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It has been a few weeks since I brought in my leggy, malnourished black Hungarian chilies and they have been doing very well; they were snipped down to a few barren stems with some half-dead leaves - now with just the light from a desk lamp and starting today, my new grow light setup, they have some nice new foliage with some purple pigmentation, as well as some flower buds. Could I leave these flowers and expect them to produce fruit over the winter? It would be nice to get some fruits, and I figure that diverting energy to fruiting may temporarily retard the vegetative growth of the plant, meaning it will take longer for them to fill up their pots and risk becoming root-bound (which I have been told could stymie their growth in the future, when I plant them back outside in Spring).
Is my thinking correct? I used to just plant new seeds every season, so I'm flying completely blind when it comes to long-term care of peppers and herbs. Every time I start a new hobby there is this massive gap between my ambition and my ability/knowledge, and it's very frustrating. Between these and the poblano plants and herbs I have to somehow care for, it's all so nerve-racking.
