What are your day and night temperatures? If your plants appear healthy the blossom drop may be related to temperature. This response is not constant among different peppers.

JohnF

RIGHT NOW, I HAVE THEM POTTED AND HAVE THEM SITTING AT THE EDGE OF MY GARAGE, BY THE DOOR. THE DAY TIME TEMPS ARE SEVENTIES TO 80 AND NIGHT TIME NOT FALLING BELOW FIFTY. I OPEN MY GARAGE EARLY IN THE MORNING, SO THEY CAN GET THE EASTERN SUN. THE GARAGE STAYS RELATIVELY WARM AT NIGHT. DEFINITELY NOT BELOW 60. PROBLEMS ARE WITH 1 JALAPENO, A COUPLE NEW MEXICO'S AND ONE BELL THAT APPEARS HEALTHY BUT JUST DROPPED SEVERAL BULBS BEFORE THEY EVEN OPENED UP.
MAYBE I JUST HAVE A COUPLE OF PICKY PLANTS. BY THE WAY, I HAVE APHIDS AND JUST SPRAYED THEM WITH THE INSECTICIDAL SOAP. OPINIONS ON THAT? THANKS FOR THE HELP!

Just a possibility...depending on how severe the Aphid problem is. They may be eating young tender growth and stressing the plant(s) into dropping pods.
Clear up that Aphid problem and see if the issue resolves itself.

Paul B.

I did some quick research at our local university (URI). Read the first two paragraphs under Climatic Requirements.

Paul B.

I found this at a Master Gardener site.
"...once the plant begins to flower, high winds will cause flower drop. Also, excessive nitrogen will cause the plant to return to vegetative growth and abort flowers and small pods. For maximum fruit to set, night temperatures should be between 65 and 80 degrees F. Fruit won't set at all if night temperatures rise above 86 degrees F or daytime temperatures rise above 95 degrees F because excessive transpiration results in blossom drop."

Paul B.

After earning my noob wings last year, i can testify to the over nitrogen theory. The wifey bought me some liquid fertilizer and i used it not knowing it was pure nitrogen.
All my plant grew like they were on steroids, my grape tomatoe was 14ft, my beefsteak was 9' and my romas were 6' and my habenaro grew to a 3-4' bush, however there was very little fruit and blossoms dropped like flies.

Luckily they say nitrogen leeches from soil, so i am crossing my fingers this year.

I had blossom drop too. I think my problem was underwatering. I was letting the jal dry out and get a little wilty before watering. I read that that could cause to much stress when the plant is trying to fruit, so the blossoms drop.

Now I don't let it get that dried out, and the peppers are setting. But now I have yellowing lower leaves, and I think that's because I need to fertilize more.

thanks alot to everybody answering. i wish i could get service like this when i'm actually spending money on stuff.
anybody have any good recommendations on fertilizer for peppers that doesn't have too much nitrogen?

thanks again! hopefully i can return some advice one day when i'm not a rookie anymore.

I use dilute Miracle Grow ( the Wal-Mart version which is cheaper)-abou 1/4 strength with seedlings and 1/2 strength with mature plants. A couple of times with the seedlings and a couple of times during the season.

John

Hey, guy for our Gulfcoast gardners - pepper will set well above 95 (fruit set Houston, TX 97- 100 F peppers set fruit all summer).Climatic factors have a lot do with pepper set-tropical plants.

i should have added this yesterday, maybe it means something, maybe not. when looking at the blossoms closely, i could almost tell which ones would drop. the stems of the blossoms almost resembled a pencil, in the way that a pencil tapers down to a finer point. the spot where the stem attached to the plant was actually tapering down and very thin.
alot of advise was good. it has been breezy here and that may have helped some of the drop. i'll keep em out of the wind. i also watered the heck out of them and sprayed the insectidal soap for aphids. i haven't had any drop today and none of them have that tapered look, like they are gonna fall off. knock on wood!!! i'll try the dilluted miracle grow, instead of using it full force.
it does seem that my best producer right now (jalapeno), is the worst looking plant of the bunch. kind of thin, mis-shaped leafs, etc.. but lots of good peppers setting. go figure. thanks again, trevor

while spraying the insecticidal soap, i found a bug. i didn't know what it was, that's why i didn't post it earlier. i researched and they were definitely white flies. they were clustered on some of the smaller, newer leafs. i think the soap did it though.
any real life experiences with white flies would be appreciated. again, web site after web site and the question may or may not be answered. or the question is answered differently from site to site. i would like to hear from you guys who are actually growing peppers as we speak. thanks again. next year, i won't be "so" new at this.

I get white flies on my lawn and they suck the living juice out of the blades of grass turning them yellow, soon killing certain areas.

Found some info for you at UC (University of Calif.)
There's a link there that deals w/ Silverleaf and Sweetpotato Whiteflies which use peppers and tomatoes as hosts.

Paul B.

LIL RHODY, VERY HELPFUL ARTICLE. AND IT HAS PICTURES, WHICH I LOVE. IF ANYBODY ELSE IS NEW TO WHITE FLIES, CLICK ON THAT LINK.

I'M PROBABLY REPEATING MYSELF, BUT THANKS AGAIN EVERYBODY. THIS MAY ACTUALLY BE A SUCCESSFUL FIRST YEAR.

White oil is the best general mild insecticide. Grubs are best removed by hand. I prefer to grow in the ground as per tomato - they crop later than tomato of course. High nitrogen & phosphorus via chook manure is perfect, pot or ground. Water should happen every 1 to 3 days, but not soak the pot. All capsicum species are shallow rooting & do not develop tap roots. Best not to allow drying out while flowering or loss of fruit may result. Most chillies are temperature tolerant, but will only grow at 20 plus deg Celsius. Chinense, Baactum & Pubescence Like warm humid conditions. Annum & to an extent frutesence are adaptable & more 'perennial' (fruit well 2nd year on) than the others.
I've been growing 8 different varieties for around 5 years now & by far the best results happen in the ground. I'ts got a lot to do with consistency of soil temperature & effective drainage. It's also nearly impossible to overwater a well set vegie plot. Plant large plant annum (birdseye) seedlings to the back & smaller chinense (habanero) to the front. Shade at transplant (shadecloth) for 2-3weeks & then plenty of full sunlight water daily & cut back water once fruit have set. Most will yield within 120 days from transplant.
enjoy

CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT IT SEEMS THAT I KEEP HEARING THAT TOO MUCH NITROGEN CAN MAKE PEPPER BLOSSOMS AND/ OR FRUIT DROP. IF THIS IS THE CASE, WOULD FISH EMULSION- FISH FERTILIZER AT 5-1-1 BE GOOD FOR PEPPERS, SINCE THAT ISN'T VERY HIGH NITROGEN?
I BOUGHT SOME AND USED IT TONIGHT AT 1 TABLESPOON PER GALLON.
JUST LOOKING FOR SOME ADVISE ON IT. IF THE FEEDBACK IS BAD, I'LL QUIT USING IT. THANKS

I thought fish emulsion is high in nitrogen. I use kelp.

I GUESS SOME BRANDS MAY BE. THE KIND I BOUGHT WAS 5-1-1 OR 5% NITROGEN, COMPARED TO SOME THAT WERE 10%, 12% OR HIGHER. I WAS TRYING TO STAY AS LOW AS I COULD FIND ON THE NITROGEN. UNLESS THERE'S SOME KIND OF SECRET THAT I DON'T KNOW ABOUT IN READING THE BOTTLE, THAT WAS THE LOWEST I COULD FIND. I HOPE I'M RIGHT AND DIDN'T SCREW SOMETHING UP. LET ME KNOW IF YOU GET MORE INFO. I'LL LOOK FOR THE KELP AND GIVE THAT A TRY AS WELL. THANKS

just curious. i still have some blossoms dropping but some are setting. i am still a first year grower so i figure that it is just part of the learning process. however, something threw me for a loop yesterday. every pepper that i have that has set, is healthy and staying. i have a gypsy (chili dulce) plant that is very healthy. it has a few peppers that have set and are growing good. yesterday, i was looking at the plant and noticed a certain pepper. i have kind of figured out what a blossom stem looks like when it is gonna fall. the pepper was healthy and growing good for several days. i looked at the base of the stem and it looked like it was gonna fall. it did a short time later. i can't figure out why it didn't hold after it had set and was doing good. the other peppers are still fine and the plant is very healthy. it is in a controlled environment (no birds or anything) and disease and insects are not present. no excess nitrogen had been given, etc.. any thoughts? thanks.