a tale of 2 fatalii peppers

[tjg911]

i'm really surprised at what i saw today.

on 9/25/11 i germinated 10 fatalii seeds to see if they'd germinate. i ended up keeping 4 plants over the winter. i gave 2 away and kept 2. on 5/24 the biggest fatalii went into a 5 gallon pail sitting on asphalt and the other was a little smaller and went into the garden.

the container plant got 2 tablespoons of osmocote 14-14-14 or 17-17-17 in the soil (from the garden) mixed with compost and some lime and i sprinkled 1 tablespoon of osmocote on the top of the soil in the container. the garden plant got compost but no fertilizer or lime when planted. i fertilize both plants every 2 weeks with neptune's harvest fish and seaweed emulsion.

today the container pepper plant is very bushy and about 25% taller than the garden pepper plant, it has no peppers. the garden plant has 6 nearly full sized, green peppers!

i'd have thought the larger plant sitting on warm asphalt would produce fruit first. both had flowers when they went out. the container plant gets about 1 hour more sun each day.

any idea why the one that seems likely (to me) to produce fruits first has none and the other 6? is the osmocote growing too much green growth at the expense of flowers?

tom