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Butch T: Countless buds forming but not opening

C

Captain Capsaicin

The weather has been more mild in Maryland as of late. As a result my 7 Pot Jonah and my Bhut are really starting to pod up. My Butch T is in the ground, right next to my Bhut. The Butch T is 5'+ tall and very full. It's been producing buds for a very long time now.

I'm used to plants flowering and then having the flowers fall if the conditions aren't right. This is only my second year growing but I haven't seen this before and more importantly, I haven't read anything about it. The plant has tons of buds but not one of them has flowered yet alone produced fruit.

Has anyone else had a plant drop buds before the bud has even opened? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
I've noticed that the ButchT is a very stubborn variety in general IMO. The ButchT is slow to germinate (for me) and very very stubborn when it comes to setting pods ( for me)
As far as buds not turning to flowers, that is very odd!!! Get the soil ph reading. Also you may need to try something new to spark the buds to open. Maybe some bone meal and bloom fert if you're not using it. But first thing is first get the soil ph reading for the ButchT, then go from there! Good luck
 
I'll check the soil pH tomorrow. I've been using Dr. Earth's Bud and Bloom Booster (4-10-7). I haven't used any bone meal this year but I've used tons of it in years past.

As an FYI, during a heat wave awhile back I watered daily. I was obviously over-watering because the leaves were turning yellow. The unopened buds dropped before that. Subsequently I cut back on the watering and the plant is full of lush, verdant growth. Despite the return to robust health the bud drop continues. I'd have to imagine that the over-watering spell has nothing to do with this.

In addition, the Bhut is right next to the Butch T and I never saw unopened buds fall. I take a pretty organic approach to my gardening but I'd be happy to foliar feed some 0-52-0 if that would jump start things.
 
The fert ratio is very good for flowering and fruiting. You mentioned over watering, so I assume nearly all the leaves on the plant were turning yellow as this is a sign of over watering. The only other thing that comes to mind since you say you were over watering is possible root rot, but I'm not sure of that one since you say the plant has a lot of foliage. My best bet is that the ButchT just needs more time to recover from the over watering! Do you have the plant in a raised bed? Putting the plants in the ground with a raised bed will help the over watering along with adding some perlite to soil
 
The Butch T was started in late January. For what it's worth the bhut is a 2nd year plant and the 7 Pot was started in February. The latter 2 are really podding up.
 
megahot said:
The fert ratio is very good for flowering and fruiting. You mentioned over watering, so I assume nearly all the leaves on the plant were turning yellow as this is a sign of over watering. The only other thing that comes to mind since you say you were over watering is possible root rot, but I'm not sure of that one since you say the plant has a lot of foliage. My best bet is that the ButchT just needs more time to recover from the over watering! Do you have the plant in a raised bed? Putting the plants in the ground with a raised bed will help the over watering along with adding some perlite to soil
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The leaves that grew during the over-watering period are still slightly yellowish but all of the subsequent growth (which has been substantial) is a healthy dark green. The bed is indeed raised although I never added perlite.

Prehensile said:
BTs do that all the time.
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That's really good to hear! According to the weather forecast we're not supposed to get above 90 anytime in the near future. Hopefully they should start flowering soon. Thanks!
 
With the weather so hot here in Missouri, I have had to use a hormone spray to keep the flowers from not pollinating and falling off. So far though only my wild peppers have done the best. This time last year I only had to use the spray once and my Bhuts filled up with pods, but this year we have had weeks of days at 98F. to 106F. and night temps over 80F. to 90F. so I have watched the plants fill up with flowers only to see them fall off the plants, the hormone spray has helped some and my Bhuts are starting to get some pods, but my scorpions and congo peppers are just sitting there looking sad with no flowers at all. All of my peppers are in raised beds and get a few hours of shade during the hottest part of the day with nightly watering to keep the soil from turning into bricks. I did have some peppers that didn't get any shade, but the sun fried them along with some unprotected Tomato plants.
George W.
 
wildseed57 said:
I have had to use a hormone spray to keep the flowers from not pollinating and falling off.
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I'd be extremely curious to know what spray you used. I tried's Bonide's Tomato and Blossom Set Spray earlier on my 7 Pot. It's hard to tell with so many fluctuating variables but the spray seemed to exert a pretty minimal effect. I lack patience and I'd be elated if I could buy a product to get my plant to produce. There are so many buds on that Butch T that if even 5% of them would yield fruit I'd have some nice harvests.
 
Captain Capsaicin said:
I'd be extremely curious to know what spray you used. I tried's Bonide's Tomato and Blossom Set Spray earlier on my 7 Pot. It's hard to tell with so many fluctuating variables but the spray seemed to exert a pretty minimal effect. I lack patience and I'd be elated if I could buy a product to get my plant to produce. There are so many buds on that Butch T that if even 5% of them would yield fruit I'd have some nice harvests.
Click to expand...

I feel your pain! I have well over a hundred flowers on my ButchT and they all end up falling off, even a tiny part of the pepper is visible and still it falls off, it's very frustrating and my patience is thin as well :banghead:
 
My Butch T started in January hasn't formed any pods yet either. Other than that, it seems perfectly healthy. My advice - patience. Mother Nature will sort it out eventually.
 
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