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What causes small sized pods with hot weather?

MiLK_MaN

MiLK_MaN

We all know cold weather can cause pods to be smaller, but what happens in hot weather?

My superhots produce lots of flowers, they get pollinated, but most of the pods seems to be the size of my little finger nail and thats about it.

My watering method is nutrients once a week, and watering only when necessarily any other time (ie. drooping).

I thought to begin with at the start of the season the size of the smallish fruits were the incredbly coldish start to spring we had, but we've had hottish temperatures in the last month or so, and the issue has persisted.

Things I've though of:

- Humidity: Melbourne doesnt get a hell of a lot of it, Im wondering if this has anything to do with pod sizes
- Phosphorus: The nutrients I'm using don't have much Phosphorous, I see a number of other members use almost equal NPK in their nutrients. Having said that, I'm using Chilli Focus, and supposedly developed for the specific growing of chillies, so I'm a bit confused here.

The non superhots seem to be doing fine, Yellow Scotch Bonnets are of acceptable size, the Asian Birdseyes are great, but anything with a significant bit of heat (Nagas, 7 Pot, Scorpions, Red Savina Habs) are all very smallish compared to other photos I've seen on here.
 
I'm going to "theorize" here...I have been reading this book...

http://www.archive.org/details/auxinsplantgrowt00leop

I have not read the whole book yet but have read some parts that suggest that auxin production decreases with higher temperatures...and some of the research shows that fruit size can be increased (by as much as 20%) in pineapple with proper application of additional auxin...

not suggesting you use this, just trying to propose a reason as to why the fruit is smaller in hot weather....
 
I theorize that you may have a cross with a smaller pepper.

Nagas can be thin and fairly small.

Drought, or, less than adequate....(is that how you spell that?!?) watering will cause smaller fruits.
 
POTAWIE said:
Heat stress will often cause smaller pods, but they usually ripen quicker.
Here's an interesting abstract I came across. I doubt the full article is worth $31.50:(
http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=44793b0fd4a0ddf493dd2c2da66b0009
Click to expand...

I agree the heat stress is what causes the smaller fruit size, but the abstract does not go into the actual mechanics of why.

That is where I was going with the levels of auxin/growth hormone being decreased by high temperatures.

I found the chapter in the book relating to this but didn't have time to read it before coming to work this morning. If anyone is interested, it is chapter XVII.
 
I just see it as a defence mechanism, I'm not sure exactly which hormones are responsible. A plant's main goal is to re-produce and when it gets stressed it will want to produce quicker, so the pods may be smaller and ripen earlier
 
Out of curiosity, did you cut open any of the small pods yet? If so, did they have any seeds? Sometimes lack of adequate pollination will cause few/no/tiny seeds and thus also a small or deformed pod.
Not sure if this varies by the type of pepper or not, but I've seen it many times in annuums. Also, the high humidity can effect pollination.
 
How compact is your soil because I have found that heavy dirt causes smaller plants and fruit. The annuums roots grow more aggressively and can compensate for bad potting soil. Just a wild guess.
 
Bet you can't beat my smallest ripe tabasco:

smalltabasco-1.jpg
 
caroltlw said:
Out of curiosity, did you cut open any of the small pods yet? If so, did they have any seeds? Sometimes lack of adequate pollination will cause few/no/tiny seeds and thus also a small or deformed pod.
Not sure if this varies by the type of pepper or not, but I've seen it many times in annuums. Also, the high humidity can effect pollination.
Click to expand...

A lot of my chillies this season are lacking seeds. Asian Birdseye, Rocotos and Scotch Bonnets seem to be ok, the others I've been able to find maybe 5 out of about 40 pods have seeds, and mostly a small amount inside.

I dont have high humidity, I have the opposite. When it gets hot here, its usually really dry heat. Today is ok though, 29C with > 30% humidity.


cheezydemon said:
I theorize that you may have a cross with a smaller pepper.

Nagas can be thin and fairly small.

Drought, or, less than adequate....(is that how you spell that?!?) watering will cause smaller fruits.
Click to expand...

Not a cross, this is a second year plant, didnt have the problem last season.

When you say less than adequate watering, if I have been leaving the plants to droop before watering, could this potentially be an issue?

Pepper Ridge Farm said:
How compact is your soil because I have found that heavy dirt causes smaller plants and fruit. The annuums roots grow more aggressively and can compensate for bad potting soil. Just a wild guess.
Click to expand...

I purposefully used a combination of regular potting soil, coco peat, vermiculite and perlite to ensure of a well aerated soil mixture.
 
MiLK_MaN said:
A lot of my chillies this season are lacking seeds. Asian Birdseye, Rocotos and Scotch Bonnets seem to be ok, the others I've been able to find maybe 5 out of about 40 pods have seeds, and mostly a small amount inside.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I'd say try some hand pollination by whatever method you prefer and see if it makes a difference. If nothing else you msy get seeds in the other plants' pods.
Got bees?
 
There's plenty of bees, but they seem far more interested in the butterfly bush plants I have, followed my the lavender, then everything else comes after that including the chillies and tomatoes.

I've stood outside for 30 minutes, seen a solitary bee or two flying around pollinating flowers, but not a mass unfortunately.
 
Another thought: sometimes a 2nd year plant will give smaller pods. This may depend on how it was cutback. Or not. A bit curious as how my pruned plants will do this year.
 
MiLK_MaN said:
There's plenty of bees, but they seem far more interested in the butterfly bush plants I have, followed my the lavender, then everything else comes after that including the chillies and tomatoes.

I've stood outside for 30 minutes, seen a solitary bee or two flying around pollinating flowers, but not a mass unfortunately.
Click to expand...


That shouldn't matter. I have tons of feral basil popping up all around the pepper garden, and the bees just love the basil! There will be 5 bees on one basil stalk and nary a one on the peppers, and yet my peppers manage to get pollinated and produce fruit.
 
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