My Habanero looks real healthy but flower stems look sick..

[sniffs]

So I have a real healthy looking Habanero, lush green leaves, very bushy.. the only issue with it is that my flowers never fruit. They have all been falling off and the stems of the flowers have these spots on them.. any ideas what could be causing this?

https://goo.gl/photos/m46meT55ahiQjAzXA


I've stopped using fertilizer on it for now.. I was using Fish Fertilizer once a month and a month ago or so I shoved in a Jobe's tomato food stick, 6-18-6. I used the same Jobe's stick in all my peppers and they are all very bushy, green and all have a ton of fruits except my Habanero.

[applestar]

I'm seeing a bit of russetting that is making me think they may be infested by mites. Those tiny black spots could be two-spotted mites. Try looking with magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe, or under a microscope. Or if you have a camera or cell phone with high magnification at least x10 or x15, you can try taking a macro- image.

[sniffs]

So I just used my ol trusty magnifying glass and did see 1-2 small very tiny white creatures crawling around.. nothing black.

I did pick off about a dozen aphids tho.. outside of that, I can't see any other weird, odd bugs. I spent like 30 minutes looking over every square inch of the plant.

[applestar]

Those sucking pests LOVE flower stems, flower buds, and get inside open flowers, too.

[imafan26]

Since the leaves don't look puckered, and most of the damage are at the base of the flowers. I would check if the blossoms are aborting if they are being attacked by pepper weevil. They like to lay their eggs near the base of the buds. If the peppers are maturing faster than normal or start to rot and the insides are black; especially if you find a small hole near the cap, it is likely to be the weevil. For me, this would be the time of year they would be around.

https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r604301011.html

[sniffs]

I don't have a single fruit on my Habanero, it's been flowering for weeks now and they have continued to fall off. I just now noticed that the stems look this way..

[Lindsaylew82]

Have they been allowed to wilt from lack of watering orrrrrrrrrrrrr (:::whispers:::) root bound plants in pots that are too small???

Too much fertilizer (the high N stuff) can cause blossom drop.

Temperatures above 85 in the day, and 75 at night can cause blossom drop too.

But I'm willing to put money on they need more root space, more regular watering, and a little less love from the N.

You might want to give them a little watering with 1 teaspoon of epsome salt in a quart of water once you up pot them. That will help with blooming. Also, bone meal can help with balancing out the high N ferts.

I just ain't seeing what y'all are seeing. It just looks like plain old blossom drop to me.

[sniffs]

I've got watering down pretty good on these plants. I have like 20 pepper plants of all variety in 10" terra cotta pots and nearly all of them are flowering and fruiting except a couple that aren't as old and this habanero. I generally water in the early mornings of every 3rd day. I last Saturday so I'll water again on Tuesday morning. I have a watering gauge that I put in my peppers almost every day just to make sure I'm not over/under watering.

I did think at one point I had too much nitrogen because the habanero has leaves that are like 2-3 times bigger than any of my pepper plants leaves. I think it was caused by me accidentally using garden soil with those slow release nitrogen balls.. so I tossed some bone meal in to try and offset the nitrogen with phosphorus.. nothings really changed. This plant has been flowering for weeks and every single one of the flowers has fallen off.

I'm using the 10" pots because I have limited space in my backyard and don't want them growing very big. I'm guessing I could get 3-4 feet tall peppers with these pots. My tomatoes are in the same pots and they are like 3-4 feet and flowering already.

[applestar]

I think you are underestimating the situation. Both tomatoes and peppers start sucking up 2-3 times more water once they have green fruits on.

[Lindsaylew82]

Yeah. Your plants will begin to suffer... With such small pots, I wouldn't expect to get very much from them.

Next time, if you want smaller plants, you should maybe look into smaller plant varieties. Applestar grows a lot of dwarf type tomatoes that require a lot less space...but still require space.

You should expect problems, and soon.

[sniffs]

And just like that.. 4 days later I'm getting fruit. After weeks and weeks of falling flowers it suddenly fruited and its got a couple of them. Not sure what changed..

[applestar]

I've said it before -- posting on the forum gets you results. Apparently plants are shy and self-conscious, and don't want other people to think they are slacking.