Buds don't blossom on Chilli plant ( bud drop )

Question

I have a green chilli plant. For the past 2 months, the flowers on the plant have never bloomed. There are a lot of buds but instead of blooming, they just dry off. What is going wrong?

I water the plant once a day every morning. The water used is around a 1/3rd of the mug that you can see in the first pic attached below. I also add a handful of fertiliser once every fortnight. It gets sunlight from around 9:30 in the morning to 4-5 PM in evening.

P.S. I am based out of Mumbai, India. It's winter season here but the temperature rarely goes below 18°C.

Here are few pictures as requested:

When you say 'tree' what does that mean? How tall is the plant and is it in a pot or in the ground? — Bamboo, Dec 27 '16 at 14:44
A photo will also help to understand the cause. What is the color of the leaves? Is the chilli plant in a pot? — Giacomo Catenazzi, Dec 27 '16 at 16:25
How many hours of direct sun does it get, how often is it watered, how often is it fed, what npk ratio did you use? — Graham Chiu, Dec 27 '16 at 19:19
Might be getting too much nitrogen from your fertilizer. I've stunted chilis by applying too much nitrate. — Wayfaring Stranger, Dec 28 '16 at 17:19
That looks like soil so it may be getting water logged with all that excessive watering, and you may also be washing out all the soil nutrients. Those leaves don't look green at all which you'd expect with high nitrates. — Graham Chiu, Dec 28 '16 at 22:25

score 8 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 28 '16 at 20:09

8

I think you overwater the chilli plant. The leaves are not very healthy.

Chilli likes also dry climate, so try to water a lot less. One or twice a week.

I would also not put so much fertiliser. Once every two or three month should be enough (and possibly one every year, but possibly also changing the soil). Chilli doesn't produce a lot of green, or big fruits, so I find they don't need much fertiliser nor water. And this will make the chilli also better (hot).

answered Dec 28 '16 at 20:09

Giacomo Catenazzi

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Thanks Giacomo. Regarding overwatering, I have found that if I don't water once a day, the leaves all shrunk up and look dead. Should I water everyday but less water? And what is the right quantity of water for a pot of this size? I will check my fertilizer to see if it has Nitrogen. – RajeshShah Dec 29 '16 at 05:11
1

@RajeshShah: You can reduce the quantity of water. Check that water can exit on bottom of the pot (too much water in soil damages the roots, so maybe for this reason the chilli doesn't get all fertilizer). Check that the soil is dry before to water again. In this manner, the roots can absorb water, but also other substances. You need some experimenting, to find he optimal way, for your climate and soil type. – Giacomo Catenazzi Dec 29 '16 at 12:28

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 28 '16 at 07:34

6

Possible causes: - overwatering - drought - cold water - air humidity too high or too low, because it affects pollination and unpollinated flowers drop - insufficient calcium or magnesium - not enough light - fungal infection

As you can see, there are many possible causes, that's why, in order to help, we need to see some pictures.

answered Dec 28 '16 at 07:34

Alina

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I have added more information and picture in the post above. – RajeshShah Dec 28 '16 at 07:46

Buds don't blossom on Chilli plant ( bud drop )

2 Answers2