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indoor Indoor plants dropping flowers

austin87

austin87

I cut my plant into a bonsai in November and have it on a table under a 36w LED grow light. After an initial shock from cutting down and transplanting it, it now looks great, has a ton of new growth, and tons of flowers, but won't set fruit. I've tried hand pollinating with a both a wet and dry Q-tip with no luck.
 
I feed regularly with Neptune's Fish and Seaweed (2-3-1). Anyone have any tips or suggestions? I'd love to get a couple peppers before spring. I am confident that it will take off like a bat out of hell shortly after planting it outside - probably late March or early April here in NorCal.
 
Plant in question
 

 

 
A couple more pics of other bonsai peppers (and some catnip)
 

 

 
 
cruzzfish said:
Totally normal if they aren't getting enough light or space.
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I have the light on for about 12 hours a day... Should I up it? Or are you referring to intensity of light and I should look at adding light bulbs?
 
I hacked off my big scorpion in an 18" pot and put it in the hillbilly winter shelter. Now it's flowering like crazy. I wish it would stop and just rest a while until I repot it in some fresh stuff for a bigtime summer production. I want it to regrow a lot but not especially too much until I can move it out of the shelter.
 
moruga welder said:
lumens my friend and lots of em '  
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More light bulbs. I'm about ready to start seeds and will get my 4ft 8 bulb T5 going on them. Will use the LED for supplement :)
 
DWB said:
I hacked off my big scorpion in an 18" pot and put it in the hillbilly winter shelter. Now it's flowering like crazy. I wish it would stop and just rest a while until I repot it in some fresh stuff for a bigtime summer production. I want it to regrow a lot but not especially too much until I can move it out of the shelter.
Click to expand...
If I knew I wouldn't get pods I would have just pulled it inside and let it get ambient light rather than out a bulb on it... Basically let it go dormant. I was really hoping I'd get some peppers. But when they go outside (bhutlah, Bahamian goat, yellow BBG7, and scotch bonnet) I fully expect to get killer harvests off of them...

Excited to have a root system and canopy intact to get a jump on the season.
 
Is the purpose here to make it into a beautiful bonsai or to have it producing fruit?
 
A bonsai is a plant that gives the appearance of being much larger and older than it is, if the plant is fruiting then you're going to have giant fruit hanging off of it and it ruins the illusion completely
 
If you want it to fruit heavily then putting it in a shallow pot will defeat this purpose
 
If you want a small plant that looks neat but is not a "bonsai" or a plant that you want to produce heavily then you probably want to put it into a wider pot so that it can grow the root system it needs to produce fruit
 
Flower drop probable causes:
 
1. Day temp too high >95F
2. Night temp too low <65F or too high >85F
3. Too much nitrogen fertilizer
4. Too much water
5. Low light levels (reduces fertility).
6. Very low humidity (reduces fertility)
7. Poor air circulation (air circulation contributes to pollination).
8. Lack of pollinating insects.
9. Size of pot
10. Too much mineral in feedwater.
11. Too much grower attention/anxiety.
 
Powelly said:
Is the purpose here to make it into a beautiful bonsai or to have it producing fruit?
 
A bonsai is a plant that gives the appearance of being much larger and older than it is, if the plant is fruiting then you're going to have giant fruit hanging off of it and it ruins the illusion completely
 
If you want it to fruit heavily then putting it in a shallow pot will defeat this purpose
 
If you want a small plant that looks neat but is not a "bonsai" or a plant that you want to produce heavily then you probably want to put it into a wider pot so that it can grow the root system it needs to produce fruit
Click to expand...
 
I cut these down to look like bonsai per Fatalli's guide: http://www.fatalii.net/bonsai_chiles_bonchi - but the plants were always going to go back outside in the spring and be allowed to grow into large plants again. Bonsai can produce fruit - look up bonsai pomegranate, apple, or dwarf lemon - award winning bonsai have been in a 6 inch pot with one full sized pomegranate hanging off it. The pics of fruiting plants in small pots from Fatalli's website are super cool and I don't think fruits ruin the look of the plant (you may disagree and that's fine).
 
So I guess in response to your question, the goal is to have them look like bonsai over the winter, and it would be a bonus to produce fruit and get some fresh pods in the off season. 
 
 
willard3 said:
Flower drop probable causes:
 
1. Day temp too high >95F
2. Night temp too low <65F or too high >85F
3. Too much nitrogen fertilizer
4. Too much water
5. Low light levels (reduces fertility).
6. Very low humidity (reduces fertility)
7. Poor air circulation (air circulation contributes to pollination).
8. Lack of pollinating insects.
9. Size of pot
10. Too much mineral in feedwater.
11. Too much grower attention/anxiety.
Click to expand...
 
There are no pollinating insects inside, I've tried hand pollinating. I gave my plants too much attention last year as seedlings and it delayed my season so I've learned not to do that. Not sure the mineral content of the tap water I'm using to water them. My guess would be light is not intense enough coupled with too low humidity. I'll get a humidifier and increase the light hours per day. It's not a huge deal if they don't pod up, I know they'll start podding early after going back outside into larger pots when the weather turns.
 
I don't consider the above bonsai
Leaves are too big, stem not thick enough
 
If that's what you want then go for it, nothing wrong with that but it's not really a bonsai
There is a great list above on how to get more fruit- getting it more bonsai-like is probably going to tip it towards fruiting less
 
Powelly said:
I don't consider the above bonsai
Leaves are too big, stem not thick enough
 
If that's what you want then go for it, nothing wrong with that but it's not really a bonsai
There is a great list above on how to get more fruit- getting it more bonsai-like is probably going to tip it towards fruiting less
Click to expand...
What's to consider?

Bon [left character] is a dish or thin bowl (a modified vessel which has been divided or cut down from a deeper form).

Sai [right character] is a tree or other growing plant which is planted "planted", as would be a halberd or spear or pike stuck into the ground.

Bonsai thus means or denotes a tree which is planted in a shallow container".
Click to expand...
 
Or further

Bonsai can be created from nearly any perennial woody-stemmed tree or shrub species[3] that produces true branches and can be cultivated to remain small through pot confinement with crown and root pruning
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My guess on the original post regarding no fruiting without knowing more would be: too little light and humidity levels which are also too low. Inside a house tends to be a very dry atmosphere compared with ideal growing conditions
 
Using a definition of bonsai doesn't really help the OP. I've never denied that chilli plants cannot be turned into bonsai. Just bonsaiing them while attempting to get them to produce plentiful fruit is counter-intuitive 
 
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