Pepper Cherry Hybrid Project Problems with Pollination

During the last month our plants have gone from being small plants, to over a foot tall. We have had to continue to prune the upper parts of the plant to keep them out of the grow lights.

When we had purchased these seeds for our plants, we understood that they would come close to being in the lights, but not this quickly. We are trying to force the lower part of the plants to sprout new leaves to keep some of the energy towards the lower part of the plant.

Problems with Pollination

These plants have been producing numerous flowers, but for some reason they have been falling off 3-4 days later. Now, what could be causing this? The most logical answer to the question would be pollination.

Since these plants are growing indoors in a controlled environment, they don’t get visits from our flying friends to assist in the pollination process. So, Aerogrow suggests that you gently shake the plants to promote pollination.

We had recently done that, and we’ll see if that works. Another possible way to promote pollination is to take a small brush and gently brush each of the flowers. Which will be the next thing we try, if we don’t see any results in the next few days.

If you have a suggestion or idea, please feel free to leave a comment.

Aside from the pollination problem, the plants are very healthy and have a huge root system in the Aeroponic Chamber. We have continued to feed two of the large nutrient tablets every two weeks, in which the latest was this last Saturday. We are keeping a very close eye on this and will keep everyone updated over the coming days.