[Janeymiddlewife]

Yaay - my peppers have got teeny tiny flower buds on them
any advice what to do next?  :happy:  

[birmancats]

Mine too.  I noticed them this morning. It's so exciting.

[andreadon]

as soon as you can see the fruits growing through the flowers, feed them with tomato food - just follow the instructions on the bottle!

(I've got fruits growing already because I sowed mine in a warm room in the winter!  )

[iwantanallotment]

Mine are an inch high with 2 skinny leaves - think I left them a bit late 

[mumofstig]

Mine are an inch high with 2 skinny leaves - think I left them a bit late 

I have some like that but the other varieties, sown only 2 weeks earlier are doing just fine. I think that some must just be slower or perhaps fussier about conditions than others

[ben]

My peppers didn't germinate, so I've sold out and have gone down the garden centre and bought some young plants

[JulesJ]

Mine are an inch high with 2 skinny leaves - think I left them a bit late 

Mine are the same.

[Christine]

Mine have all the ideal conditions as specified on the growing instructions and are taking their time. They'll either catch up or they won't. They took ages to germinate. 

[Angelah]

Mine are tiny ones with only two leaves on too. Planted them ages ago and had given up on them, then they started to appear a week or so ago - is it worth continuing with them? Or should I buy in some bigger plants?

[paintedlady]

Mine are tiny ones with only two leaves on too. Planted them ages ago and had given up on them, then they started to appear a week or so ago - is it worth continuing with them? Or should I buy in some bigger plants?

Well, I suppose you could do both    Last year my chillies & peppers were sowed late and I still got a fairly good crop but unfortunately, because I had them outdoor, the cool summer meant many never ripened before the first frosts.  If you have to pick them and they are still green, keep the fruits in a warm room and they'll ripen up on their own (I then chopped all mine up for the freezer to pop into soups & stews)

If you have them in a greenhouse, they'll soon pick up

[Janeymiddlewife]

Thanks all for your advice - as they're indoors do i need to get jiggy with a paint brush in place of the bees ? 

[Janeymiddlewife]

Thanks all for your advice - as they're indoors do i need to get jiggy with a paint brush in place of the bees ? 

bumping this up - do the flowers need pollinating - they're on the kitchen windowsill at the mo and greenhouse & cold frame full of peas/toms/chillis & flowers waiting to go out!
I could put peppers out on a sunny day when the flowers open but wuld rather use a paintbrush as there are quite a lot of plants!

[SpudtheBinx]

The year before last I had some no fruit setting onmy chillies that were indoors. As soon as I started with a paint burush I had a massive bounty. Could have been coincidence but it worked for me!

[little sweetpeas]

Thanks all for your advice - as they're indoors do i need to get jiggy with a paint brush in place of the bees ? 

bumping this up - do the flowers need pollinating - they're on the kitchen windowsill at the mo and greenhouse & cold frame full of peas/toms/chillis & flowers waiting to go out!
I could put peppers out on a sunny day when the flowers open but wuld rather use a paintbrush as there are quite a lot of plants!

Providing it's not a F1 varietyIf you use the paint brush, thus pollinating them yourself, mark the fruit 
so you can tell at a later date which fruit it was and then when you come to use the fruit you can save the seed for next year.

[HLS]

My (overwintered) Anaheim chilli seems to set fruit without any pollination, unless I've got some very sneaky flies on my kitchen windowsill.  I should think it depends on the variety.