We will see what the experts will diagnose your problem. Here is my wild brain storming thoughts:

1) over fertilizing may cause leaf , bud and flower dropping.

2) weakening due to aphids attack(white flies )

3) Leaf dropping can be due to some sudden air cooling. Call it a shock or stress. May be they do feel a FALL in the air.

The middle finger is the stamen sticking out from the flower after it's dropped its petals - in other words a proto-pod.

Plant stress, already enough pods to support, any number of causes. Generally, the plant sets as many pods as it can support and drops the rest.

BTW, I can't reply to your email as you haven't allowed us to see your email address. Please update member profile.

Dennis

the middle finger thing was a joke. the flowers don't even open before they drop. that's why it's so upsetting. they could at least be courteous enough to PRETEND they're gonna set a pod before giving up on it and dropping the bud.

I was fairly certain I had changed that setting recently.

Judo,
are you fertilizing at full strength? Too much or too little fertilizer can cause flowers to abort. Pests will definitely cause flower drop, too. Are the leaves green when they fall off?

Here's an idea. Water with Epsom Salts for a couple weeks. 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per gallon, and give each plant / container a quart of the water.

Josh

Flower drop probable causes:

1. Day temp too high >95F
2. Night temp too low 85F
3. Too much nitrogen fertilizer
4. Too much water
5. Low light levels (reduces fertility).
6. Very low humidity (reduces fertility)
7. Poor air circulation (air circulation contributes to pollination).
8. Lack of pollinating insects.
9. Size of pot

10. Too much mineral in feedwater.
11. Too much grower attention/anxiety.

Im having a few flowers drop as well. I just potted some plants up into 7 gallon containers and think i hit them a little hard with fertilizer. I don't know about yours but my plants that are in the sun wilt just about every day until they get a couple hours of shade. That will cause flowers to drop.

willard, you've posted that list before, but I guess I've never given it serious thought until now (well, now I have that problem). I see a few items on the list that may apply.
-now that there's very little rain I've been having to water it with city water, which has a very high calcium content, among other things.
-I haven't seen as many bees around as I used to see, but I don't imagine that's the issue when pods aren't even opening. -
I've seriously cut back on the nitrogen I give it because I have heard before that it has a negative effect on pod development.
-size of pot, yeah, they're 3-4ft tall in 5 gallon buckets, 2 per bucket. that's probably an issue.
-too much grower attention, guilty as charged.
-there's plenty of light to be had, and air circulation is never an issue.
-too low humidity is never an issue here in FL, but what about too high humidity? I'd imagine that could make the pollen clump together and not do its job. am I off base on that one?

so it looks like 5 out of 11 on that list may/do apply to me. I guess I'm screwed. there's nothing I can do about the water, short of having to filter it, I guess I can put them in the ground like I did with my brain strain (which currently has 10 pods growing, one of which is mostly ripe), and I don't suppose I could bribe the bees to come back, could I?

Josh, I've never fully understood what I was supposed to do when they tell you the strength to mix the fert. is the intention that you mix one tbsp per gal (or whatever it says) and water the plants fully with that? what I usually do is mix slightly below recommended strength, and only give each plant a little bit of the fert-water mix (I mix up a 2 gal watering can, and divide it roughly evenly among my 10 pots), then come back and finish watering with normal water, that way I don't over fertilize. am I doing it wrong? I've never seen any leaf burn. but yes, the leaves that fall off are usually still quite green, but not really all that healthy looking.

> "I was fairly certain I had changed that setting recently."

You probably did but you have to re-send the email now to give me something to reply to.

Dennis

Josh, I've never fully understood what I was supposed to do when they tell you the strength to mix the fert.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hi, my name is NOT Josh !

Fert mix just refers to the amount that you add (per gal., in a 2gal. can).
If normal recom. is 2 TBspoon per gal. Half strength will be 1 TBS. It has nothing to do with how many plans.pots you water with it(e.g. 2 gal watering can). It will depend on the size of plants/pot. Then if you water too much the excess will go down the drain. IF and WHEN i water pots with fert solution, I would pour just barely enough that just a very small amount of water comes out of drain holes.

Then frequency of watering with fert water is another issue that is in the realm of container/pot gardening. I am not a container gardener YET.

BACK TO THE ORIGINAL TOPIC:
another possible reason may be root rotting at early stage.

If they're wilting every day at this point, that's probably what's causing the blossom drop. Fix that. If it's too much sun/heat, move them so they get mid-day shade. If it's the pot drying out, move them to a larger one.

Yes, avoid the wilting as that has a direct adverse effect on the delicate bloom.

As for fertilization, Seysonn covered the key points.
"I've never fully understood what I was supposed to do when they tell you the strength to mix the fert. is the intention that you mix one tbsp per gal (or whatever it says) and water the plants fully with that?"
- Yes, that's right. You mix the amount per gallon, and then thoroughly fertigate your plants. Many of us like to do a pre-watering, then a fertigation, and then a light post-watering (usually to rinse foliage that might have been splashed with the fertilizing solution).

"what I usually do is mix slightly below recommended strength, and only give each plant a little bit of the fert-water mix (I mix up a 2 gal watering can, and divide it roughly evenly among my 10 pots),"
- That's not enough, I think. I mix 2 gallons for 6 plants, for example, which comes out to about a liter of fertigate per plant in a 5-gallon pot.
- To avoid over-fertilization, try fertilizing at 1/2 strength, but twice as often - so, if your fertilizer says 2 tablespoons once a week, go with 1 tablespoon twice a week, et cetera.

"I've never seen any leaf burn. but yes, the leaves that fall off are usually still quite green, but not really all that healthy looking."
- If the leaves are green and falling, it could very well be pest related. Under-fertilization and over-watering typically means yellow leaves fall off, starting with the lowest and oldest leaves.

Josh

>> I mix up a 2 gal watering can, and divide it roughly evenly among my 10 pots),"
> - That's not enough, I think.

I fert like seysonn (whatever her actual name is) because most of my plants were set in a 5:1:1 and any volume would run right though the pot. When I up-potted I filled out with MGMC (peat) so it's better now but some are still in mostly 5:1:1 so I just increase the frequency rather than the volume.

OTOH, I do tend to be quite conservative with chemicals. Now that I have a better feel for how C.chinense grows (and likely won't be using so much 5:1:1) I will be feeding stronger next year.

Dennis

P.S. To the OP (judo?) if you're seeing that much wilting I'd worry about root problems. Are the plant in ground or in pot? If in pot then pop one out and take a look.

Judo, I laughed out loud at the middle finger sticking up at you... they mock you from their graves!