well, if absolutely everything else is going great, it then becomes a question of pollination. that's my noob mind's obvious answer.

I just put a fan on them, I didn't want them to cross pollinate so much, maybe I'll throw them outside. Also I thought they were mostly self pollinated. Am I wrong?

Check the soil temp. Try to stay under 88F. Also, set up a fan. .perhaps the plants aren't "tough" enough.

And yes... I'd ditch the blossom set. Generally, peppers need little help pollinating.

Kevin

They're in my garage, it doesn't get hotter than say 70s nor cooler than 60s. I agree with you guys though, it's probably a mix of weak pollination and the tendency of the super hots being divas. I've only had experience eating them, and besides the normal garden I can squeak out in NH, growing them is new to me.

rob, maybe smokemaster or someone with more indoor exerience will have some ideas for you. but i would get them out into the sunlight. i have found it harder to get them to flower and set pods with artificial light. i've done it with wide spectrum flourecents placed close to the top of the plant like 3 inches above. John

Thanks for all the insight guys, they're outside now, the squash usually has plenty of honey bees buzzing around on the blossoms, and the potted hots aren't too far away, hopefully the seed trays show some signs of action sooner than later, it's worse than watching paint dry

Flower and bud drop are one of the mysteries of peppers. I had my plants outside most of July and they flowered well and pollinated. But since the nights are getting a bit chilly I brought them back into the conservatory. It's natural light, but UV filtered by a polycarbonate ceiling.

Since bringing them in the flowering has slowed. I have had bud drops galore - even on the healthiest plants. But the pods grow steadily. Even outside though, there was blossom drop to certain degree. So that is a fact of pepper life I think.

The plants seem to grow, flower and set fruit to their own system depending on the environment they have to adapt to.

In your case, I would say patience is required. You may have some waiting to do. But once they start, you'll be surprised at how much they want to produce. Even in the most artificial environments.

The standard rules apply though as far as temperature, watering, plant food, etc. So if you still follow the orthodox procedures, I think the plants will eventually respond.

Peppers are notorious when it comes to aborting flowers and small fruits. Somehow they seem to be confused : They flower and then decide that they don't want fruits.

POLLINATION:
Pepp flowers are like any nightshade plants, self pollinating. They don't need any mediator/middle man.
So,if your pepper s not fruiting, it is not that it is not getting pollinated but the flowers are aborted, FOR SEVERAL REASONS (transplant shock, too much food, too much water, too shade, ..)

if peppers are self pollinating, how do people get crosses?

and if they're self pollinating, why did I not start seeing lots of pods start setting until I started seeing bees in my garden? prior to the bees showing up, I didn't have a single bhut set. now I've got like 20 set. prior to them showing up I had a hab that wouldn't set pods at all, now it has like 40-50 pods set. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just confused.

Judo: Let's rephrase then. Peppers CAN self-pollinate.

Yes. They can be manipulated by man. And other pollinators do pollinate -- bees, flies, etc. But, generally, all a pepper plant needs is the wind or to be shaken to pollinate.

The fact that you noticed more pods setting was probably just happenstance. I'm not saying the bees didn't help, but it was probably more of timing and environmental conditions than it was of outside pollinators.

Kevin

I'd have to agree with Kevin. My gf has Thai Dragons F1 growing in a pot in her apartment building hallway. No pollinators or insects of any kind, no draft, no wind, no shaking or anything. It just grows there whole year around for the 3rd year now and sets lots and lots of peppers from time to time:)

Cheers,
Djole

I'll add my two cents. I've been growing peppers for about 10 years and if it hadn't been for these wonderful people I never would have learned anything.

In my opinion, they probably aren't getting pollinated properly. You might try giving them some good air flow. Peppers do self pollinate but they still need to be pollinated from another flower even if it is on the same plant. So air flow helps tremendously.

I don't know what it is but when I first started growing peppers I had blossom drop like crazy. Now, I rarely notice blossom drop. I think the less I actually watch, the better they do.

On a good note, blossom drop isn't always a bad thing. It just means the plant will have more energy to put in the foliage which will make bigger harvests later on.

Posted by elgatoloco 8 Dallas (My Page) on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 0:53

Peppers do self pollinate but they still need to be pollinated from another flower even if it is on the same plant. So air flow helps tremendously.
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I disagree.
Although some pollens from other flowers on the same or other plant might improve the odds, BUT IT IS NOT NECESSARY because each flower has what it takes to pollinate itself.

The effect of breeze, dabbing, insects ... is to facilitate the process. It is also possible that not every single flower is fertile/potent, one way or the other. That might be a possible reason WHY some flowers get pollinated and some don't. Like in mammal , not every sperm is potens and you will need certain count of them to improve the odds of fertilizing the egg, Though just one is needed.

In an environment, such as a greenhouse or conservatory with no insects, the inclination should be to not leave flowers alone to pollinate on their own. Yes, they can do it on their own, but I believe in the small artists paintbrush method.

Here's what I do:

I have a small artists paintbrush. The kind for small detail, you can get one at Staples, Office Depot or any stationery store.

I wet the brush with water and make it a little bit sticky with maple syrup or honey - tiny dab. Anything organically sticky, but even molasses will do just to make it slightly sticky.

Then, with clean hands fan the brush a bit and go around like a bee flower to flower, as many as you can. Doesn't matter if you miss some, you'll still cover most. It also doesn't have to be done every single day during the flowering period, but do it often - even going over flowers you know you have done before. Think bee.

This works and lots of peppers grew for me.

Doing this method on outside plants is good too. The slight residue of sweet stuff in the flowers will entice the bees further to your plants and they will go to the hive and tell their friends that your plants are a good spot.

This post was edited by SgtPepper on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 14:06

I'm not sure how much it had to do with pollination per say, some of the buds that dropped didn't even open and were clearly immature, I'm guessing the different light source triggered them to stop flower production and persue growth of the actual plant. Under those lights then grew like freaks lol, also I've seen and heard of people gluing the flowers closed to insure pure pollination, never the less they are back outside with a small treatment of Epsom salt, wish me luck!

Under/over water may cause flower dropping I have read.

Sometimes problems are not easy to explain, for example I have Rocoto De Seda plants one of the biggest plants in 7 gallons have a lot of flowers but only it has a couple of small pods, it is really disgusting. I do not see any problems with this plant, it is a very big tall plant with a lot of strong branches. I do not see any problems of pollination too because I see a lot of bees everyday on the flowers. The other Rocotos in about 1 gl, half gallon have a lot of big pods but the plants are not big like in the 7 gl. Very interesting thing is the plant had a broken main stem ( crashed by spray bottle when it was about 3 inches tall - I wrapped with sticking plaster and the stem has been healed) gives a lot of big beautiful pods.

Another one is a wild chili C. Chacoense in about 1 gl container, it has no flowers at all but this one is the biggest and healthiest plant I have. The others C.Ch. in about 1lt and 2lt containers have a lot of flowers and pods.

They are all in the same location and same growing conditions.

I am not able to give any meaningful opinion of "flower dropping", sorry.

Good luck to use Epsom Salt I have used before for foliage spray it benefited to my plants I think.

Caelian

Flower drop probable causes:

1. Day temp too high >95F
2. Night temp too low 85F
3. Too much nitrogen fertilizer
4. Too much water
5. Low light levels (reduces fertility).
6. Very low humidity (reduces fertility)
7. Poor air circulation (air circulation contributes to pollination).
8. Lack of pollinating insects.
9. Size of pot

10. Too much mineral in feedwater.
11. Too much grower attention/anxiety.

I believe #11 it's my issue lol

But thanks for all the insight!

This post was edited by robshaylia on Tue, Aug 6, 13 at 15:19