chilli fruit not growing to full size

Discussion in 'Fruit and Veg Gardening' started by Jess180, Oct 16, 2017.

  1. Jess180

    Jess180 New Seed

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    Hi all,

    I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I have a pot black chilli plant that I've been growing in an aquaponic setup in my greenhouse. It has put out a whole bunch of fruit but they are ripening to red as small round balls instead of elongation like the pictures I've seen on Google. Any idea what i can do to fix that? 20171016_200713.jpg
     
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  3. toni

    toni Mistress of Garden Junque Staff Member Moderator Plants Contributor

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    There are some that do ripen as balls but they are a different variety than the ones that become elongated. Did your plants or seeds come with any ID information? Sometimes the plant tags have the wrong information on them or seed packets have the wrong seeds in them, especially if they are from a home grower and not a known seed vendor.
     
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  4. Jess180

    Jess180 New Seed

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    I bought it as a small plant that had 3 fruit growing already. They grew to about 5cm long and were still shiny black before I picked them. Since I moved them into my set up the largest I have found was about 2.5cm diameter and more spherical in shape. It had also turned red already. Pics of the original plant I bought and what it looks like now are attached. The original pic isn't great but hopefully you can see the general shape of the original fruit.
    20170309_201022.jpg
    new plant.jpg
     
  5. toni

    toni Mistress of Garden Junque Staff Member Moderator Plants Contributor

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    I don't grow peppers but I wonder if growing them in an aquaponic setup in the greenhouse may have not given them the heat peppers really need to do their best.
    Have you tasted one to see if they are edible?
     



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  6. Jess180

    Jess180 New Seed

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    Not yet. I don't actually eat them but I'll get my partner to try some and see how it goes.I have been growing them over winter in the greenhouse and now that its spring and they have outgrown my shelving I have moved them outside. Hopefully they will be happier now that the weather is heating up and it will sort itself out :)
     
  7. carolyn

    carolyn Strong Ash

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    do you have pollinators working on the blossoms? I don't grow hydro/aquaponic but my first thought was poor pollination. I know they are self fertile but they still need the pollen knocked off the anther to the stigma to set a decent fruit. if no plant/air movement the pollen won't move either.
     
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  8. Jess180

    Jess180 New Seed

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    Hi,

    So i got my partner to eat one to see if they taste ok and it turns out there are no seeds in the fruit. They are not hot at all but are kind of sweet.

    Now that i have moved them outside I'm hoping they do better given what you said about pollinating. I did have some in the greenhouse and i tried manually pollinating them earlier on but it doesn't seem to have worked.
     
  9. carolyn

    carolyn Strong Ash

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    were the first ones that were tapered to a point hot or sweet? maybe the plant is mislabeled, too.
     
  10. mart

    mart Strong Ash

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    Seeds may have crossed with a sweet cherry pepper. What variety were they supposed to be ?
     

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