indoor Trouble with flower drop(Reaper and Trinidad scorpion)

[s_gaitandjiev]

Hey group I’m trying to raise a few pepper plants(One reaper, one yellow Trinidad scorpion and one Bolivian rainbow) in pots using a 300w grow light. The lights are on 10h a day + some extra coming from a window and when It's warmer outside i bring them out on the balcony. The Bolivian is doing good. It has peppers. The other two are a lot bigger than it but haven’t had any peppers yet. I bought the young plants in April. I hand pollinate with a brush but that doesn't seem to do a thing. After a few days the flowers just fall off. The fertilizer im using contains as follows:
Nitrogen-2.72
Phosphorus pentoxide- 0.96
Potassium oxide- 4.41
Calcium oxide- 1,01
Copper- 0.002
Iron- 0.040
Manganese- 0.010
Molybdenum- 0.001
Zinc- 0.0025
I water them once a week. The room temperature is around 22C. I do see pollen when brush the flowers. Yesterday was a bit colder but there was sun so i brought them outside during the day. I noticed that a few of the Scorpion's bottom leaves turned all yellow and fell of during the night. This is gonna be the 3rd set of flowers that's gonna drop without producing peppers.There was the tiny hope a few days ago when the petals of the scorpion fell off but not the entire flower. Sadly after 2-3 days the whole thing fell off as well. How do I remedy the constant flower drop?

 

[QueenOfPeppers]

Honestly it took a long time for my superhot (ghost) to fruit as well, much longer than any of my other plants. It kept getting bigger and bigger, and just dropping flowers without fruiting.

Then one day it exploded with peppers and continued to pump them out the rest of the season. That's typical for most superhots I hear, it may be possible those two are just slower to set fruit simply because they're superhots.

Someone else here may have a differing opinion, I don't grow superhots often since I can't handle their heat, but that's my experience. I hope you get lots of peppers soon

 

[HellfireFarm]

That's about what all my superhots do. They never look promising, then they're suddenly full of peppers

 

[CaneDog]

To me, the coloration looks like they are nitrogen deficient. Low N will interfere with flowering and production. I would give them a couple doses of liquid N over their next couple waterings and see if the foliage didn't start coming in greener as a result. If it did, I'd continue to hit them with the N periodically. Also, the node spacing and leaf drop suggests they might not be getting enough light. I'd up the 10 hours to something in the 14 to 16 hour range. And yeah, like QoP and Hellfire said above, superhots are notorious for setting fruit when they darn well get around to it, so even under optimal conditions it can be a waiting game.

 

[Peppers In Keizer]

Mine did the same thing, 3 reapers, all flowered heavy and had drop at times. Reaper #1 ended up with only 10 peps all season, #2 got about 50 and #3 have had about 40 with another 20 or so almost ripe now. Most of the time flower drop occurred during hotter days, 90f=32c with direct sunlight and wind in evening. I added shade cloth for days like that and flower drop decreased for 2 of them.

 

[BlackFatalii]

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.

Maybe this will help you diagnose the issue. Maybe it is just the picture or the lighting, but the plant looks a bit yellowish to me. I agree with CaneDog that it looks like it might possibly have a nutrient deficiency.

 

[Unai]

I've heard that some plants need a drop in temperature at night for the fruits to set.

 

[DachaLife]

My superhots in a polytunnel do the same; nothing until about September, now they’re full and I’ll be picking them until December. Also, my 2 year old plants seem to be out-producing the ones started this year.

 

[freestok]

Hey group I’m trying to raise a few pepper plants(One reaper, one yellow Trinidad scorpion and one Bolivian rainbow) in pots using a 300w grow light. The lights are on 10h a day + some extra coming from a window and when It's warmer outside i bring them out on the balcony. The Bolivian is doing good. It has peppers. The other two are a lot bigger than it but haven’t had any peppers yet. I bought the young plants in April. I hand pollinate with a brush but that doesn't seem to do a thing. After a few days the flowers just fall off. The fertilizer im using contains as follows:
Nitrogen-2.72
Phosphorus pentoxide- 0.96
Potassium oxide- 4.41
Calcium oxide- 1,01
Copper- 0.002
Iron- 0.040
Manganese- 0.010
Molybdenum- 0.001
Zinc- 0.0025
I water them once a week. The room temperature is around 22C. I do see pollen when brush the flowers. Yesterday was a bit colder but there was sun so i brought them outside during the day. I noticed that a few of the Scorpion's bottom leaves turned all yellow and fell of during the night. This is gonna be the 3rd set of flowers that's gonna drop without producing peppers.There was the tiny hope a few days ago when the petals of the scorpion fell off but not the entire flower. Sadly after 2-3 days the whole thing fell off as well. How do I remedy the constant flower drop?

Hello,
Leaf drop can be too little sunlight (scorpions are used to 12/13 hours a day), or too much potasium too early. Try a 20, 20, 20 mix npk and see how that goes for a week, or two
Also, am I right in reading that you water your plants once a.week? You should water every day and add nutrients once a fortnight (14 to 15 days). Adding nutrients too often can have an adverse affect.
Good luck
Kevin

 

[SpainChillihead]

This happened to me years ago with several super hot ones. It's bullshit.This year also happened with BOC and Primo. While applying minerals in a foliar spray to some trees, it occurred to me to do it to BOC and Primo. Two weeks later the flowers began to stop falling. Maybe this is worth trying...

 

[freestok]

I

I've heard that some plants need a drop in temperature at night for the fruits to set.

Interesting. I suppose that there would be some chillies native to the Andes which would have low night time Temps, but chillies like scorpions and habanero have only a 2, or 3 degree change. Here in the Philippines, at the moment, it is 31c, 32c during the day and about 29c at night . Chillies grow and flower quite happily here.

 

[HellfireFarm]

Hello,
Leaf drop can be too little sunlight (scorpions are used to 12/13 hours a day), or too much potasium too early. Try a 20, 20, 20 mix npk and see how that goes for a week, or two
Also, am I right in reading that you water your plants once a.week? You should water every day and add nutrients once a fortnight (14 to 15 days). Adding nutrients too often can have an adverse affect.
Good luck
Kevin

Don't water daily. Once weekly is typically just fine - let them dry out a little in between waterings. Containered plants would need to be watched more closely.

 

[freestok]

Don't water daily. Once weekly is typically just fine - let them dry out a little in between waterings. Containered plants would need to be watched more closely.

Sorry, without being argumentative, I grew a doret naga in England a few years ago now, watering every day ( just to moisten) and I ended up with over 400 pods at the end of the season. let's face it, I live in the tropics and it hammers.down every day. Chilli plants can take it as long as their roots don't get too wet. Good drainage.
.

 

[HellfireFarm]

It runs contrary to my experience and contrary to recommendations from all experts I can see, but if it works for you then certainly stick with it!

I note that you say "just to moisten". I prefer to water deeply less often - it promotes better root growth which results in a stronger plant overall.

 

[freestok]

Hey group I’m trying to raise a few pepper plants(One reaper, one yellow Trinidad scorpion and one Bolivian rainbow) in pots using a 300w grow light. The lights are on 10h a day + some extra coming from a window and when It's warmer outside i bring them out on the balcony. The Bolivian is doing good. It has peppers. The other two are a lot bigger than it but haven’t had any peppers yet. I bought the young plants in April. I hand pollinate with a brush but that doesn't seem to do a thing. After a few days the flowers just fall off. The fertilizer im using contains as follows:
Nitrogen-2.72
Phosphorus pentoxide- 0.96
Potassium oxide- 4.41
Calcium oxide- 1,01
Copper- 0.002
Iron- 0.040
Manganese- 0.010
Molybdenum- 0.001
Zinc- 0.0025
I water them once a week. The room temperature is around 22C. I do see pollen when brush the flowers. Yesterday was a bit colder but there was sun so i brought them outside during the day. I noticed that a few of the Scorpion's bottom leaves turned all yellow and fell of during the night. This is gonna be the 3rd set of flowers that's gonna drop without producing peppers.There was the tiny hope a few days ago when the petals of the scorpion fell off but not the entire flower. Sadly after 2-3 days the whole thing fell off as well. How do I remedy the constant flower drop?

It runs contrary to my experience and contrary to recommendations from all experts I can see, but if it works for you then certainly stick with it!

I note that you say "just to moisten". I prefer to water deeply less often - it promotes better root growth which results in a stronger plant overall.

I respect your opinion and like with other types of vegetable growing, there are several approaches. Take a look at seaspring seeds' website. They are the creators of the Dorset naga. They grew a dorset naga that yielded over 2,400 red pods and two hundred and something green pods. They named the plant nigel. They added chicken manure into the soil and watered almost every day with an additional weak solution of nutrients 2 to 3 times a week. There are two good videos about it. The plant is a monster. 7 feet high and probably 10 feet around. It proves that the approach works.

Growing "Nigel", our giant Dorset Naga - Sea Spring Seeds

On 20th January we sowed some Dorset Naga and raised one of the plants in a 160 litre pot; 10.5 months later, we harvested 2,406 red fruit from the plant.

seaspringseeds.co.uk

Best kevin