Why Are My Habanero Peppers Losing Color/turning White?

Question

I have a habanero plant that’s producing a lot of peppers but many of them, especially the ones higher up on the plant, are turning from green to very light yellow, almost white. They don’t seem to fully ripen and are often smaller than the ones that ripen to their normal bright-orange color. In case it matters, I planted this last spring and didn’t do much pruning to speak of. The peppers last year looked “normal” in the earlier part of the summer and started losing color like this as the season progressed. I’m in southern California where summers are quite hot and dry, and winters are very mild. We’ve had very little rain for the last few seasons.

Answer 1

Hot, dry weather will be enough stress to cause pepper burning. You can try a light shade cloth during the hottest portions of the day, or just be sure that they have the appropriate amount of water. This will mean that they get watered, deeply, then allowed to dry down to about 4 to 6 inches, thoroughly.

Another thing to consider will be soil fertility. Peppers can feed, heavily, throughout the season. Feeding may be necessary. Calcium and magnesium will be depleted, very quickly, as well.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/pepper/growing-habanero-peppers.htm

Answer 2

Thanks, that helps. I'll give them a bit of shade and pay closer attention to watering. For fertilizer I've mostly just used vermicompost, which from my understanding, should be fairly high in both calcium and magnesium. I use quite a bit of it since I have plenty and from what I've read, you can't really use too much.

Would you recommend picking off all the whitish peppers, or is it possible for them to recover? Aside from lacking color they look fine, so is there any reason not to eat them?

Thanks again.