Re: [CH] container growing question
Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Mon, 17 Oct 2005 16:32:45 -0700
> Right, but here in San Jose, it hasn't (and rarely
> does) dropped below 50 degrees F yet.
>
> --- Alex Silbajoris <asilbajo@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > One element I haven't seen mentioned (unless I
> > missed it) was the factor of
> > temperature. If it's too hot or too cold the plants
> > will not bloom, or will
> > not set fruit, even drop blooms.
Personally (as another resident of San Jose, CA), I believe the problem of
few blossoms on C. chinense plants the past few years is due to the
unusually cool summers we've been having lately. A few blooms happen, and
a few of them set, but neither in the numbers they used to. Maybe it's
really some different problem, but this is what I think. Reduced flowering
during these past few years has not been a problem for me for any other
Capsicum species, only chinense. Perhaps I should confess lack of due
diligence lately in the fertilizing department, but then again, I've
treated them all equally :-) . In years past, my chinense plants long
lagged the other Capsicums in beginning to flower in earnest, really
getting going only once nice hot weather had really set in (hence my
conclusion about recent cool summers causing the problem).
Anyway, if my supposition is true, then treatments to increase the plants'
warmth should help, e.g. black plastic mulch (or maybe even reflective
mulch), placing pots or planting near south-facing walls, etc. (Some care
is required here, since C. chinense also don't much like high temps with
low humidity, though San Jose's weather historically is rarely really hot
and rarely really dry).
--- Brent