Pepper fruit set suffers when night temperatures stay above ~21 °C
Pepper fruit set suffers when night temperatures stay above ~21 °C (70 °F); the same hot spell's high days compound it.
As recorded: Pepper fruit set suffers when night temperatures stay above ~21C (70F); the same hot spell's high days compound it.
Promising A person has checked it against its sources. If you skip this, you lose real yield. The planner warns you.
How it works
Warm nights above ~21 °C (70 °F) weaken pepper growth and, together with hot days, leave flowers poorly pollinated so they drop before setting fruit. Pepper carries a second heat driver this night threshold does not see. Daytime highs above ~34 °C (93 °F) also abort the flowers, so this rule catches only the night half of a two-sided problem.
What to do about it
Wait it out. Pepper sets fruit again once the nights cool. Shade cloth cools the day, but this drop comes from hot nights, so shade cloth will not fix it; keep the plants watered and unstressed so they carry the flush that follows.
The evidence
Evidence: checked against 2 sources in the research-based literature.
The 2 sources
Dry soil, temperatures above 90F, or night temperatures below 60F or above 70F, can weaken plant growth
Excessively high or low air temperatures (higher than 94 degrees F or lower than 50 degrees F) can reduce fruit set of peppers by causing flowers to drop from the plant.
Plants it applies to · 1
How this rule has changed
Every change is dated, newest first. The full record, with each reason, is in the data download.
- Details updated
- Wording made clearer
- Wording made clearer
- Added to the rules
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Milpa Gardens. “Pepper fruit set suffers when night temperatures stay above ~21 °C (70 °F); the same hot spell's high days compound it.” Evidence grade: Promising. https://milpa.garden/rules/pepper-fruit-set-suffers-when-night-temperatures/
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