My Bhut Jolokia started flowering

[Sujai]

I started my seeds indoors early June and transplanted to a huge pot on my terrace mid July and had pinched few of the lower leaves as they were touching the soil surface some times.

My potting soil is one part coir pith (coco) + one part aged sheep manure + one part garden soil + small amount of super phosphate + epsom salt + agri lime

I fed the plants with slightly higher P and K than N initially for a month and then switched to balanced NPK, always diluted the feed and fed them frequently to avoid burning them.

Pinching off the lower leaves promoted vigorous branches from the leaf nodes and those branched have overtaken the main stem in size and foliage, every node now has at least three or four flower buds and I have lost count of the number of buds as there are simply soo many buds

Two days back the first flower opened and yesterday another three have opened, I am really happy that I have got them going this long, as I had burned the plants or the seedlings damped off the last few times I attempted growing Bhuts and they never survived to flowering stage.

I have read in many places that initial flower drop is common in Bhut and other c.chinense, not sure if my flowers will drop too, but given below are the environmental, feeding, watering that I am following.

Day time temp: 89 to 95
Night time temp: 71 to 75
Watering on a daily basis, and feeding them with diluted 1/4 strength 19-19-19(NPK) every four five days once.

Is there anything that I am doing wrong or anything that I could do to get the plant to set fruit?

Regards,
Sujai

 

[Balac]

Congratulations on getting your Bhuts this far. Good Job!!!!!

As to care and handling the plants in a Container I do not know what is best. Since I plant in the ground I am not familiar with Potted plants. But in the ground I used some Epsom salts in the ground tilled in with cow manure and compost to give a loose soil for growth. I planted my Bhuts in the house in December and put them out in late march---they had pick-able fruits in the end of August and died off with cold weather on September 15.

I fed my entire garden with Fish tea about 3 times and had great plants and production. I do not use chemical fertilizers but my try worm castings this winter in the starting out phase of the plants.

Good luck and Happy peppering

 

[Sujai]

It was raining yesterday and this morning I went to the terrace to check out on my Bhuts...

The first flower bud that opened up before three or four days has dropped and I felt very sad on seeing the dropped flower lying down on the dirt....

Not sure if any one else here feel the same way as I am when you see flower drops, or am I being a bit impatient here?

On the positive side, there are at least some 30 fully formed flower buds and 10 or more already opened flowers, hoping that few of them will make it to ripe pod stage

Regards,
Sujai