[CH] Thai pepper problem

Frank J. Hashek (pepperking@mindspring.com)
Fri, 04 Dec 1998 11:26:02 -0500 

Hope this helps.  I could not bear to see Jack Frost kill all the beautiful
chile plants in my garden.  Almost all from plants purchased from:
<mailto:chilewmn@bluemarble.net>

Disclaimer: she gives me no money, just a satisfied customer.

I brought in two plants, which I dug up; a Yellow Scotch Bonnet, and a
Congo.  These were fairly large plants.  I put them in pots which I
estimate are about 1 1/2 gallon size.  Of course I did not get all their
roots.  

I filled the pots with v mix of perlite and good draining potting soil.
The soil surrounding the roots was very wet when I dug them up, so I did
not water for a while.  I should have waited.  I watered the plants because
the soil around the plants was dry and I assumed the soil around the roots
had dried.  WRONG, I tested with a soil moisture tester and found that I
had overwatered.

The plants looked sick for a while and began to drop leaves.  They, after
several weeks, are beginning to sprout new leaves.  I have not watered for
about a month, and the soil still registers on the moisture tester.  

Someone had posted earlier that the chiles should be watered very little
indoors in the winter.  I intend to adhere to that advice.

Suggest that you get a moisture tester and keep tabs on your soil moisture
content.  Give the plant plenty of light and be patient.  El Grande will
smile on you.

Also, fertilize no more than once a month during the winter.  

You may consider trimming the plant back by about a third, I had done this
previously to one of two identical potted chiles and the trimmed plant was
strong and stocky when put into the ground the following spring, while the
untrimmed plant was tall and spindley.  The wind blew over the spindley
palnt and it died.

I'd like to hear from other people trying to keep plants over the winter.
My goal is just survival so I can have earlier peppers next year.  A higher
goal of course would be to get fruit from the plants during the winter.

Regards,
Frank


>Reply-To: Greg Jensen  <gjensen@amrion.com>
>
>Fellow CHs,
>I brought in a very nice Thai pepper from the harsh Colorado Winter (not
>really this year though) a few months back and am having a problem with it
>that I would like to run by the experts. I'm experiencing some leaf-drop
>with it and the tips of many of the remaining leaves are turning brown and
>drying up. I have been giving it a regular dose of Miracle Grow and keeping
>it watered properly but can't seem to alleviate either problem.
>
>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
>GJ
>
>