Where have all the flowers gone

Hi gang, I was wondering if anyone could give me some suggestions about my Hungarian Hot pepper plant. The pant seems to be doing well enough in this heat we have been having (90+ for the past few weeks) it has been setting a good amount of flowers. the problem happens that once the flowers start dying back the little stem it is attached to falls off the plant. I can't even tell you how many i have lost this way. each one has a super tiny pepper on it just emerging.

I guess my question is Why would my plant do that? I have also noticed it happening on my Big boy tomato plant but not a severely as the pepper plant. any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

~John

Ok I had a friend help me figure out what was happening with my blossoms.

I found this at the the University of Minnesota extension web site:

"...Blossoms drop when temperatures rise above 90.
Nighttime temperatures below 60 or above 75 will also cause blossom
drop. Normally, peppers will set additional flowers when temperatures
moderate. Moisture stress also causes blossom drop."

and from the Ohio Extension office:

Climatic Requirements



As peppers are of tropical origin, plants thrive best when
temperatures are warm. Being sensitive to the cold, planting should
be delayed until the danger of frost is past in the spring. Ideal
temperatures are 70 to 80 degrees F during the day, and 60 to 70 degrees F at night.

Extremely high temperatures (90 degrees F or above) during flowering often
results in blossom drop. Fruit that set when temperatures average
above 80 degrees F may be small and poorly shaped due to heat injury to the
blossoms. Temperatures below 60 degrees F at night will also result in
blossom drop.

A shortage of water at bloom time can also result in
blossom drop or failure to set fruit. Usually, the plants set
satisfactory crops when temperatures are between 65 and 80 degrees F and the
soil is well-supplied with moisture. Avoid a soggy, water-logged soil
condition when growing peppers.

I think my issue is the above 90* temps we have been experiencing here in Cincinnati.

I also found out that Peppers, Eggplant and Tomatoes are related to potatoes. I found one site that said tomatoes can also experience this blossom drop with the same conditions as peppers.

I mention this because my tomatoes are experiencing the same thing as the pepper plant but to a lesser extreme.

Just thought inquiring minds might want to know.

Thanks for posting this. My peppers are doing the same thing & I just thought that I just did not have luck with peppers. Seeing that we are going to have 99+ weather for the next week I guess I'm not getting any peppers anytime soon.

We've been in the 90s for weeks now too, and no break in sight. So should I get some shade cloth over my garden during the heat of the day? Will it get enough sunlight to thrive? Thanks!