Blossom Drop - Nutrient Issue?

[Pepper Merchant]

Hello I am having an issue with my plants (Reaper, ThunderMt, and Paprika) all the plants have roughly 40+ open flowers and 10+ without the petals (believed to be pollinated) the flowers hold well but once pollination occurs the stems turn yellow and drop off. I am wondering if it's purely heat related (this week and next 89F) or based off my feed schedule.

Currently I feed it the following general hydroponics ratios per gallon once every 2 weeks this solution is split across 15 plants 1/2 gallon at a time:

7ml Micro - 5-0-1

10ml Grow - 2-1-6

10ml Bloom - 0-5-4

1ml CalMg - 1-0-0

These ratios are lower than the recommendation plan I have been following here: https://www.hydroponics.net/learn/flora-nutrient-suggested-application-rates.php

However I see GH cuts out the Grow formula here: https://www.thegrowshow.org/img/cms/gh%20flora%20exp%20dtw.jpg

From my reading I believe increased nitrogen causes drop. If that's the case why would micro still be called for and should I only be using Bloom and CalMg at this point. The plants don't appear to have any other issues right now.

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

Hello I am having an issue with my plants (Reaper, ThunderMt, and Paprika) all the plants have roughly 40+ open flowers and 10+ without the petals (believed to be pollinated) the flowers hold well but once pollination occurs the stems turn yellow and drop off. I am wondering if it's purely heat related (this week and next 89F) or based off my feed schedule.

Currently I feed it the following general hydroponics ratios per gallon once every 2 weeks this solution is split across 15 plants 1/2 gallon at a time:

7ml Micro - 5-0-1

10ml Grow - 2-1-6

10ml Bloom - 0-5-4

1ml CalMg - 1-0-0

These ratios are lower than the recommendation plan I have been following here: https://www.hydroponics.net/learn/flora-nutrient-suggested-application-rates.php

However I see GH cuts out the Grow formula here: https://www.thegrowshow.org/img/cms/gh%20flora%20exp%20dtw.jpg

From my reading I believe increased nitrogen causes drop. If that's the case why would micro still be called for and should I only be using Bloom and CalMg at this point. The plants don't appear to have any other issues right now.

 
So how have you been doing since 2017?>First time grower looking for input.

The reason I ask is that's a complex mixture of nutes & wondering if its been working for ya ?
 
Forgot/EDIT
 
A respected member here has this standard advice.....
 

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.

 

[CaneDog]

Based on the leaves, your plants look healthy.  I would assume, without knowing more, it's simply a matter of the heat/weather patterns or that the plants have just started flowering and sometimes dojn't set as aggressively right from the start.  Over-watering can sometimes cause issues too - and your media looks pretty wet - but given how healthy your foliage looks I'll assume only because you just watered.  Those are some common reasons.  I truly doubt it's nitrogen related and there's no reason to decrease N from a reasonably appropriate pre-flowering level.

 

[luvmesump3pp3rz]

the advice posted above spot on. i used to fret over the same thing you posted. i had a couple of plants do the same thing this year but i have learned to not worry about it. a plant might drop a few early in the season but will start setting pods and all will be well. it may happen again when temps get 90 or 95+ degrees but that is to be expected. don`t go crazy with fertilizing and watering and you should do fine. peppers don`t like the soil too moist so let the soil get dry between watering. they may show wilting during 90+ temps but as the sun sets they perk back up. if they stay wilted then you know its time to water. i think in your case it`s just what young plants do sometimes. 

 

[Pepper Merchant]

 
1) So how have you been doing since 2017?>First time grower looking for input.

2) The reason I ask is that's a complex mixture of nutes & wondering if its been working for ya ?
 
Forgot/EDIT
 
3) A respected member here has this standard advice.....
 

 
1)
2017 - We grew only in the aerogarden at first, having come here for advice when we transplanted mediums to soil and the advice was spot on. The plant produced a few pods before the winter came.
2018-2019 - We took to growing in soil and plastic pots and only grew ghosts using zero additional nutrients. This was to help understand pland droop watering cycles, understand how much yield we would get in a season, bugs, etc.
2020 - We wanted to step it up to 20 plants (4 types) and use some nutrients based off how average the yeald was in 18-19. We purchased the GH kit as it can be added to soil as well as hydro. We use it below spec without negative results.
 
2)
Moving to GH for soil and hydro has been good. Based off 2 years of growing ghosts without as a baseline and moving to GH but using 1/4 at first then 1/2 strength. We have noticed a large improvement in the soil planted peppers and for sure in the hydro peppers of that we have 2 still for fun. It sped up how fast they needed to be transplanted for sure next year I would start later as they had very deep roots early in the year before I could move them outside.
 
3)
I guess my post title was poorly worded and should have said: New to hot nutrients. I had been reading that too much N causes drop and was not sure why they would still include it and if I should drop it out.
Reading and searching prior to making my post here I did see the 11 causes of drop that I followed in 2017 and thats why I made mention of the heat we have had. Based off my search I saw a post where one member uses only GH blossom once the flowers were in and figured I would seek additional input.

 

[Pepper Merchant]

Based on the leaves, your plants look healthy.  I would assume, without knowing more, it's simply a matter of the heat/weather patterns or that the plants have just started flowering and sometimes dojn't set as aggressively right from the start.  Over-watering can sometimes cause issues too - and your media looks pretty wet - but given how healthy your foliage looks I'll assume only because you just watered.  Those are some common reasons.  I truly doubt it's nitrogen related and there's no reason to decrease N from a reasonably appropriate pre-flowering level.

 
Yes I had just watered before taking the photo. I found that these fast growing non-superhots (thunder mt.) really enjoy the additinal water as I come out mid day and the medium is dry and loamy on top. In additon they are in fabric pots and the wind licks away the moisture. The reapers consume the water at a slower pace and I have been giving them less water.
 
The heat here 36c (96.8f) this week and this is very unusual for us so I will see if the pollinated flowers seem to stick. In the past I had blossom drop but not pollinated pepper end drop and found this strange. 
 
Thanks (to you all) for the comments I will keep the current feed schedule and see how it does as the summertime temps begin to drop.

 

[Pepper Merchant]

Well the rain and the heat have passed.
Let's hope these fallen pods are the last of what we will see for a while.

 

[Karpasruuti]

Looks like a shock to me. Maybe some rain/wind protection would help ur chilies.