<snip> >>I trimmed the plants yesterday, taking off some dead and trimming down some >>green. <snip> >I'm really quite a novice at raising plants of any kind. I've killed >anything from ivy to cactus, and probably most of the fauna in between. >Secondly (and really the meat of the question) I have never trimmed a plant >back. How? How much? How far? To all leaves? Green as well as any >slightly discolored? I do go through every two weeks or so and pick off any >leaves that have shriveled or are fairly limp - is that good enough? <snip> My wife had a jade plant that was dying. One of the larger stems had broken off and was starting to rot, the rest of it was severely wilted. She had given it up as a lost cause. That's when I decided to have some fun. I took it outside , inserted some firecrackers into the rotted parts, and KA-BLAMMO! sent jade-parts flying. Left it outside and a few days later the wilted parts had recovered. It lasted for a few years after that. Not suggesting this as a preferred method for trimming chiles, but it was fun and surprising. Scott... KCK