Flower queries

[ChrisG]

Hi everyone

I'm having a tough time getting my plants to keep/make flowers and was hoping you could help with some questions.

One of my orange habanero plants had loads of flowers a while ago but most of them dropped off. I've seen quite a few threads about this but haven't found an answer about whether new flowers can shoot from the same node where the old flowers fell off. All of the stem nodes where the old flowers fell off have what looks like a little crater (where the flower joined the stem) but no new flower has grown Do flowers only grow once? The new growth looks like having mini flower buds but the rest of the plant is only leaves.

Also another query, another plant of mine (ebay Chocolate Habanero so not 100% sure) seems to start forming these little flower buds which then shrivel and get a tiny little black tip. The sun has been pretty hot lately so do you reckon these have burnt? It finally has a few flowers starting on it now in the new growth. Also will new flowers come out from where the little "burnt" ones are or only from new growth??

Thanks!
Chris

 

[geeme]

Yes, the plant will eventually put out more flowers at the growth nodes where the other flowers dropped off. What nutrients are you feeding them? How often are you watering? You say it's been "pretty hot" - how hot? Are you giving them some shade while it's peak heat time?

 

[ChrisG]

thanks for the reply. That's good to know that they do eventually grow back.

We had a couple of weeks where it was like 36-40 degrees (this is a few weeks back when the flowers dropped off but they were falling before that also). I have the plants receiving morning sun until about 10.30/11am then the patio they're under blocks the sun and they receive a bit more afternoon sun from about 5.30. I only water them every couple of days and almost every day during that hot period.

I have them in potting mix which already contains slow release fertiliser and I was giving them an extra bit of MG Max Feed (Tomato & veg) every 10 days or so. I read somewhere here that flowers can fall off if there is excess nitrogen so I haven't given them any extra MG for a few weeks now.

Should I add some sort of flower boost fertilizer also? I've been trying to take a more hands off approach lately so have just been giving them water every few days and looking at them for bugs and just to admire them, haha.

 

[millworkman]

Yes, the plant will eventually put out more flowers at the growth nodes where the other flowers dropped off. What nutrients are you feeding them? How often are you watering? You say it's been "pretty hot" - how hot? Are you giving them some shade while it's peak heat time?

Um, I have never seen this happen. Once a node is done it is done. I have never seen a plant put out new buds at any node that has had flower dry up or pods already picked. Maybe if it normally has 3-5 pods per node and only one or two pop first and dry up but they can only put out buds at new nodes.

Water when they wilt and go easy on the ferts. Peppers dont require much food.

 

[harry]

Hi everyone

I'm having a tough time getting my plants to keep/make flowers and was hoping you could help with some questions.

One of my orange habanero plants had loads of flowers a while ago but most of them dropped off. I've seen quite a few threads about this but haven't found an answer about whether new flowers can shoot from the same node where the old flowers fell off. All of the stem nodes where the old flowers fell off have what looks like a little crater (where the flower joined the stem) but no new flower has grown Do flowers only grow once? The new growth looks like having mini flower buds but the rest of the plant is only leaves.

Each node of the Capsicum chinense varieties I have seen, orange Habanero being one of them, has the capability of producing multiple flowers per active node. The extremely hot weather in Perth does not bode well for flower bud development. Once the plant has had its go at producing the set of flowers per node and either succeeded or failed it will not produce flowers at that node again.

What is the origin of the orange Habanero strain? I went through three sources before coming across a more durable strain.

Also another query, another plant of mine (ebay Chocolate Habanero so not 100% sure) seems to start forming these little flower buds which then shrivel and get a tiny little black tip. The sun has been pretty hot lately so do you reckon these have burnt? It finally has a few flowers starting on it now in the new growth. Also will new flowers come out from where the little "burnt" ones are or only from new growth??

Thanks!
Chris

Do you have some photos of the plants?

thanks for the reply. That's good to know that they do eventually grow back.

We had a couple of weeks where it was like 36-40 degrees (this is a few weeks back when the flowers dropped off but they were falling before that also). I have the plants receiving morning sun until about 10.30/11am then the patio they're under blocks the sun and they receive a bit more afternoon sun from about 5.30. I only water them every couple of days and almost every day during that hot period.

I have them in potting mix which already contains slow release fertiliser and I was giving them an extra bit of MG Max Feed (Tomato & veg) every 10 days or so. I read somewhere here that flowers can fall off if there is excess nitrogen so I haven't given them any extra MG for a few weeks now.

Should I add some sort of flower boost fertilizer also? I've been trying to take a more hands off approach lately so have just been giving them water every few days and looking at them for bugs and just to admire them, haha.

Which particular potting mix have you used? I had a bad experience mixing slow release fertiliser with soluble fertiliser that resulted in growth tip burn last season. This in combination with the Perth heat may be the cause of damage to the growth tips.

Um, I have never seen this happen. Once a node is done it is done. I have never seen a plant put out new buds at any node that has had flower dry up or pods already picked. Maybe if it normally has 3-5 pods per node and only one or two pop first and dry up but they can only put out buds at new nodes.

Water when they wilt and go easy on the ferts. Peppers dont require much food.

I have seen the odd C. chinense produce and abort a first flower bud at a node to then recover and produce the rest after some period of time. More often than not though they flower buds appear at the same time.

I wouldn't advise waiting until the plants wilt in Perth weather. I aim to learn when I need to water the plants to catch them just before they wilt. My experience here was allowing the plants to wilt in dry very hot weather exacerbated flower drop issues.

 

[millworkman]

I have seen the odd C. chinense produce and abort a first flower bud at a node to then recover and produce the rest after some period of time. More often than not though they flower buds appear at the same time.

I wouldn't advise waiting until the plants wilt in Perth weather. I aim to learn when I need to water the plants to catch them just before they wilt. My experience here was allowing the plants to wilt in dry very hot weather exacerbated flower drop issues.

Yeah, if you look real close you can see the tiny buds are there they just dont grow immediately.

 

[Prehensile]

mine seem to do better when I ignore them

 

[ChrisG]

mine seem to do better when I ignore them

yea mine too! I used to spend ages moving them around and pruning older brown/damaged leaves or whatever and feeding them etc but am trying to just let them be now. They've never seemed so happy, haha.

Harry - /I'll post a pic of the "burnt" flower buds when I get home this afternoon.

Thanks for the comments/answers!

 

[ChrisG]

Here's that photo I promised. The one on the right still looks like a flower bud but it's tiny and brown/black. The one on the left looks brown/black too but doesn't look like a flower bud at all anymore.