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My pepper plant dropped all its flowers in one hot afternoon and I almost gave up on it
I've got a 4th floor balcony facing west in Sacramento, so from about 2pm to 6pm in July it turns into an oven. I came home from a concrete pour around 5 and found my bell pepper plant had dropped 11 flowers in a single day. Little green nubs all over the saucer, just gone. I figured the plant was a lost cause since peppers are supposedly self pollinating and I thought the heat had cooked the pollen. I moved the pot to the corner that gets shade after 1pm, set a cheap patio umbrella on a stand to block the worst of the sun, and started watering it in the evening instead of the morning so the roots got a real soak. Two weeks later it put out new flowers and I ended up getting 6 peppers off it by September. I also tapped the stems with my finger every morning to help move pollen around, which felt dumb but worked. Anyone else growing peppers on a west facing balcony, how are you handling that afternoon blast?
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robinson.holly7d ago
Man, that flower drop is brutal, been there. Taking your shade idea further, I'd say don't just block the sun, watch the pot itself too, because a black plastic pot in that 2pm blast can cook the roots even when the leaves look fine. I wrapped mine in a light towel and set it inside a bigger clay pot with a little gap, and that alone cut way down on the wilting. Evening watering is smart, but stick your finger down two inches first so you're not drowning roots that are already stressed.
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