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If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.
yield Bhut Jolokia. No yield until second season.
- Thread starter wartooth
- Start date
millworkman
Extreme Member
I don't want to sound mean, so don't take it that way, but you are doing something wrong. It is not normal at all for plants to only produce 13 pods a year. It is true that the yield generally increases the second year but still. A healthy plant should be doing much better than that. How about some pictures of it?
it appears the super hotties for me are turning out to be a 2 season plant before producing. i am putting it off to my dry, arid and cool nights environment. both, my soil container and hydro are displaying the same results. though the hydro plants are larger only a few flowers have been produced, most have just dropped off. now any of my chinense variety that is in its second year has pods.
13 pods per plant is a common yeild for me, some only give 5 or 6, i have a tepin that hasn't produced a pod in 2 years. with the cooler nights, the plants just can't get to a size that can support larger yeilds. all my plants are in 1 gallon containers and that may be a factor as well but to move up to five gallons, i would have to radically cut the number of plants and varieties as many summer nights approach night time temps of 45F. at this time of the year i have to bring all my plants(chinenses) in the house every night. i do have some varieties that are indigenous to the andes that are in the garage but only for about another week, then they too will have to come in the house. i will have to start covering my tomatoes at night soon too.
good luck.
13 pods per plant is a common yeild for me, some only give 5 or 6, i have a tepin that hasn't produced a pod in 2 years. with the cooler nights, the plants just can't get to a size that can support larger yeilds. all my plants are in 1 gallon containers and that may be a factor as well but to move up to five gallons, i would have to radically cut the number of plants and varieties as many summer nights approach night time temps of 45F. at this time of the year i have to bring all my plants(chinenses) in the house every night. i do have some varieties that are indigenous to the andes that are in the garage but only for about another week, then they too will have to come in the house. i will have to start covering my tomatoes at night soon too.
good luck.
From what I have gathered, yes, it is normal to have higher yeilds the second, thrid, forth seasons, but like stated, something is wrong if you only got 1 pepper the first season. All my ghost plants (I have 5) are producing like mad and they were started from seed in January. I have gotten atleast 2 dozen pods off each plant so far and there are atleast that many more that arent yet ripe.
Are you growing them indoors or in a cool climate? How many flowers are you getting? Are the flowers dropping off before they are pollinated?
Are you growing them indoors or in a cool climate? How many flowers are you getting? Are the flowers dropping off before they are pollinated?
My TS did not produce until I put them in the ground, after nursing them on my patio for 10 months and at 3-4 foot tall they would not keep buds/flowers only dropping em. I put em in the ground and wallah they produced 2 months later at about a year old.
oh sure make me want to move to florida just for the grow season
Pepper-Guru
Extreme Member
Yes. Not to sound mean but, +1
Thanks everyone. Very useful advice. The first season, I thought it was because it was in too small of a container and not enough sunlight. However, my friend had the exact same plant (from same seeds) in a much larger container and had a few more hours of sunlight per day. We did nothing too scientific: decent soil (Miracle-Gro Organic Choice)and fish fertilizer every couple weeks. We both got the same results, tons of flowers and they all dropped. No over-watering, no over-fertilizing. I even switched to a fertilizer with less nitrogen. Nothing changed. We got lush leaf development, tons of flowers, but no fruit. However, thanks for all the advice. I'm content with my yield this season. There's more flowering too. There may be a few more fruit before winter. It's in a 3 gallon right now. I'll definitely transfer to a 5 gallon or larger for next season. I've read a few topics already on this site pertaining to soil content. I'll be more scientific with the soil content next season.
millworkman
Extreme Member
General consensus around here has been that the organic choice soil is far worse than even the regular Miracle Gro. Ditch that and mix up some of your own soil. Some peat, perlite, maybe some vermiculite and some composted manure and you will be amazed with the growth.
Miracle Gro works just fine compared to not fertilizing at all. Sure there are better things out there, but there's a reason it's the most popular fertilizer available.
I would have to agree that you are doing something wrong. I may be wrong with an assumption, but I can tell you something from my own experience. I started a few seedlings in early spring this year. By June, each plant had set on average, 120 to 160 peppers. They are growing in 7 gallon containers and I use a good mixed soil and then add 3 parts composted manure and 1 part used coffee grounds to the soil. My bhuts are now 6 feet wide and 4 feet tall without using any fertilizer.
My first year, in which I knew nothing about growing pepper plants, the plants produced about 90 flowers each in the first batch of flowers, but only produced about 8 peppers. I read in a forum that bhuts have a problem setting peppers without any help so when the second batch of flowers came around, I hand pollinated each flower and during that batch, I produced over 100 peppers per plant. Others on this forum have said that they get a natural set without any problems. I can not attest to this, but also have to believe what they say. You didn't mention if you were getting flowers or not, so without knowing that detail, I am guessing you might get more peppers if you hand pollinated the flowers.
My first year, in which I knew nothing about growing pepper plants, the plants produced about 90 flowers each in the first batch of flowers, but only produced about 8 peppers. I read in a forum that bhuts have a problem setting peppers without any help so when the second batch of flowers came around, I hand pollinated each flower and during that batch, I produced over 100 peppers per plant. Others on this forum have said that they get a natural set without any problems. I can not attest to this, but also have to believe what they say. You didn't mention if you were getting flowers or not, so without knowing that detail, I am guessing you might get more peppers if you hand pollinated the flowers.
Pepper-Guru
Extreme Member
Also, you must keep in mind that Miracle Grow does NOT make a product that is "ORGANIC". Even their organic products aren't organic.
millworkman
Extreme Member
This is exactly the way I do it. I wet the brush and then squeeze out all the extra water. Then I paint all the open flowers. You are also right about the time of day. I always hand pollinate my cycads first thing in the morning, but noticed that the flowers on peppers aren't totally wide open until at least 11 am, so I do it usually after 11 and before 2 and somewhere between being about perfect. I used to take off a flower and rub it on another one, but then figured I was waisting a pepper by removing a fresh flower just for the pollen.
Bleh... who the hell cares about "organic?" That's just a way to gouge people of more money for no real benefit.
That said... Miracle-Gro's Organic Choice was one of the shittiest potting mixes I have tried so far; you'd be better off with their regular mix or Moisture Control. I can't say anything about their "garden soil" products though.
Geez, my mind is blown...so you just paint over each flower and the contact with each pepper pollinates the next one you brush? EDIT: and maybe dumb question, can you paint through the same plant or do different plants have to pollinate each other?
Also, I have a 7 pot producing about 13 peppers...is that a low yield?
