Many gardeners experience the problem with a fruiting chilli plant that doesn’t produce any fruits.
As an experienced gardener, I think I know what’s the problem, and there is a solution to that.
Why is Your Chilli Plant Flowering But not Fruiting?
Your chilli plant might be flowering but not fruiting, probably because of a lack of pollination. However, there are other possible reasons like too much nitrogen, inadequate temperature, or improper watering.
Lack of pollination often happens, because of a lack of air circulation. It can happen to indoor or outdoor chilli plants.
Temperature fluctuations might be a problem and cause flowers not to produce fruits, so keep the temperature between 59 °F (15 °C) and -86 °F (30 °C).
Other problems include either too little or too much nitrogen, wrong watering, or not enough sunlight.
Keep on reading to identify the real cause of chilli flowering, but not fruiting, and find out how to solve it.
Pollination Problem
Plants like peppers, or chillis are usually self-pollinated. That means that they don’t need pollinators like bees, because thanks to the wind, each flower can pollinate the other to produce fruit.
However, if you keep your chilli plant indoors, or outdoors where it’s protected from wind, and air circulation is low, the flowers might not be pollinated. Pollination might also not occur if the plants are located too densely.
The best way to prevent this problem is to just place your chilli plant outside (if it’s indoors), where the wind will help the pollen naturally go from the stamen to the ovule, causing the plant to produce fruits. Or, the bees, or butterflies can do their job too.
However, if you don’t want to wait for the right conditions, you can pollinate your chilli plant by yourself.
To hand-pollinate your chilli plant, it’s best to do it between noon, and 3 pm, when pollen is at its peak. Then, gently shake the flowering plants to encourage the movement of pollen. You can combine it with using a wet cotton swab to dab the stamens and manually move the pollen onto other flowers.
Inadequate Temperature
Too high, or too low temperature might cause chilli plants to produce flowers, but not fruits.
Chillis do best when a night temperature is higher than 59 °F (15 °C). They can tolerate lower temperatures, such as 54 °F (12 °C), but if the temperature is even lower, it can affect your chilli plant’s ability to create fruits.
On the other hand, the daytime temperature should be above 68 °F (20 °C). If your chilli plant experienced too low temperatures for at least 4 days, this might be the reason for not fruiting. In too low temperatures, a chilli plant is forced to abort the process of fruiting in order to utilize its energy for survival.
Chiili plants prefer high temperatures, as they’re native to tropical areas of America, Mexico, and Peru. However, sometimes when chilli plants are exposed to high temperatures, above 86 °F (30 °C) for an extended period of time, it might cause sunburns, and stunted growth, which can prevent them from producing fruits.
So, if your chiili plant is producing flowers, but not producing fruits, make sure it doesn’t experience severe temperature fluctuations. You should know that the best temperature for chilli to produce fruits, and properly grow, is between 59 °F (15 °C) and -86 °F (30 °C). Anything below, or above that will cause problems, like no fruiting, or dropping off flowers.
Overfertilization
Chilli plants don’t do well when they’re overfertilized. Nitrogen is a nutrient that can cause your chilli to produce flowers that aren’t fruiting.
Nitrogen is responsible for developing stalks, leaves, and vegetation. If there’s too much of this nutrient in the soil, problems like no fruits, or blossom-end rot might arise. Yes, your plants will grow larger and will be producing greener and taller foliage, but in this case, they will not be able to produce a sufficient number of blooms for fruition.
There can also be a problem with not enough nitrogen that will present itself with falling blossoms.
What should you do? First, if you’ve overfertilized your chilli plant, increase the level of magnesium to encourage growth by spraying it with a solution of water and Epsom salt. Then, apply a good 5-10-10 fertilizer, like this one on Amazon with less nitrogen content than potassium, and phosphorus. You can also use compost.
Wrong Watering
Wrong watering habits might also cause no fruiting. Chilli plants don’t tolerate drought, and on the other hand, they can’t be waterlogged.
If you don’t water your chilli enough, it causes the plant to feel threatened, as lack of moisture reduces energy generation by photosynthesis. In that case, your chilli plant will not produce flowers and drop its leaves.
If you water too much, the plant goes into a state of shock and suffers from water stress. As a result, the soil will develop bacteria and fungi, which can be harmful to your plant and its ability to produce fruits.
To make your chilli produce fruits, you should water it twice a week depending on the weather conditions. However, it’s better to test the soil moisture. If you feel the soil is dry, around 1.5 inches (4 cm) below the surface, you should water your plant. If it’s moist, the plant has enough water. Keep an eye on the temperature. If it’s high, the soil will dry faster.
Not Enough Sunlight
Chillis might struggle to produce fruits because they might not have enough sunlight. Usually, a chilli plant needs 6-12 hours of sunlight per day. The more sunlight a chilli plant receives, the more energy it can use to convert to crop growth.
Sunlight through a window is not ideal for growing pepper plants, regardless of age, due to the limited time and intensity of the sunlight. In that case, you should get yourself a LED growth plant (buy it here on Amazon) to provide proper light.
Keep in mind that direct sunlight when the temperature is high also affects fruit growth, so if the climate is hot, chillis can tolerate partial sun.
Sources
gardening.stackexchange.com, spicytrio.com, vegetablegardenerx.com, soonhuatseeds.com, peppergeek.com