Pollination

[mrbojangles]

Can anyone help please.

We live in Saudi and have been growing some Egg Plants and Chilli's from seeds we brought back from Thailand. Both plants have come on very well, even in the heat of summer. However, when they flower, the flowers just die off and no Chilli's or Egg Plants grow. At this time of year it is too hot for flies and Bees etc so I'm presuming the flowers aren't getting pollinated. I'm hoping in a month or two the Bees are back. However, that will be too late for the flowers on my current plants.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as to if it is pollination, what is the best way to artificially do it. Or could it be something else.

[loong]

An eggplant flower is normally wind pollinated, meaning it does not rely on insects like bees and moths to pollinate it. A pollination problem can occur when the weather conditions are very wet or very humid or are very hot. When the air is very humid, this causes the pollen eggplant flower to become very sticky and it cannot fall down onto the pistil to pollinate the flower. When the weather is very hot, the pollen becomes inactive because the plant thinks that it cannot support the stress of an additional fruit along with the hot weather. In a sense, the plant aborts the blossom so as not to stress itself further.

Eggplant flower hand pollination

If you suspect your eggplant flowers fall off due to a lack off pollination, then you can use hand pollination. Eggplant flower hand pollination is easy to do. All you need to do is take a small, clean paintbrush and move this around the inside of the eggplant flower.

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vegetable/...falling-off.htm

[loong]

Chilli Plant Flowers and Fruit

Chillie flowers

As your pepper plants begin to mature you will start to notice flowers appearing on your plants. This is the sign you have been waiting for as it means that your first chillies are not that far off. All that stands between you and fresh chilli pods is pollination.

Be aware that as was the case with germination if you are growing cayenne peppers the plants will flower and fruit much earlier than varieties such as habanero, scotch bonnet or naga. These slower varieties require much more heat and our best kept in a conservatory or greenhouse to ensure they fruit as soon as possible.

Pollination will be taken care of naturally by bees and other insects if you plants are kept outside. If grown inside you may want to consider self pollination. Don't worry, this is not as sordid as it may sound. All you need to do is wait until you have a few flowers on your plants then lightly rub your little finger inside the flower heads on your plants. Alternatively use a small artists paint brush or a cotton bud. This will do the bees job of moving pollen around from flower to flower.

Nearly ripe pods

Eventually you will see that some of the flowers will go brown and drop off. This is usually no need for alarm as the cause will be a chilli pushing its way through the flower. All you need to do now is to keep up the water/food and wait for your chillies to ripen.

Next if you are anything like the king you will have to find a solution to one more question: How to use the chillies?!

http://www.thechilliking.com/Growing.shtml

[mrbojangles]

Thankyou very much Loong.

I'll try the paintbrush method but i wasn't aware they didn't need Bees etc and they pollinated by wind. The flowers are quite attractive, which is why I automatically thought they were pollinated by insects.

I'll search for something on Chilli's to see how they pollinate.

[jandtaa]

Hi MrBojangles

Flower drop could also be caused by large fluctuations between day and nighttime temperatures.Not sure what the temperature fluctuation is in Saudi but here in Chiang Rai in the cold season it drops to a couple of degrees at night although is thirty during the day. At this time of year flowers do not set on the eggplant or chillis but they keep producing flower and fruits are formed when the hot season arrives.

cheers for now J 

[mrbojangles]

Many thanks jandtaa,

Recently it has been 42 degrees here but it's now a cool 38 degrees I'm hoping as the temp drops a bit more I might start to have a bit of luck.