Re: [CH] Blossom drop
David Stanton (jstanton@southtech.net)
Sun, 04 Jan 1998 09:03:35 -0500
Mr. Flynn,
Most of the time, the best cure for blossom drop is patience. Often the first blossoms
just won't set. That said, there are a number of factors that influence it.
Fruit set can be diminished if the night temperatures are too high. Your reported
temperatures sound fine, so that's probably not it.
Insects can occasionally precipitate blossom drop. There is a tiny insect here in the
southeastern US called a thrip. Thrips are normally harmless to chile peppers, but
sometimes in the late spring they swarm, leaving the winter wheat stubble fields as they
are burned (a practice that is diminishing in favor of no-till planting of soybeans after
winter wheat). They can take up residence in the chile blossoms and cause them to drop by
sucking their precious bodily fluids. But they leave and all is well.
Perhaps the most common cause of blossom drop is over fertilization with nitrogen, the
first number in the N-P-K ratio on the label. If you have big, very green plants with no
fruits, this may be the problem. This usually also goes away, so long as you don't
continue to overload the plants with nitrogen -- what may be too much now will not be too
much as the plant gets bigger, as long as you don't add too much more.
You mention drought and wind. Drought stress can definitely discourage fruit set, so water
them if they need it. Here, in the summer, chiles wilt in the mid-day sun even when they
are well-watered. It's when they are wilted in the morning or late afternoon that watering
is needed.
My suggestion is to wait. I know, it's hard. But chiles are tough plants, and it actually
is very hard to keep them from setting fruit. Even with drought and high night
temperatures, they will eventually fruit if they aren't near death. If you think you've
given them too much nitrogen, don't give them any more until you see the lower leaves
begin to turn yellow.
And it's not necessarily a bad thing that they aren't setting fruit yet. In hopes of a
bigger crop, many of us actually pinch off the first blossoms to give the plant time to
put on more vegetative growth before fruiting.
Patience,
David Stanton
flynnt wrote:
>
> Hi all
> New year greetings from New Zealand. My problem is the 50 or chile
> plants out in the garden are not setting fruit as yet. I am growing
> Annaheims, Serranos, Frensos, Jalapeno and Habeneros
> The ones in containers that I bring in at night or when it gets too
> windy are doing fine.
> Especially the Habeneros. Some Tomatillos seeds I got from "Luke in Oz"
> have grown into bushes about 4 feet high and are covered in flowers but
> no friut setting as yet.
> The best looking plants by far are Annaheims but no fruit setting as
> yet. We have had a very windy and dry spring and early summer so far due
> to El Nino. Our rainfall has been way below normal
>
> I seem to recall a post saying that the temperature drop at night was a
> critical factor in setting fruit. Our temperature at present is about
> 24'C(75F) dropping to about 14'C(60F) at night
> Is this the problem or do I need to pollinate in some other way?
> My little unknown purple ornamentals are going great guns and are
> covered with purple flowers and small dark purple upright peppers.
> Thanking you in advance.
>
> Tony Flynn
>
> Grandad. retired at the beach. Bay of Plenty New Zealand