Flowers are Dropping Off.

Super Hots Canada

Super Hots Canada

Hey folks,
 
My Cayenne's are the first of my plants (grown from seed or seedling) to start flowering. They're growing just great considering their limitations (aka, only having T8's lights) and the past week or so most have start to really leaf out along their stems and the largest has grown around an inch in height.
 
I'm not experiencing any issues with leaves dropping with my Cayenne's in the last while, but none of the flowers that bloom seem to take - whether I give them a gentle shake or attempt to pollinate using a small paint brush. There doesn't seem to be any pollen - even from the ones I find growing upward. After a couple days of blooming they just turn pale and/or drop off.
 
I generally only water my plants when I see the leaves begin to droop a bit and I water every couple of weeks with 20-20-20 water soluble plant feed, and occasionally top them off with some bonemeal and 0-52-0 super-phosphorus. I've kept the temperature in the room averaging around 28-30C (82.4-86F) for weeks and only in the last couple of days (because of the onset of the cold weather) has it dropped to around 26-28C (78.8-82.4F).
 
The issue with the flowers has been ongoing for at least a week now, though.
 
Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks :)
 
 
 
Three of my smaller Cayenne's:
 
cayenne-collage.jpg

 
My largest Cayenne:
 
20131007_154259_525x700.jpg
 
There's a list of causes of flower drop by ajijoe around here somewhere, if you do a search for it. However, some I can remember off the top of my head include:
 
- Too little light
- Too little or too much water
- Too little or too much ferts
- Too low or too high pH
- Too low or too high temperatures
- Sterile pollen
- No pollen
 
Check your ferts and pH. Since peppers are related to tomatoes, you can use almost any tomato fertilizer with decent results. Ensure they get calcium and magnesium to help prevent blossom end rot (BER.) 
 
geeme said:
There's a list of causes of flower drop by ajijoe around here somewhere, if you do a search for it. However, some I can remember off the top of my head include:
 
- Too little light
- Too little or too much water
- Too little or too much ferts
- Too low or too high pH
- Too low or too high temperatures
- Sterile pollen
- No pollen
 
Check your ferts and pH. Since peppers are related to tomatoes, you can use almost any tomato fertilizer with decent results. Ensure they get calcium and magnesium to help prevent blossom end rot (BER.) 
Click to expand...
 
Thanks geeme :)
 
I've treated the "Super-Chili" mature plant I have the same as I have all the rest of my plants and it is in bloom a second time (since I got it in the summer) and it appears to be doing fine, so far.
 
I may well have kept the temperatures a bit too high for their liking. I have noticed that with the temps getting a bit lower they have been growing and branching out better.
 
I'll have to check the PH levels. They tend to be sitting somewhere around 6-7.
 
And I'll halt on the fertilizers for a while, as thegreenman suggested.
 
I do have tomato plants growing as well and I have noticed that the ones in my porch (which I rarely have to water - their in containers around 5 gal) that get nowhere near as much light, but deal with a climate closer to the outside, are growing -much- better than the ones inside that are under my T8's. I also don't add fertilizer or feed to the ones in the porch -nearly- as much, and yet, I have around 3-4 tomatoes growing right now.
 
20131002_164259_25p.jpg
 
They drop unless perfect. Many of them drops the first flowers anyhow. They WILL start to produce, when the plant think its right. Keep the plant looking healthy and green and they will produce 
 
NorwegianChili said:
They drop unless perfect. Many of them drops the first flowers anyhow. They WILL start to produce, when the plant think its right. Keep the plant looking healthy and green and they will produce 
Click to expand...
 
Thanks :) .. I'll keep working on 'em.
 
geeme said:
There's a list of causes of flower drop by ajijoe around here somewhere, if you do a search for it. However, some I can remember off the top of my head include:
 
- Too little light
- Too little or too much water
- Too little or too much ferts
- Too low or too high pH
- Too low or too high temperatures
- Sterile pollen
- No pollen
 
Check your ferts and pH. Since peppers are related to tomatoes, you can use almost any tomato fertilizer with decent results. Ensure they get calcium and magnesium to help prevent blossom end rot (BER.) 
Click to expand...
Or to much wind. My plants seem to really hate airflow, but then again thats only some of them.
 
cruzzfish said:
Or to much wind. My plants seem to really hate airflow, but then again thats only some of them.
Click to expand...
 
I have a single oscillating stand fan in the room where they are and I've got it directed in a way that the wind only lightly passes by them on each pass of the fan. The room is fairly small and in a sort of "L" shape. The tomato plants sometimes topple over, but I think those buggers are more of the vine-type, anyway:
 
old-bathroom.jpg
 
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.
 
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...
 
Damn, beat me to it.
Willard Post!!   :dance:  :dance:  :dance:
 
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...
 
I'm just going to run this checklist..
 
1. Safe there - highest it tends to get is -maybe- 88F with the lights on
2. May be cutting it close here.. -Generally- drops to around 79F with the lights off at night
3. Think I'm safe here - I feed using primarily bonemeal, tomato feed (5-7-7 I believe), super-phosphorus (0-52-0) and every couple weeks water soluble 20-20-20 feed (albeit, I may be using too much as mentioned)
4. Safe here, I think. I only water now when the leaves are noticeably drooping.
5. Definite possibility since I only have T8's so far. :(
6. Humidity in my rooms averages lately somewhere around 50-65%. Is that good?
7. Seems to be decent, with enough wind to cover them without knocking them over
8. All I have for insects are the rare spider or fungus gnat at this point.. So I attempt to pollinate using shaking or paintbrush
9. Possibly need to move a couple of them to bigger containers, though they seem comfy so far.
10. Not sure about the water. I fill 2 litre bottles with hot tap water and then I generally let them sit (open) for at least a day. I don't have a means of filtering the water at this point.
11. I keep an eye on them, but I generally keep my paws off (unless I'm attempting to pollinate or checking for drooping)
 
One other thing I've considered is that they possibly aren't sturdy enough, yet. Perhaps the stems need time to grow and thicken first.
 
Cut your fertilizer down by 8x or so and use it every other watering. Increase the watering and make sure plenty of light. I make sauce with mine and eat it with almost every meal and still can't keep up with the plants production
 
impending_bending said:
Cut your fertilizer down by 8x or so and use it every other watering. Increase the watering and make sure plenty of light. I make sauce with mine and eat it with almost every meal and still can't keep up with the plants production
Click to expand...
 
So it turns out that watering the plants that are flowering more regularly is -exactly- what they needed! :)
 
I took a look today and I have at least 2 Cayenne peppers growing, finally:
 
20131014_120423_450x600.jpg

 
.. not only that, but my flowering plants have all grown a -lot- in the past week. I think they're loving me right now lol
 
impending_bending said:
Awesome, I'm glad it worked!
Click to expand...
 
Thanks!
 
The first Cayenne pepper I ever try may well end up being one I've grown myself. *crosses fingers* .. My Haberno plants are really starting to branch out, as well.. maybe with some luck they'll start flowering soon :)
 
Gonna bump this one up.
 
My outdoor garden plants aren't setting pods and again, its only the super hots. In the same dirt I've got cayennes setting great amounts of pods but my super hots will either open their flower and drop or drop before they've opened.
 
The day temps get up to 40c but not consistent. Lately its been 27 - 32c. Humidity is not low. Light is great. Watering is once per day, soil does not retain much moisture. There are bees occasionally hanging around and other bugs, I also fingerbang the flowers. Sometimes they have pollen sometimes they don't. There isn't much nitrogen in the fertz I use. The PH is relatively stable. The water here is pretty soft. Out of the tap its about 75ppm at a ph of 7.
 
I don't feed the plants often, maybe once a week they get a seaweed tonic or powerfeed. Last week I gave them a weak hit with soluble potash. I might give them another hit this week. So far all of my non super hots have set pods, its just these buggers are playing hard ball! They are about 3.5 months old.
 
The good thing though is once the flowers all drop and there are no forming buds, the plants have growth spurts!
 
I've not actually reached the point of producing with any of my Chinense (Habs, Nagas & Reaper) -quite yet- (see my other posts), so I certainly aren't the most qualified on your issue..  But, I have seen that Chinense certainly do grow slower than Annum's (albeit that they also seem to grow much thicker/more sturdy), so maybe they don't need feed added quite as often? I've also noticed that they droop a LOT faster, so I'm thinking they eat up more water than the Annum's.
 
My primary grow room stays around 26-31*C.
 
I might be a little bit late lol but... I read some where that to much nitrogen in the soil (or what ever grow in) will inhibit pollen to grow or set or somthing like that. Just some thing to think about
 
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