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Author Topic: Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?  (Read 16219 times)

The Clam

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Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?
« on: March 13, 2017, 08:33:34 AM »

I have noticed that my carolina reaper peppers are producing flowers but no pollen. I have heard this is due to low light (which is highly possible) but I wanted a second take.
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BubbleCat

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Re: Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2017, 01:45:32 PM »

The first flowers the plant produces being sterile is a common thing, only if it persists for weeks and is reason for concern. In that case check that you are not fertilizing too much, humidity is not too low and the light sufficient and also suited for reproductive stage and not purely vegetative (which works but suboptimal still). I assume they are outdoors and its fall in your place ?

Generally pollen production and fertility depends on plant health aswell as other environmental parameters like temperature humidity and light.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2017, 01:53:33 PM by BubbleCat »
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The Clam

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Re: Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2017, 10:05:24 PM »

The first flowers the plant produces being sterile is a common thing, only if it persists for weeks and is reason for concern. In that case check that you are not fertilizing too much, humidity is not too low and the light sufficient and also suited for reproductive stage and not purely vegetative (which works but suboptimal still). I assume they are outdoors and its fall in your place ?

Generally pollen production and fertility depends on plant health aswell as other environmental parameters like temperature humidity and light.

Sounds like it could be it. Also, its actually just starting spring and they are indoors for the moment.
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Auxin

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Re: Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2017, 06:47:34 PM »

Also, that pepper is a Capsicum chinense cultivar. C. chinense naturally produce much less pollen than C. annuum or especially C. baccatum, so if your used to growing the other species the difference would be quite noticeable.
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The Clam

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Re: Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2017, 01:12:10 AM »

Also, that pepper is a Capsicum chinense cultivar. C. chinense naturally produce much less pollen than C. annuum or especially C. baccatum, so if your used to growing the other species the difference would be quite noticeable.

That's good to know but I actually started on carolina reapers as my first peppers though and noticed some pollen when moving the flower. These have actually zero it seems.
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XDX

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Re: Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2017, 06:03:52 AM »

I have a teepee (edit- *reaper*) plant bout 3 years old I think, flowers every year, but have only gotten one fruit the first altimeter, and some idiot stole it off the plant before it was even close to mature... I remember earlier this winter it was flowering indoors, but flowers did seem to have pollen, or very little, or it was super faint and small grained. The year that I did get a fruit, I had some other pepper types growing nearby, perhaps it was cross pollinated by one of those...
« Last Edit: September 16, 2017, 10:49:47 PM by XDX »
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The Clam

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Re: Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2017, 07:08:20 AM »

That's one reason I never plant in the front yard, I don't trust my neighbors around my plants lol, my winter hit hard and I think the warmth of being indoors plus the low light just made for a very confused plant, what is a teepee plant though?  I have yet to come across one of those before.
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BubbleCat

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Re: Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2017, 02:51:14 AM »

I further read that:

temperatures in excess of 35 C
excessive nitrogen supply
and disease, pests and stress

can lead to dropping flowers (and likely 'malfunctioning' flowers in many ways).
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The Clam

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Re: Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2017, 08:35:44 AM »

I further read that:

temperatures in excess of 35 C
excessive nitrogen supply
and disease, pests and stress

can lead to dropping flowers (and likely 'malfunctioning' flowers in many ways).

Could be Nitrogen. I fertilized them with a pretty heavy N fertilizer awhile back and noticed a huge spike in foliage growth..
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BubbleCat

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Re: Hot pepper flowers not producing pollen?
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2017, 11:33:10 AM »

Thats what the explanation I read (by a scientist at a pepper institute) said:

Heavy N fertilization causes strong vegetative growth at the cost of reproduction. The recommended method is not to feed N when flowering is about to start and later supply N again when the plant carries fruit.
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