Hi and a warm welcome to all members of our Suite 101 community.
Growing Chiles is a challenge to all of us. Especially trying to be
consistently perfect. I've often said that there is little luck involved.
Experience through trial and error, testing (and then test, test and test
some more!), and adapting to your particular circumstances are the key.
But even Pepper Joe makes his boo-boos.
I had a recant near disaster with my overwintered pepper plants. I went
out of town in March and some real cold weather hit after I
brought my containers outside in some unusually warm weather. It went
down to 29 degrees one evening and the tops of my plants got burnt and
turned white. I had put out 3 year old Pueblos, Thai Suns and Medusas (or
Pointsettas).
The good news is that the plants did survive and will be fine. Here's how
you tell: I scraped a tiny section of the base of the stem. It had a
green interior that was still moist and alive. I pruned off the dry, dead
stems and now they are growing new leaves.
This is a good test for any type of plant. The roots are still thriving
and undamaged.
I have a 6 year old rosemary plant (that's supposed to be a annual) that I
brought back from the mountains of Northern Italy. The plant is more like
a small tree with a bast stem that is 6" around. I'm not sure why but
this winter was tough on it and 80% of the branches are dead. But again,
the base is alive and well along with that other 20%. I'm certain that
side suckings will shoot out when the sun warms the ground enough.
Nows the time in July to put aside a few of your container Chiles to bring indoors and overwinter this winter.
Organic Corner =========== Mulches. Man, there are literally hundreds of them and most are free. Recently a customer asked me if Pine needles are good mulch. It sure is with one contingency. It is typically abundant and easy to find but keep in mind that pine needles are very acidic. Although your Rhodedendrums will love them you need to doctor them up for most garden plants like Chile. All that is needed to 'sweeten' them up or make them more alkaline is wood ash or lime. Then you have a perfect mulch.
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