-1/2 inch high I moved them outdoors. Over the next 3 days an insect attacked them. Two survived, so I moved them inside next to a screened window. When they were 6 inches tall I moved them back outside and they were fine. Peppers were very hot as promised. So, a good plant, but it did need a bit of babying.

I planted all of these outdoors in early spring and not one showed its head in the dirt. Next time, I'll start them indoors.