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Lack of buds and flowers

M

metman

So it's getting into late August here in Norman, OK, and I'm starting to get a little worried that I won't get any chiles out of my hard work. I've got four primary plants: two Jamaican Hot Chocolate plants and two Chocolate Bhut Jolokia plants. My plants are rather large, have lots of branches, but the infant buds I've been seeing have not grown beyond a few millimeters and their stem has a very small diameter (they seem stunted.) I started these by seed back in mid March and transferred them into pots around May with Miracle Grow Potting Soil mixed with perlite. I chose this combination because I had read about the Miracle Grow dumping it's nitrogen first (faster than advertised) and then releasing the potassium and phosphate over a period of time. I've been top watering ever since I transferred them to pots, and the plants are huge, the stems are thick, and they have plenty of leaves which makes me think it might be too much nitrogen.

I've come across these possible reasons and there are a few that have been happening around here. I don't know if this applies to buds too.

Flower drop probable causes:
1. Day temp too high >95F
We've had sweltering temperatures around 100+ F for the past two weeks. We're looking to be in the mid 90s for the rest of the week.

2. Night temp too low <65F
Doesn't seem to be a problem with lows in the 70s to 80s.

3. Too much nitrogen fertilizer
This could be an issue considering the soil I have any additional fertilizer I gave it.

4. Too much water
Because of the hot temperatures, I've had to water almost daily because the soil will dry out very quickly.

5. Low light levels (reduces fertility).
My porch gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight. Not ideal, but it's all I can get without cutting down the tree blocking my porch.

6. Very low humidity (reduces fertility)
I don't think this has been a problem considering the fact that the nighttime temperature has been and is expected to be in the 70s and 80s.

7. Poor air circulation (air circulation contributes to pollination).
My porch gets pretty good airflow since it's in the apartment complex canyon.

8. Lack of pollinating insects.
Without any flowers, I don't think this is an issue yet.

9. Size of pot
Look at the pictures and you be the judge. This is my first time, so I'm not sure how much this matters.

10. Too much mineral in feedwater.
I leave the feed-water out for a day to get rid of the chlorine, but our water is known to be pretty dirty.

Any ideas as to what's going on with my plants or things I could change/try to get buds to grow? Do I just need to be more patient? They all seem to be doing just great except for this part.

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[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]"The key factor affecting fruit set is night temperature, which ideally should be between 65&deg; and 80&deg; F. Fruit will not set when temperature is above 85&deg; at night because of excessive transpiration, which causes the blossoms to drop." - DeWitt & Bosland - [/background]Peppers of the World[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]. [/background]
 
My peppers stopped blooming during the weeks we had the 95+ temps. About 10days after it cooled down the blooms started coming in large numbers.
 
They are definitely stunted in size from the limited amount of sun. If you are not watering so much that it's coming out the bottoms of the pots in great quantity, you're watering about the right amount considering the temperatures and small pots.

The plants aren't very big at all, nor thick stems for starting in mid March and having no energy put into growing pods. The pot size is also limiting but in those pots it looks like you could have added at least 20% more soil if not even more.

I'd attribute it most to their size and high daytime temperatures. If all else fails you might want to look into whether there's a community garden somewhere near that you can use so they get more sun, get to stretch their roots more, and more consistency in soil moisture level.

If you have not been fertilizing them beyond what is in the potting soil, they aren't getting too much nitrogen. If you have been giving them more all this time then it is possible, but they would tend to have burnt roots then and look sickly instead of just small and fruitless.
 
Thank you for the responses. As someone who is still learning about gardening, I very much appreciate them!

I have some friends who have a screened porch in west facing apartment that I'm sure gets more unobstructed sunlight than my dinky porch. Perhaps I'll look at putting my plants there. I'm kind of hesitant to do the community garden because of the drought here. My porch is pretty small, hence the want to keep the plants small. I'm sure I could simulate the consistent soil moisture issue by mulching. Would you guys recommend I put them in bigger pots given the amount of growing season time I have left and the current state of things?

I've noticed that I probably should have filled up my pots with more soil. Should I just put more soil in there? I'd like not to put more of the Miracle Grow soil because I'd be adding more nitrogen. The closest Pro-Mix supplier I've found is up in Tulsa. What type should I put in?

I have fertilized just a little bit at the beginning of their life in pots with the Miracle-Gro Shake 'n Feed Tomato, Fruits, and Vegetables with Calcium (mainly because I was having something that looked like calcium deficiency), but not excessively. It's 9-4-12 and I've added bonemeal (0-10-0) to the soil every now and to try to attempt to make up for the lack of phosphate in the soil.
 
I'm having the same problem here in north texas despite my big, lush, healthy plants. I've got to agree with what thegreenman posted. We just had our first night in a couple of months last night that got below the 80s and upper 70s. Even my habs and jals are barely setting fruit right now and the only super hot that has set is my yellow cardi scorpion (that strain is one productive beast, I am told) and red congo (only 3 pods!). I know the heat is all thats holding these things back cuz they are super healthy. Lack of sun is also likely to be a problem if they only get four hours.
 
If you can get Lambert potting soil at Home Depot it should be fine, and has no fertilizer added. Fafard also makes quality potting soils.

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I'm new at the hot pepper thing. But I think it would depend on your growing season, I'm sure OK has longer season than Indy. If you have a couple more months of good growing it might be worth repotting, but do it before you get new blooms.You can also bring your plants indoors for the winter and get a head start next year.
 
I'd add some soil, but grade it so it's higher at the edges than the middle. Seems too late in the season and too little sun to expect a large return from repotting them instead but I could be wrong as the weather has been screwy here for the last two years and warmer than usual last winter. You could have 2.5 to 3 (?) months still and that's a lot of time with the start they already have.

I'm thinking the issue isn't excessive nitrogen and would use the Miracle Grow soil if you already have some or what the greenman suggested, though I like to mix in more organic matter such as old grass clippings or pine needles, coffee grounds, eggshells, etc. Most other things ought to be composted first.

About plant size versus the porch, it's better to have a big pot and plant then trim it back if it gets too big for the space, than to try and limit plant size from the beginning as the faster it gets to a certain size the more pods it'll set and the more resistant to high temperatures it'll be with a higher root to leaf ratio as well as higher water capacity in the larger pot.
 
Dave2000, I went ahead and added more Miracle Grow soil, and brought my plants over to a friends apartment. He gets more sunlight from his western facing porch (it is screened-in though) than I do, so I'm hoping that the additional sunlight will help encourage them to grow buds. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll post again on this thread in a week or so to update y'all.

The first temperature below freezing is sometime in November, on average. October usually brings temperatures that get pretty close to that (we get cold fronts blasting in from the north around that time) so I'm not sure we're going to have that time. There are some indications from the Climate Prediction Center that the next three months the temperatures in the Central Plains will be above normal, but I haven't paid much attention as to how valid these forecasts are (I've got more experience in the short-term weather prediction...not the long term.)

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/
 
After moving the plants, I went to check their progress today. The two Chocolate Bhut Jolokias are finally spitting out buds at the top of the plant! I'm not sure if this is due to the increased sunlight or consistently cooler temperatures or even the extra soil, but I'm thrilled! The Jamaican Hot Chocolate plants haven't shown any signs of buds growing though...maybe next time I check them on Monday we'll see some improvement.

Thank you all who provided advice! I'm happy to have a new milestone in this growing project crossed!
 
Metman,
I live about 60 miles east of you outside the little town of Maud. All my pepper plants are in the ground at this moment, but the heat took a toll on production. We set some record heat records and tied for the hottest day ever with 113 degrees. My Bhut, Butch, Habs are jut now starting to set peppers and the bird peppers are just starting to ripen. So it wasn't you, it was mother nature and the heat. This happen to me last year. All I could do was keep them alive until some rain and cooler temps arrived. I did get some decent production. As I always say, there's next year...
 
farmerdoc, I remember that day. I think I was out of the state for that day, but I heard from some friends that we were expected to almost break an all-time high temperature record on that day. Thanks for the verification about the heat being the problem! Quick question: when does our growing season usually end? I'm just trying to estimate how long I have till I have to keep my plants inside. Thanks!

Last summer was absolutely brutal. I'm surprised you got some peppers!
 
Metman,
Our first frost is usually around the middle of November, but keep a watch on the nigh temps, as once the lows get around 65 degress production stops. I start potting the pepper I want to keep around mid October, so I can get them adjusted and control any bugs that want to hibernate in my barn....
 
i started a bunch of plants in 3 gal pots, and they did the same thing.. then thru this forum, i found that larger pots helps pod development in a lot of cases. it sure did in mine..my plants started podding up with in 2 weeks of transplant.. the plants i have in 5 gals are good, and the ones i have in 10 gals are huge huge.. id go with 5 gal pots based on your tight space.. make sure that when you plant you fill the bottom of the pot up as much as you can and end up with the soil level no more than an 2 inches under the rim.. that will give the root system plenty of room to grow downwards.
 
farmerdoc, thanks for the heads up regarding the night temperatures. Wish I had come across your response before our cold front came through! Since it looks like we're going to have nighttime lows below that threshold tonight, I'll probably try to bring them in.

2fishminimum, I may be moving towards the 5 gallon pots when it comes time to overwinter them, but I'm not quite sure if I'll try to move them into bigger pots before then. Thanks for the tip though. I'm realizing that I probably need to go all out when it comes to getting these things to produce!
 
^ I am not observing that on my peppers, production keeps on going till it is regularly 50F or lower at night, but with cooler weather their ripening starts to take longer.
 
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