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Help with my pepper plants

ppatel59ppatel59 Posts: 1
in The potting shed
I have grown some pepper plants I get a few flowers but no fruit. Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong. 
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  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I pollinate the flowers by hand, don’t know if that’s just me, I dab by finger from one open flower to another. 
    Sounds like yours haven’t been pollinated. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
    Bother! Ive just done some gentle finger dabbing to the flowers on my rather immature looking pepper plants, and the whole flower fell off! Haven’t been expecting much from them, these were started off on the kitchen windowsill when I was making salad earlier in the year. Still, it’s been nice to see them growing. The smallest one lost what flowers it had. Can I just leave them in their pots to overwinter in my ‘convalescent’ area behind the toolshed? Will they just die off?

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited August 2021
    If you leave the plants outside during cold weather they'll die I'm afraid - they need heat all year round.
    You could try and overwinter them indoors, keep them cool, put out of direct sun and the compost just barely damp and they may survive.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    I grow sweet peppers,sow seeds early January usually,same time as the tomatoes. They are started in kitchen window sill,then conservatory,then lean to green house,which just gets a little late morning sun. They are now red and yellow and ready to pick. But a long growing session and warmth is essential
  • ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
    Thanks for the info. Definitely wasn’t onto a winner, starting them so late in the season anyway. I’ll leave them to do their thing until it starts to get cooler, then they can go on the garage window with all the kalanchoes that refuse to die! I might have another go next year if I remember early enough.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    I tried overwintering some established Palermo peppers last year in a frost free garage next to a window.
    Found it wasn't worth the effort. 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I wouldn’t bother either,  mine are kept in the conservatory all the time, they wouldn’t grow outside here and it wouldn’t be warm enough even in the conservatory. 
    They need to go in big pots @Ergates yours look a bit lacking in the compost levels. 
    I find the best way is to buy a pepper of your choice in February, take the seeds out and sow straight away, don’t wash or dry them out.
    I’ve never had a seed not germinate so I sow four and get four plants. 
    I give them an occasional feed with tomato food.  
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
    Thanks, Lyn. You can tell I am a real amateur at this! Does it look like there’s no real point moving these to bigger pots this late in the year? If there is no chance of any fruit this year,  I’m inclined now to just let them run their course and throw them out when they die. I’ll make a note for my diary to start planting seeds early next year.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I would say no chance now,  I wouldn’t bother doing anything with those now, they should have fruits all the way down,  I’d give up on those, you can only start them early if you can keep them inside in the warm.
    On the bright side, you’re well on the way to a compost heap🙂
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    Similar issue here, Romano pepper plants 3ft high with a few tiny fruits after months of slow growth in the greenhouse. Aubergines even worse, one small fruit from 4 plants and the tomatoes were blighted just as they started fruiting. All sown at the same time and all suffered from the cold spring followed by a heatwave ( remember that?).
    Cucumbers and gherkins have also been disappointing but I think snail damage to the stems early on was their biggest problem. Even lettuce which had done well in the greenhouse in previous years was poor this year. Maybe it was just a bad year or maybe this year's compost was rubbish, I will be beefing it up next year as shown by Adam Frost earlier this year on GW.
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