What causes stiff fruit in peppers? How to prevent and control it

During pepper cultivation, fruits sometimes appear smaller and harder 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 fruits resembling strawberries, with 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 prevented and 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°C or above 4°C, it will cause pollen to fail to grow and disperse normally, so the female flowers cannot be fertilized normally, resulting in parthenocarpic fruit. Because this kind of fruit lacks hormone stimulation, its absorption of nutrients is hindered, forming stiff fruit.

2. Excessive vegetative growth of the plant: During pepper cultivation, if the field has poor ventilation and light transmission and is in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment, the plant will grow extremely easily and rapidly, causing excessive vegetative growth. Excessive vegetative growth consumes a large amount of nutrients from the plant, resulting in insufficient nutrition for young fruits during growth and thus causing stiff fruit. In addition, applying too much nitrogen fertilizer during fertilization can also cause excessive vegetative growth of the plant, forming stiff fruit.

3. Too many fruits set: The plant's growth and development are generally poor, but the number of fruits set is relatively large, so some fruits stop growing due to lack of nutrients, forming stiff fruit.

4. Improper management: The formation of 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 burning; 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. Choose good varieties: 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 pathogens.

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

3. Strengthen field management: During the flowering and fruiting period, environmental regulation should be strengthened, with the temperature controlled between 15-30°C and soil moisture controlled at about 50%, which is caused by flowering-period growth, to improve the fertilization rate. When necessary, manual supplementary pollination can be carried out.

4. Thin flowers and fruits: According to the plant's growth condition, reasonably thin out excess fruits to ensure that the plant can supply sufficient nutrients.

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

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