Gardener123
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HOT Pepper Plants - Huge Leaves but No Fruit?

I have always bought my plants before, but this year I planted about a dozen plants that I grew from seeds. I started them indoors an March, and planted about May 17th... I have about 6 varieties growing... anyway, when I planted them, they were about the size of a large start. Now, Some of them are 15" - 18" high, maybe 14" wide, and have HUGE leaves, absolutely HUGE..... but as far as I can see, not a single fruit. The plants are spectacular looking. I have never had ultra hot pepper plants look this good.

That said, I have some medium to hot pepper plants that I have already done some harvesting.... Anaheim, Cubanelle, and Serranos, and possibly more than that. Strangely enough, my jalapenos also look great, but just TINY fruits, so far.

OK, I also know that ultra hot peppers around here can't usually be harvested until about mid September - though I will likely get habaneros much earlier than that.

With the plants looking as spectacular as they look, shouldn't I at least be seeing tiny fruit by now?

They have had far more rain than they really want, but they also have had the very hot temps that they like.

Any thoughts?

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jal_ut
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My only thought: Patience.

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rainbowgardener
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I don't grow the ultra hots, but I have heard they are much slower than other peppers, slow to germinate, slow to fruit, etc. So james is likely right, you just need to have patience.

But in the meantime, how are you fertilizing them? Too much nitrogen can lead to big leafy plants with lots of big leaves, but no fruit. If you are going to fertilize with something besides compost, I would look for something like Tomato Tone (remember peppers are related to tomatoes), that is low in N and higher in PK.

Gardener123
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Yep, I know they take a long time... but usually with habaneros I have reasonably sized fruit by now. I have only fertilized twice this season, and just with Bonnie brand tomato liquid fertilizer.... Once in May, and then about 10 - 12 days ago.

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rainbowgardener
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The fertilizer sounds fine, so just slow then. They are not habeneros and are definitely reputed to be slower than habs or any of the milder peppers. But at the end of the season you can pot it up and bring it in for the winter. Next year, it will go a lot faster.

Are they ghost peppers (bhut jalokia)?

imafan26
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Ghost peppers are large plants. I have one in a two gallon container and it would have been even bigger and happier in the ground. It produces a lot of flowers but relatively few fruit at any given time.

Peppers are slow growers from seed and most take a couple of months before they flower. If you have a lot of bush, you may be giving it too much nitrogen.

dave103069
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Its going to take some time. Most super hots grown from seeds are started around November/December or so and then planted near the end of May.. Being you started in March you said you are a month or so behind but I would expect you should get some flowers soon.... Big leaves are also common for some varieties like the Moruga Scorpion.. I have also had some ghost pepper leaves grow bigger than ussual before but that should not impact production..
As Jal said, be patient...

gumbo2176
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My Jalapeno, Belgian Hot Wax, Cayenne, Habanero and Ghost Peppers are going gangbusters right now, but I'm in the deep south with hot weather for the past couple months and a mild winter that allowed my Ghost Peppers and Habs to survive since early September of 2012.

The ultra hot like the Habs and Ghost peppers do grow much slower than the medium and mildly hot peppers. At least that's my experience. As for productivity, I've probably picked close to 100 Habs off the 2 larger bushes I have and close to 60 Ghost Peppers off those 2 plants. All my plants are in the ground.


I've put up around 6 quarts of pickled hot peppers, made 5 quarts worth of pepper jellies, made a few batches of salsa with the real hot peppers, and gave quite a few away to neighbors and friends that think they can handle them.

There were 2 Hispanic carpenters doing work on a house down the block a couple weeks ago and I gave them a dozen Habs that I had just picked. They were happy to get them and the price was right---free.

Gardener123
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rainbowgardener wrote:The fertilizer sounds fine, so just slow then. They are not habeneros and are definitely reputed to be slower than habs or any of the milder peppers. But at the end of the season you can pot it up and bring it in for the winter. Next year, it will go a lot faster.

Are they ghost peppers (bhut jalokia)?
Bhut Jolokia

Scorpion X

Brain Strain

and 1 Carolina Reaper ( So I was told, but not sure I believe it )

Gardener123
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OK, so maybe patience is a virtue, but it isn't my strongest attribute. Today I spent 15 minutes looking for peppers, and I did find some of the Brain Strain peppers.... all 100% green at this point, and all about the size of a large marble. But none of the other peppers have fruit yet ( the Ultra Hots ) but I see that some are starting to flower.

As it is raining hard, yet again, and virtually no sun again, I have a feeling that this will not be a good summer for peppers near hear. But, at least, we do have the very warm temps.

3 Pound Tomato
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Don't expect peppers for another month. I'm starting to get a few ultra hots setting on, but they are still green and small. I already have a few jalapenos. These peppers really grow well and bear heavily for me in the early fall up to hard freeze.

Gardener123
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Went and looked at my Brain Strain peppers today.... No idea what happened but they really took off! They are full sized now, but not ripe... All are still light green. But at least I will have plenty.



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