S06 - Session P8 - Habanero pepper production in soilless media with two different nutrient solutions

Authors: Marco A. Bustamante *, Michiko Takagaki, Lu Na, Alejandro Jose Bustamante Dávila

The commercial habanero pepper production is normally done in soil and open field, in areas with hot weather conditions; but higher productivity and fruit quality is obtained in tunnels or greenhouses, using soilless media. The objective of this research was to grow habanero pepper in plastic containers with soilless media, to evaluate the effect of two different nutrient solution formulations. Seeds of habanero pepper type apple red were germinated in rockwool cubes and plantlets transplanted to 350 ml cups with peat: perlite (1:1, v/v) substrate, and fertilized with a diluted nutrient solution, before transferred to 18 liter plastic containers (one plant per container), using a substrate of peat moss + coir + perlite (1:1:1, v/v). We watered the plants 3 times a week, with two different nutrient solutions, one which is recommended for the hydroponic growing of vine crops (Zachary Foust, personal communication) and the other which was developed by Steiner (Steiner, 1984). There were 7 plants per treatment, arranged in a completely random design. After 70 days, we recorded plant height, number of fruits per plant, number of flowers per plant, and the SPAD units of leaves. The results showed no significant difference in terms of plant height, number of flowers per plant, and SPAD units between the two treatments; however, we found significant differences in the number of fruits per plant, where plants treated with the vine nutrient solution presented an average of 8.3 fruits per plant, compared with the 2.6 fruits per plant observed in plants watered with the Steiner nutrient recipe. We are planning to repeat this work to determine if we can obtain better results, by either starting the crop at an earlier time of the year, where we can have higher outside temperatures; or grow the crop in a tunnel or in a greenhouse.