QuestionI started miniature pepper plants from seeds
given me from friend, the plants germinated
and are good and healthy, full of blossoms, but
have not produced any peppers yet. The blossoms
dry up and fall off. I have tried pollinating
them with que tip but still no peppers forming.
What is the problem? Help
AnswerI am not an expert on peppers, and I would need more information to give you the exact reason you are having this problem. So, I have done some research, and I will tell you what I have found is the best way to get the peppers to grow. You didn't say whether you are growing them in containers or the ground, and I would need to know what kind of conditions they are growing in.
Peppers need at least 6 hours of sun a day. They do not grow well in a greenhouse. The best air temperature for growing is day 65 to 85 and night 60 to 75. Make sure they get 1 inch of water every week. Consistency in watering is important from flowering through harvest and fruit development. Hot weather and dry soil conditions can cause peppers to drop there flowers or can cause pollination to fail so miserably that the plants produce no fruit. As days get shorter and cooler in the late summer, fruit set usually improves. Shading the plants when the sun gets too hot and watering well, will help some. It seems that being too cold can also create problems with pollination. The worst for being temperature sensitive are the older varieties. The new hybrid peppers perform well in all the contiguous states, but the bearing season in the northern tier of states, even with the aid of heat trapping mulch, is rather short. There is a threshold of heat, about 86 degrees beyond which the bell and sweet peppers won't set fruit, and not cooler than low 60's for extented periods.
If you need further help with this, let me know.
bakerplanter