I have four chillis - Heatwave. Very nice plants, loads of flowers but only one got any fruit. Any advice on why the other plants are flowering but the fruits then falling off.
The one that is covered in fruit they are very strong. Made some vegetable soup and added about a third and nearly blew our heads off.
mite be lack of light or overly wet got chillies coming out my ears here Caribbean mix this year and cayenne and a couple of hotstuff they are all sat in 9 cm pots or 12 cm pots fed and watered in gravel trays been givin away bags of them as well as drying more in airing cupboard
I suggest poor pollination or lack of water at this crucial stage.....chillies are inclined to lose their flowerheads for both those reasons.... :-\ They don't like fluctuating conditions either, some varieties seem to be more sensitive than others. I have some Bangkok Upright chillies that are being very tempermental this year, all the others are doing fine!
Digeroo, these chillies are outside and planted in close proximity aren't they? If that's the case I'd assume pollinating insects are able to reach all the plants.
I generally blame low humidity or too much water for blossom drop. (Here's a summary of other causes (http://thechileman.blogspot.com/search?q=Blossom+Drop).) Is your fruiting plant shading the others at all? Or are they acting as a windbreak & protecting the fruiting plant?
Welcome to A4A IOWDigger.. :)
They are in a block of four plants. One plant is quite different - taller with red notches in the leaf nodes. It may be stronger and taking all the water, but I have tried feeding and watering. Also put a mini greenhouse around but not over the top, since they got too hot. The site is very windy.
It may be that the fruiting one is actually a weed and that it tolerates the conditions better. I have grown heatwave before and it usually has small fruit but the fruiting one has much much larger fruits. They are almost large enough to be mistaken for sweet peppers until they blow your head off.
Since the four plants are in a block it cannot be lack of pollinators surely they can fly another six inches.
It is odd because the fruiter is the one with the least flowers.
Mind you I do not know what I am fussing about the fruiter has so many it is more than enough for my chilli requirements.
It may be they are planted too close, there is much more sun in my lottie than in the garden and everything is huge, so got things rather too close.