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Naga viper and Carolina reaper flower drooping

J

Jacobt

This is my first year growing peppers my hot wax are doing great now that I fixed the calcium problem and the chi chein are producing great, especially the one I LST'd.

I have three naga vipers and three Carolina reapers that are putting out a ton of flowers but they bloom and drop. Not a single pod on any plant.

The last couple of days I've pollenated them with a brush to see if that was the problem. It's also hot here, today 110 and tomorrow is supposed to be 117. Could the heat cause flower drop? Any other ideas?
 
Jacobt said:
This is my first year growing peppers my hot wax are doing great now that I fixed the calcium problem and the chi chein are producing great, especially the one I LST'd.

I have three naga vipers and three Carolina reapers that are putting out a ton of flowers but they bloom and drop. Not a single pod on any plant.

The last couple of days I've pollenated them with a brush to see if that was the problem. It's also hot here, today 110 and tomorrow is supposed to be 117. Could the heat cause flower drop? Any other ideas?
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first "real" season growing for me, too....for whatever it's worth, my reapers dropped flowers for WEEKS before finally setting pods appx 10-12 days ago.
 
Yep with temps above 100 you're gonna have a lot of flowers drop on the Chinense's - main thing to do is just keep them in good shape so that when a break in the weather happens they are ready and healthy.
 
I'll be patient. They've been blooming and dropping for about 3 weeks now. The plants look great. I don't think we'll have a break in temps until October.
 
Are they in the ground or pots? If they are in pots it might help to get the pot off the ground a few inches (maybe set them on a pallet so air can flow freely underneath) and get them under some 30% shade cloth. That should help them keep a little cooler and maybe help with fruit set.
 
My summers have a long 100+ stretch. Once I added 40% shade cloth to the mix I got better fruit production. Next step is some companion perennial flowers for pollination.
 
They are in pots. Currently they are shaded for a couple hours during mid day. Maybe I'll move them closer to the tree trunk for more shade. It's a small tree, I'd guess it provides about 50-60% shade.
 
I've had that problem too, I find the sun cooks the pot/roots really hot so the next season I'm gonna mulch them and put them in larger 30L pots. I'm also gonna put some white tarp around the outside of the pot to deflect the heat and keep the pot/roots cooler.
 
Mine are all in 5 gallon black pots. Maybe next year I'll burry the pots or wrap them with a white cloth. We have a long growing season here. It's still mid/high 90s. I should have about a month and a half of growing so I'm not giving up yet.
 
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.
 
I think my problem has been the heat. It's been over 95 for the last 3 months. I'm thinking about repotting with new soil and trying an indoor grow with lights and grow tent (tent is probably not necessary but to keep the pets out). Maybe that's a topic for a new thread. I don't know if I want to spend the money for that.
 
I quit. Still no peppers. Ugh. Still have 7 great looking plants. Tons of flowers. But they keep dropping. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. Trying to decide if I should over winter or just get new seed and start all over.

Over wintering would require a 100 dollar green house from local box store. 100 is a lot for me to spend. I am in usda zone 9a. Maybe I should clone a bunch of cuttings to over winter for an earlier start to next season.
 
Jacobt said:
I quit. Still no peppers. Ugh. Still have 7 great looking plants. Tons of flowers. But they keep dropping. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. Trying to decide if I should over winter or just get new seed and start all over.

Over wintering would require a 100 dollar green house from local box store. 100 is a lot for me to spend. I am in usda zone 9a. Maybe I should clone a bunch of cuttings to over winter for an earlier start to next season.
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I am in zone 9b, and I have no problem with keeping plants alive outside all winter long.

If you can keep them alive, and get them going again as soon as possible in the spring, you should be in pod heaven.
 
In my experience they can handle cold temps as long as frost does not get them directly. When spring starts give them a prune so they are not top heavy and they should do fine, good luck.
 
I have one pod growing finally. Temps finally dropped to about 90 for a week or so. One flower set to pod. Then temps jumped back to over 95 and all the rest of the flowers dropped. I don't think this pod will have enough time to rippen before it gets cold. I think this shows my problem has been the heat. Next year I will use pallets and shade cloth. Plus over wintearing these pants should give me a headstart.
 
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