my first thought is exactly how much light (i.e. how intense and for how long) are the plants getting. I am no expert on soil, but I do know that when I overwinter my chile plants, they take alot of intense light to actually produce fruits whereas less light or less intense light and they will grow beautifully but no fruit.

others here will have more knowledge with potential soil issues.

kendra

so the plants are in front of the large living room window pane, almost right against the glass. the blinds are always retracted to allow maximum light. the window is east-facing, and i would characterize the morning light as pretty intense illumination, although it doesn't start to heat up bad until around noon. my apartment is on a pretty high floor, so there is no obstruction of sunlight from other neighboring buildings. direct light comes in from sunrise until around noon; the afternoon is less bright, but still well-lit. there are no windows on the west side of the room.

i actually have one single blossom that opened on my bolivian rainbow, but it is drooping (the bud started out drooping as well). i'm keeping an eye on this flower to see if it fruits. i know that this strain should have upright pods, so are drooping flowers a bad sign?

hmmmmm, maybe you should get a cheap soil testing kit from a nursery and test your soil in the pots to see if it is too much nitrogen. Certainly what you are experiencing could be from higher nitrogen levels, but something still tells me that the plants aren;t getting enough bright light to complete flowering and fruiting. Again I am no expert and I don't mess with plants inside just because I cannot provide them adequate lighting and the bugs always destroy them. I admire anyone who can grow lush plants indoors..:)
It certainly sounds like lighting is fine in the morning, but maybe you can supplement their lighting in the afternoon/evening with plant lights or shop lights or something as an experiment.
As far as the bolivian rainbow, they were upright when I grew them although every chile plant will throw an oddball pepper in there from time to time with nothing to worry about. It could be that the flower is going to drop from lack of pollination and that is why it is drooping.

Please post some pics if you can so we can see the beautiful plants anyway...:)

kendra

hi kendra,

thanks for your input! i was in touch with the nursery i bought my seedlings from, and the proprietor had very similar things to say about my plants... here's the email, verbatim:

--email starts here--
Lots of foliage could indicate excessive nitrogen, but it sounds like the plants are just not happy for one reason or another. The fact that you are even getting buds is a good sign however. Plants will abort buds if their environment is not conducive to taking them to full mature fruit. Here are
some thoughts:

An east facing window might not be enough light. Any chance that you could put a spot growlight on them? 16 hours a day. We have customers in Brooklyn that do this with good results... even getting the plants to flower and produce in winter!

Are you giving them any extra fertilizer? That might be too much with the vermicompost.

How often are you watering? Don't keep the plants too moist. Allow the soil to dry out, or at least the top of the soil, before watering again.

Temps should not be above 90 degrees.

Some folks spray with a Epsom Salts solution, to hold the buds. We have never had to do that, so don't know the exact ratio. I'm sure you could find it online.

Hope this helps. Best wishes, janie.
--email ends here--

i'll try to post some pics of the plants, as soon as i get my act together... make room on my memory card, finish writing my thesis proposal, etc. argh. at least i get to go home to some nice green plants.

but anyhow, thanks again for your advice! i might swing by home depot and pick up some fluorescent lighting. i'm doing some research on light sources, so i may ask you again for advice. your help is much appreciated!

-w

your very welcome...have fun with your plants

kendra