Luckweasel,

Give us a clue as to your location and also what kind of hot peppers you are growing. Are the plants recently transplanted? With that am betting can help. Pictures are most helpful too. Might be something as simple as too much fertilizer.

Very common for the first blossoms to drop off.

jt

DUH! That information may help out, eh? :-) I'm in Montana so it's just now heating up. My plants are in large pots outside now, transplanted from their tiny pots 3 weeks ago. We had a wall of water around them until the weather warmed up. They are in direct sunlight now. I just took the wall of water off today. I'm growing garden salsa peppers and jalapenos. The banana pepper I transplanted died within 2 weeks of being in its new home. I think I did a poor transplant job, actually.

What zone is Montana, anyway? Thanks again!

If your near Kalispeil (sp) probably zone 3, I have a friend out there that grows chiles hydroponicaly because the season is too short.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blossom drop

Thank you Byron! Yes, I'm actually in Kalispell. What does hydroponicaly mean?

The season is terribly short here. We have great luck with most of our veggies but we have to dance with the weather quite a bit. The wall of water got our small peppers off to a great start but I want to make sure we do all we can to get some peppers off those babies!

Good info, Byron! Tomatoes and peppers seem to be quite similar as to setting fruit. Keith has a great website.

Willard can explain hydro better than I, in essence the roots are mostly in water. You can do a set up inside. (Lord willing)

I might suggest you grow in pots. then you can bring them indoors in the fall when it gets cold. but dont have to go through a hydro setup for the entire grow.

Most peppers will grow in medium pots. One trick might be to try to bring them into the garage on frost nights and then back into the sun in the morning.

I have not done these things but they all sound good.

the other thing is to get a short professional hoop house. professional because it will be strong and take the snow. you can buy them in any 4 foot lengths. and put up a fairly low cost "greeenhouse" that will help the tomatoes and the peppers all season long. However, you still should start the plants indoors but then put them into the greenhouse hoop house.

www.griffins.com supplies it all in the East. maybe find some company similar out your way. griffins might know someone out your way. or ask a farmer. especially someone with a greenhouse. there is probably one good place where everyone gets their greenhouses.

I am not talking about glass greenhouses. that is very expensive.

by the way. you could do hydro indoors and then move the plants to hydro outdoors and then bring them back indoors in hydro. but that might take some experience and extra equipment.

I have no hydro experience. I like soil.

There was a guy in one of my groups that worked at the local nursery in Kalispell,

I know that he recommended a green house, in that area to get 2 to 3 months extra growing season.

I used a carport frame and plastic and had a couple extra
months.

jt yup Keith has some good info, Tomatoes v peppers, I find that they share all but a few diseases, all the same bugs, Peppers like a little less nitrogen (2.8 v 4.0) and like the soil about 10 F warmer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Carport

Thanks a bunch all! I've been doing research today on a greenhouse. I found a few pop up ones that look quite nice for about $300. It'd be nice cause we could fold them down and put them in the garage in the winter.

Kalispell has a place called Wild Geese Gardens that is a wonderful nursery. I wonder if your friend worked there, byron.