Struggles of a new chilli grower: Great progress, annoying problems.

[mtj]

Hello guys. I'm a new grower from central Europe. I'm aware that I might be doing some mistakes as a beginner, but I'm doing my best for my plants. Anyway, long story short:
 
I planted 4 plants of different chilli plants. Two of them are Carolina Reapers, one is Jolokia Yellow, and the fourth is Habanero. I also have 7 Pot Jonah's and Chocolate Habaneros growing outside, but they're doing ok. No issues with them.
 
The reason I'm opening this post is because I have no idea what is going on with my chilli plants. The problem I have is that on both of the reapers there's literally million of flower buds, but they fall off before they open. I got 3 pods on each of the reapers, but after that the flowers just started to fall of. It's hard to tell whether there's no pollen, because flower buds fall off before they even to open. 
 
In contrast with Carolina reapers, my Jolokia Yellow just went crazy and at the moment there's approx 20 Pods growing on the 60cm plant.
 
Regarding habanero plant - It grew the biggest of them all, but it has the smallest container, and even though that is growing bigger and bigger everyday, there's not a single flower on it.
What confuses me is that all of the plants are exposed to the same conditions:  watered on the same day, get equal amount of sun, and overall have the same conditions. They are all outside (away from the rain) on the terrace in 2nd floor.
 
Here's the link to the gallery: https://imgur.com/a/UkkljMT
 
Please read the description of the pictures. I would love to hear any suggestions/comments from you guys.
 
EDIT: Also, I'm afraid that today I made a horrible mistake. Someone suggested me that I should fertilize again, so I did. Now I'm worries that flowers drop due to plants being too fed and that I just made it even worse.

 

[AndyW]

First of all, I'd just suggest that you calm down. The best way to hinder a plant is to care too much and you're doing just that. I grew a Reaper last year and got tons of flowers, but only two pods. This season almost every flower has developed into a pod. I'm assuming yours will be fine and it just needs time to get ready to set a good crop.
And I doubt fertilizing will hurt your flowers unless you overdo it to the point that you're also burning roots and affecting the whole plant.

 

[Chilidude]

I was looking at those dark looking containers in the direct sun, the roots must be feeling pretty toasty and to remedy that one i would wrap the side of the containers with frost cloth.

 

[mtj]

First of all, I'd just suggest that you calm down. The best way to hinder a plant is to care too much and you're doing just that. I grew a Reaper last year and got tons of flowers, but only two pods. This season almost every flower has developed into a pod. I'm assuming yours will be fine and it just needs time to get ready to set a good crop.
And I doubt fertilizing will hurt your flowers unless you overdo it to the point that you're also burning roots and affecting the whole plant.

 
Well, I am calm. it's just weird to me that at the beginning of the summer my reapers had less flowers but they all opened, some of them turned to fruit. now, a month later, there's million of flower buds but none of them open.
 

I was looking at those dark looking containers in the direct sun, the roots must be feeling pretty toasty and to remedy that one i would wrap the side of the containers with frost cloth.

That was my first concern. Then someone suggested me that if the plants are overall looking healthy, they're dealing ok with the heat and I shouldn't worry about dark container.

 

[Chilidude]

That was my first concern. Then someone suggested me that if the plants are overall looking healthy, they're dealing ok with the heat and I shouldn't worry about dark container.

 
It is easy to test the frost cloth thing out, i actually have used it before in my greenhouse growing few years ago and it indeed helps controlling the heat produced by the sunlight.

 

[CAPCOM]

Plants from what I can see look OK. There is probably many things you can do to improve on them but I wont get too far into it till I know more about your grow and what you already are and are not doing. I would however suggest giving them more foot room for starts.

 

[mtj]

Plants from what I can see look OK. There is probably many things you can do to improve on them but I wont get too far into it till I know more about your grow and what you already are and are not doing. I would however suggest giving them more foot room for starts.

 
Thanks for your reply! What do you mean by foot room? The size of the pots? Those are all 5+ Gal containers, which I thought were recommended for chillis, is that not enough?

 

[CAPCOM]

 
Thanks for your reply! What do you mean by foot room? The size of the pots? Those are all 5+ Gal containers, which I thought were recommended for chillis, is that not enough?

Yes. Bigger containers
I started out growing out of 3.5 gal containers even though I was informed"the bigger the better". That was 5 years ago. I am now growing out of 7 gal absolute minimum and that is only to gain seed stock and a few pods for taste evaluations. I will be going exclusively 15,20 and 25 gal for my container grown plants next year. I could have saved a bundle if only I.........

 

[Scorchio]

My first Chilli year as well.
I didn't know these plants start getting big this time of year. Very impressed and amazed at the difference between varieties.
Pot size is very important I have found for sure. Easy problem to fix as well. What you are putting in them is just as important and the feeding too.
I would up the pot size with coco 80% and peat 10% and perlite 10%. Put a few gallons of water at ph 6.5 to 7 through them and sit back and watch for a week to 10 days at least.
Just me, but flushing is never a bad idea if you have problems.

 

[mtj]

My first Chilli year as well.
I didn't know these plants start getting big this time of year. Very impressed and amazed at the difference between varieties.
Pot size is very important I have found for sure. Easy problem to fix as well. What you are putting in them is just as important and the feeding too.
I would up the pot size with coco 80% and peat 10% and perlite 10%. Put a few gallons of water at ph 6.5 to 7 through them and sit back and watch for a week to 10 days at least.
Just me, but flushing is never a bad idea if you have problems.

 
Hm, could you elaborate? I don't know exactly what you mean? Repotting the plant and then flush the soil with water or...?

 

[Scorchio]

OK. So, if you think your pots are not big enough per advice from others, then move them to bigger pots.
If I was doing that, the mix I suggested is what I would use.
You have something going on with your plants which is why we are here.
My suggestion and this is what I would do initially. Take your growing medium back to basics by flushing with Phd water only.
Personally, I would put 5 times the pot volume through each pot. The last flush could contain some Epsom Salts.
Over feeding/under feeding is now unimportant.You have a blank canvass to proceed with.
Let the plants rest with that water until they have used it.
I would then introduce a good organic fertiliser at half strength every other watering.
I alternate feeds with a chicken poo tea because I'm not confident any fertiliser alone is best so I give a little variety.
If you have a disease or pest this will not work but I think your growing medium needs a clean and that should help a lot.

 

[mtj]

OK. So, if you think your pots are not big enough per advice from others, then move them to bigger pots.
If I was doing that, the mix I suggested is what I would use.
You have something going on with your plants which is why we are here.
My suggestion and this is what I would do initially. Take your growing medium back to basics by flushing with Phd water only.
Personally, I would put 5 times the pot volume through each pot. The last flush could contain some Epsom Salts.
Over feeding/under feeding is now unimportant.You have a blank canvass to proceed with.
Let the plants rest with that water until they have used it.
I would then introduce a good organic fertiliser at half strength every other watering.
I alternate feeds with a chicken poo tea because I'm not confident any fertiliser alone is best so I give a little variety.
If you have a disease or pest this will not work but I think your growing medium needs a clean and that should help a lot.

Thanks for the reply! I appreciate it, will try the steps you mentioned, but I will avoid repotting at this stage.

 

[Scorchio]

Thanks for the reply! I appreciate it, will try the steps you mentioned, but I will avoid repotting at this stage.

OK. But I do suggest flushing and starting feeding later.
I quite often put a couple of gallons through my plants just to help remove any build up of salts.
The tomatoe feed I use is working very well now I backed it off to half strength every other watering.

 

[mtj]

OK. But I do suggest flushing and starting feeding later.
I quite often put a couple of gallons through my plants just to help remove any build up of salts.
The tomatoe feed I use is working very well now I backed it off to half strength every other watering.

 
an update: Yesterday in the evening I did just like you told me. I flushed the soil with a lot of water. I managed to pull out whole plant with roots and soil and moved it to slightly bigger container. I also moved my plant to a shadier area. hopefully now it will blossom without the buds falling off before opening.

 

[Scorchio]

 
an update: Yesterday in the evening I did just like you told me. I flushed the soil with a lot of water. I managed to pull out whole plant with roots and soil and moved it to slightly bigger container. I also moved my plant to a shadier area. hopefully now it will blossom without the buds falling off before opening.

Well I doubt that can do any harm. I can only talk from my own experience and I haven't had your problem. What medium are you growing them in? And what nutrients are you using?

 

[mtj]

Well I doubt that can do any harm. I can only talk from my own experience and I haven't had your problem. What medium are you growing them in? And what nutrients are you using?

 
I planted them in the Klassman-Deilmann Containersubstrat (basically soil for vegetable).
 
Next year for sure I'm going to pick something else, something a bit lighter, as this one feels pretty heavy, dense and "sticky". Anyway, I hope it will be alright for this year.
 
Regarding nutrients: I used fertilizer only 3 times... First time I used non organic 5-10-5 water-soluble fertilizer, few weeks later I used organic fertilizer in grains (it was 6-7-8 with 7% Ca and 0.2% Mg). The last time I used fertilizer, I used non organic 5-10-5 again.

 

[Chilidude]

 
few weeks later I used organic fertilizer in grains (it was 6-7-8 with 7% Ca and 0.2% Mg).

 
Perhaps take it easy until you can figure out what work best for your pepper growing, use that organic stuff once in a while and just water with plain water to slowly dissolve the stuff and perhaps some seasweed added to the water.
 
The simpler you can make the chili growing, the better the success..Do not make it any more complicated that it is needed.
 

 

[Scorchio]

 
I planted them in the Klassman-Deilmann Containersubstrat (basically soil for vegetable).
 
Next year for sure I'm going to pick something else, something a bit lighter, as this one feels pretty heavy, dense and "sticky". Anyway, I hope it will be alright for this year.
 
Regarding nutrients: I used fertilizer only 3 times... First time I used non organic 5-10-5 water-soluble fertilizer, few weeks later I used organic fertilizer in grains (it was 6-7-8 with 7% Ca and 0.2% Mg). The last time I used fertilizer, I used non organic 5-10-5 again.

I think that is far too dense and water retentive. Could well be a big part of your problem.
These plants like a very light mix like coco coir and perlite with say 10% potting compost.
That is working great for me.
Tomatoe or Cannabis nutrients seem popular and I'm going great on an organic Tomatoe feed, magnesium Sulphate and ground eggshells for Calcium.
Occasionally they get a tea made from chicken poo pellets.
Definately think you should change for next year.

 

[Chilidude]

Cannabis nutrients seem popular

 
You find a basic cannabis nutrient, that a lot of folks seems to have good success with, then you  pretty much also got a good chili growing nutrient if it also have plenty of that calmag included.
 

 

[mtj]

I think that is far too dense and water retentive. Could well be a big part of your problem.
These plants like a very light mix like coco coir and perlite with say 10% potting compost.
That is working great for me.
Tomatoe or Cannabis nutrients seem popular and I'm going great on an organic Tomatoe feed, magnesium Sulphate and ground eggshells for Calcium.
Occasionally they get a tea made from chicken poo pellets.
Definately think you should change for next year.

 
When I bought the soil it looked much lighter. After few waterings it turned out quite heavier and compact I think. Should I repot it to the more suitable soil now, or do you think it will do OK until winter?