Causes and Control Methods of Pepper Stiff Fruit

During pepper cultivation, sometimes the fruit appears small and hard in texture; this symptom is known as pepper stiff fruit. Pepper stiff fruit is also called stone fruit or parthenocarpic fruit. Early symptoms appear as fruit resembling strawberries, with a thick and hard skin, a relatively long fruit stalk, and few or no seeds inside. So what causes pepper stiff fruit? How should it be controlled? Let's take a look.

I. Causes of Stiff Fruit

1. Poor pollination: During the flowering period of peppers, if low or high temperature weather occurs, that is, when the temperature is below 10 degrees or above 4 degrees, it will cause pollen to fail to grow and disperse normally, resulting in female flowers failing to be properly fertilized, so parthenocarpic fruit grows. Because this kind of fruit lacks hormone stimulation, its absorption of nutrients is hindered, forming stiff fruit.

2. Excessive vegetative growth: During pepper cultivation, if field ventilation and light penetration are poor, and the environment is high temperature and high humidity, the plants will grow extremely quickly, causing excessive vegetative growth. Excessive vegetative growth consumes a large amount of nutrients from the plant, causing young fruit to lack sufficient nutrients during growth, thereby causing stiff fruit. In addition, applying too much nitrogen fertilizer during fertilization can also cause excessive vegetative growth and form stiff fruit.

3. Too many fruits set: When plant growth and development are generally poor, but the number of fruits set is large, some fruits will stop growing due to lack of nutrients and form stiff fruit.

4. Improper management: Stiff fruit may also be caused by improper human management. When peppers are fruiting, if there is long-term drought and water shortage, or if improper fertilization causes root burn; or if pest and disease control is not timely, these reasons will all lead to poor plant growth and lack of nutrients, thus forming stiff fruit.

II. Control Methods

1. Select good seeds: When planting, choose varieties with robust growth, strong disease resistance and strong stress resistance. In addition, before sowing, it is best to disinfect and sterilize the seeds to reduce pathogenic bacteria.

2. Reasonable planting: When planting, the plant and row spacing must be controlled to increase air and light penetration between plants. During the flower bud differentiation stage, water should be adjusted well; the plants should neither suffer drought nor be watered too much, which would cause excessive vegetative growth.

3. Strengthen field management: During the flowering and fruiting period, environmental regulation should be strengthened, controlling the temperature between 15-30 degrees and controlling soil humidity at around 50%, which is caused by flowering period growth, improving the fertilization rate. When necessary, artificial supplementary pollination can be carried out.

4. Thin flowers and fruits: According to the growth condition of the plants, reasonably thin out excess fruits to ensure that the plants can supply enough nutrients.

5. Strengthen pest and disease control work: Great importance must be attached to the prevention and control of pests and diseases. Once pests and diseases are found, they must be dealt with promptly and treated with the right remedy, so as not to miss the best control time.

The above are the causes and control methods of pepper stiff fruit. We hope it can help you. To learn more about pepper cultivation knowledge, please follow us.