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At what temp does the blossom drop kick in?

mega

mega

So here I am in a near-brutal heatwave outside Washington DC. 91 degrees currently, and projected to be between 89 and 94 for the next 8 days. Getting a lot of shriveled up fallen blossoms in the last two days. Will the plants make it through over a week of this heat level?

Anybody think blossom set spray might help things along, or is it just one of those suck-it-up-it's-nature kind of things?
 
Believe it or not, I've had a couple (out of dozens!) blossoms to set fruit in my GH. In the last two weeks, the high temps have been 115-125 degrees.

Of course, the fruit does not ripen correctly - gets orange and then goes downhill.

Mike
 
Wish it was that cool here. High tomorrow is supposed to hit 100F.

The plants will survive the heat if kept watered when needed, but I don't think blossom set will help.
 
SS,

Where are you at? My highest temp (not official but taken in the shade by a digital thermometer) has been 97 - actually 96.9!

It's suppose to get to 95 Tuesday but here in the inner city (the official station is out in "the country" away from all the concrete building, asphalt roads and parking lots, and on top of a hill where there is always a breeze) it is usually at least 5 if not ten degrees warmer. Weirdness: go for a drive in the heat of summer, leaving the city, then come back in. Have part of your arm and elbow sticking out the window. Once you hit the inner city, you can feel how much hotter it is.

Not that it bothers me. About three years ago, we had a week of 100 degree temps. It felt warm but except for one day when the humidity was about 90 percent, comfortable!

Mike
 
Welcome to my world, mega. Hot and humid with a good chance of even more hot and more humid.

Those temps wont harm the plant assuming you keep them watered. I give mine a nice soak in the morning and about two hours before sunset. If your night temps are over 75 or so, it will be tough to prevent flower drop.
 
Mine are still setting and flowering, though dropping about 1 in 5. 103-106-ish here this week, Mesa, AZ.
 
The plants will get on OK at that temp. Had plants produce all summer long when i lived in Vegas as above water in the morning and late afternoon, high humidity could hurt fruit set
 
wordwiz said:
SS,

Where are you at? My highest temp (not official but taken in the shade by a digital thermometer) has been 97 - actually 96.9!

It's suppose to get to 95 Tuesday but here in the inner city (the official station is out in "the country" away from all the concrete building, asphalt roads and parking lots, and on top of a hill where there is always a breeze) it is usually at least 5 if not ten degrees warmer. Weirdness: go for a drive in the heat of summer, leaving the city, then come back in. Have part of your arm and elbow sticking out the window. Once you hit the inner city, you can feel how much hotter it is.

Not that it bothers me. About three years ago, we had a week of 100 degree temps. It felt warm but except for one day when the humidity was about 90 percent, comfortable!

Mike
Click to expand...

Mike, I'm in Bama way out in the country and with the humidity the heat index makes working outdoors after 10AM inadvisable. This coming week will remain in the high nineties with tomorrow's 100F the peak this week according to the forecast.
 
Silver_Surfer said:
Wish it was that cool here. High tomorrow is supposed to hit 100F.

The plants will survive the heat if kept watered when needed, but I don't think blossom set will help.
Click to expand...

Agreed, just finished 90 days of 35c - 41c (95f - 105f) and all blossom and fruit set were stopped, but the plants survived "okay". In fact they went into survival mode and just the last 2 weeks have started growing again.
If you can, put some shade cloth up; it will help the plants keep up their hydration.
 
You guys got me thinking. I knew this year has been hotter and winder than last year. So I looked up last year's.... I just hit 5 days in June from 09'. I'm getting temps this year that are 10 degrees hotter on the average. This year we've had mostly 90 to 100 degree temps. We got several days that were around 87 and it seemed like a cold front.

I'm getting several pepper plants setting fruit, but not that many. My tomatoes are loading up fruit and have even had a few to eat. I guess I should keep records from one year to another. Even if they are simple.

Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
P. Dreadie said:
You guys got me thinking. I knew this year has been hotter and winder than last year. So I looked up last year's.... I just hit 5 days in June from 09'. I'm getting temps this year that are 10 degrees hotter on the average. This year we've had mostly 90 to 100 degree temps. We got several days that were around 87 and it seemed like a cold front.

I'm getting several pepper plants setting fruit, but not that many. My tomatoes are loading up fruit and have even had a few to eat. I guess I should keep records from one year to another. Even if they are simple.

Peace,
P. Dreadie
Click to expand...

Good idea. I've got a daily grow log/diary and an Excel spreadsheet, so, I can look back and double check everything I've done including temps, rain, planting seeds, transplanting, feeding, etc.
It really helps to avoid confusing who, what, when, where, and why. Cheers.
 
I have read, although I can not remember where that once the night time temperatures hit and stay above 80F (~26C), blossom drop is the norm...

why?, because the pollen becomes sterile...sterile pollen = no fruit set...

Most of my chinense stop setting fruit usually about the first of July and don't start back until September...

So what I have learned to do is keep them growing at the fastest pace I can during the two down months and I am always rewarded with a great Thanksgiving harvest...I really think that is why my plants get so tall is because they are not producing fruit and staying in the "forced" vegetative phase for an extra two months...a good bhut/scorpion/7 pot plant will be 6' tall or over and sometimes that big in diameter...hard to tell since I have my plants on 16-18" centers
 
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