Chili plant won't flower

Chelon

Grew one last year and it flowered and fruited then died quite quickly thereafter.

Tried again this year and watered and fed from scratch on my kitchen windowsill. Result - an absolutely huge plant, looks fairly healthy to me and is taking over the kitchen; BUT it's now nearly August and no flowers or fruit at all, just a mass of leaves and little bud type ends. Should it be fruiting by now? It's a single plant, do they need another to fruit?

pointer28

Mine are behind this year too.

Those little buds should turn to flowers and then fruits.

Are you feeding it? There's a good chance any nutrition is gone from the compost by now. I give mine some tomato feed every week or two.

Chelon

I feed it all the time. Sometimes the leaves seem to perk up, other times they don't. Should I just use plain water for a while? Thing is huge about 4 foot tall.

goose06

Maybe your fertiliser is encouraging growth, back off or reduce the fertiliser & stress the plant a little to encourage it to flower, by this I mean reduce how often you water, wait til the leaves wilt a bit.

Chelon wrote: »

I feed it all the time.
Sometimes the leaves seem to perk up, other times they don't. Should I just use plain water for a while? Thing is huge about 4 foot tall.

lordgoat

Where did you get the plant/seeds from?

Chelon

lordgoat wrote: »

Where did you get the plant/seeds from?

It was actually just a cheap kit from a garage, pot, soil and seeds. Tried last year and flowers and fruit appeared after around 2 months; then after a few weeks the plant started to die off with the chilis less than an inch long.

Someone told me I needed to feed it so this year I've been feeding from day 1, the plant is very big but no flowers yet after 4 months. I will try just using water for a few weeks.

StopWatch

Chelon wrote: »

It was actually just a cheap kit from a garage, pot, soil and seeds. Tried last year and flowers and fruit appeared after around 2 months; then after a few weeks the plant started to die off with the chilis less than an inch long.

Someone told me I needed to feed it so this year I've been feeding from day 1, the plant is very big but no flowers yet after 4 months. I will try just using water for a few weeks.

What kind of feed are you using?
At most it should be once a week, maybe a high potash tomato feed or a chilli specific feed line "chilli focus" which is what I've been using this year, with great results

Chelon

StopWatch wrote: »

What kind of feed are you using?
At most it should be once a week, maybe a high potash tomato feed or a chilli specific feed line "chilli focus" which is what I've been using this year, with great results

Just regular tomato feed, but I've been using it constantly. Funny thing is I planted about 7 seeds in the pot and only one has grown huge, the others are still alive but just 2 inches high.

Thud

I planted Jalapenos and scotch bonnets, Jalapenos have two inch peppers but scotch bonnets are still at bud stage, give them a time

Chelon

Still no joy with the plant fruiting, also it seems to be infested with blackfly now, does anyone know the best solution?

goose06

Chelon wrote: »

Still no joy with the plant fruiting, also it seems to be infested with blackfly now, does anyone know the best solution?

yellow sticky cards/paper & let it dry out. Larvae thrive in damp soil

Souness

As far as I know you shouldn't start feeding until fruit starts setting, by doing so before you are just encouraging leaf growth.

Chelon

Souness wrote: »

As far as I know you shouldn't start feeding until fruit starts setting, by doing so before you are just encouraging leaf growth.

That now makes perfect sense, since all I got was masses of leaf and no fruit. The plant is almost dead now, so guess it's time to try again; I'm being told you can plant at any time of year.