Grow Your Own Magazine

Can anyone please advise me on my chilli trees/plants - i have them on the lounge windowsill in a sunny area, they make flowers and then nothing. I dont know what they need? pollunation by bees? by me? male and female tree/plant?

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Best Wishes
Happy Growing
blue-and-green

http://blue-and-green.blogspot.com/

Hello Blue and Green. I rub my finger round the inside of the flowers. I don't know if you need to do this but mine make chillies and peppers. I think it will help if , when they have flowers on, you move them out of the sun in the hottest part of the day. I think your flowers are getting fried.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

We found 2 years ago the flowers suddenly started changing to chillis when we put them outside - must have been the pollunation. Have you got anywhere they can go outside, even for a short time, when the weather's warm?

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I've had my weetabix...

Chillies and tomatoes can pollinate themselves from the same plant/flower, but you need to loosen the pollen. It helps to keep the atmosphere moist, and I also go round tapping or shaking (gently) the plants. You could use a paintbrush but I've never found this necessary

A few years ago when i grew my first chilli plants indoors i had the same problem - i put it down to not being pollinated and used a soft brush to hand pollinate them - it worked fine. You could shake them to release the pollen (they can self pollinate) but i didn't want to risk getting pollen everywhere! Don't worry - they will keep on producing flowers so you've plenty of time to get some fruit, TBH its a bit early anyway!

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There's vegetable growing in the family, but I must be adopted
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Ive put them outside in a sheltered sunny spot, little frost possibility, and i will leave them for a few weeks,- still no fruit, i will shake them, (i had my finger there before but theres no visible pollen) - still no fruit, i will try a brush, but there should be bees soon since its near a lavender bush and the bees are full-on there in summer. I feel happy enough i rescued my chillis from the winter in October, and its my first time with chillis, its such a cute plant when they fruit. i had a crazy thought - what if flies pollunate them... yuk!!

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Best Wishes
Happy Growing
blue-and-green

http://blue-and-green.blogspot.com/

I grew my first chillis in the greenhouse last summer, I didn't do anything to them except spray them with water a few times...I got loads, and loads, and loads of chillis! Still got a long string which I dried. Hoping for the same luck this year - good luck with yours! Bernie aka Dexterdog

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

I'm afraid i wouldn't expect the fruit to set outside at this time of year. Chillies won't set fruit at temperatures below 15 or above 34 degrees C, i know we've had some warm days, but we're also still getting cool nights. Its difficult to get chillies to overwinter successfully and poduce fruit in this country - our climate isn't really suitable, at this time of year you would need a heated greenhouse and some pollinators really!

If you leave it outside, just be patient and you may well get fruits later in the spring or early summer, but give it some protection if it starts getting cold again - they're not frost tolerant at all. good luck!

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There's vegetable growing in the family, but I must be adopted
Happy Gardening!

I wouldn't put your chillies outside until late May if I were you. It may be 12 degrees or so in the daytime, but the wind is cold and the temp plummets in the late afternoon and overnight. Be patient! Bring them back indoors for a few weeks

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