Kitchen Garden Forum

I have donated some pepper plants in large 10 inch pots to my colleagues at work whilst I am away from base on a training course, and they are thriving except that when they flower, the lil flower stems are dropping off complete with flowers before turning to fruit, hey are otherwise healthy and fed

Any ideas? pollination needed?

Cheers Compo

If you've already got tiny little fruits formed it sounds as if it's not a pollination problem because they will already have been pollinated. The same thing has happened to one or two of my outdoor pepper plants and I suspect it may be due to sudden cold temperatures at night. If your plants have been indoors, then perhaps it's for some other reason. Perhaps your colleagues have been over enthusiastic with the watering?

Does work have air conditioning or lots of fans?

No Air con, it is a ground floor office with south facing hot windowsills, the flowers are dropping off before the little fruits are formed. Sometimes we use room fans if it is hot but as you know it has not been that hot lately.

Compo

Is the office closed at weekends wih the plants in?

If the weather improves they might cook.

Could just be too dry an atmosphere.

Compo

From your second post it definitely sounds like lack of pollination. No insects in the office?

Alan

There are a few insects, should we get a brush and polinate from one plant to another? put them next to each other?

The office is closed at weekends so will encourage them to mist spray them with water

Howdy folks

Have looked up the pepper problem in my big RHS book and if tomato plant flowers drop off it is due to hot dry conditions and a lack of pollination, so should we cross pollinate the pepper plants or try and self pollinate from flower to flower on each separate plant. I think they are all cayenne peppers?

Regards Compo

I think it might be a bit fiddly to cross pollinate pepper flowers as they're quite small but I'm sure it can be done. The question is: Can you cross-pollinate flowers from the same plant, or do you have to cross pollinate flowers from two different plants. I've tried cross pollinating flowers from aubergines before because they are bigger and easier to work with, but have cross-pollinated from the same plant and from different plants on a "belt & braces" concept because I was never sure which was the right method.

I doubt it is a pollinating issue as most capsicum are self-compatible and do not need insects in order to pollinate.

Could be a temperature thing. The flowers of peppers are really sensitive to changes in temperature - too hot too cold or too much shift between and they just drop off.

On the bright side - if you can sort out the temperature the next batch of flowers may well set fruit.