Calcium and Ethephon Effects on Tabasco Pepper Leaf and Fruit Retention and Fruit Color Development

Abstract

All possible combinations of ethephon at 0, 5000, 10,000, and 15,000 ppm, and calcium as Ca(OH)2 at concentrations of 0, 0.01, 0.1, and 1 m were applied to Tabasco pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.). In the greenhouse, as ethephon rates increased, leaf retention percentages decreased. Over all ethephon rates, as Ca(OH)2 concentration increased, Tabasco leaf retention percentages increased. Ethephon-induced fruit abscission was greatest in less-mature fruit. Overall fruit retention percentages were greatest when ethephon was applied with either 0.1 or 1 m Ca(OH)2. In the field, when ethephon was applied without Ca(OH)2, leaf and fruit abscission was so great that data could not be recorded. When ethephon was applied with 0.1 m Ca(OH)2, percentages of orange and red fruit on the plant increased with an increase in ethephon rate. Chemical name used: (2-choloroethyI)phosphonic acid (ethephon).