• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

overwintering My 3 over-wintered bhut jolokias

S

superdv1

Can someone help me out about my bhuts that I overwintered. I brought them in before frost and they grew and produced about a couple dozen ripe pods, but I had a serious white fly or aphid problem. I sprayed them down with some insecticidal soap a few times then pruned them back pretty heavily. I have been watering them occasionally (once a week or so), and have had them under some CFLs (100-150 watt, and also 300 watt CFL). My question is, are they gonna start growing soon? How long will they stay dormant? I'm gonna take a pic with the digital camera and post here. They sure don't look like they have any life to them right now. Someone take a look at the pics and tell me what they think please. Thanks.

Well, I guess I'll have to take the pics tomorrow....my camera battery is dead...I'll have to pick up new batteries tomorrow.
 
You would be surprised at what does come up from overwintered plants.
It can look like a dead stick and still come back. When you pruned it did you wax the ends of the cut bit?
 
I have to get new batteries tomorrow, so will submit the pics tomorrow. No I did not coat the ends of the pruned branches with wax or anything. I did however do one thing today. I rolled all of them into another room and dusted off my HID 400 watt grow light, and then went to the store and picked up some liquid fish emulsion stuff(1 Tablespoon per gallon of water) and watered the 3 plants good with about 2 gallons of this mix. Hopefully this might kick start them a little.
 
It's supposed to help the sticks survive if you wax the ends i think, don't qoute me on this though. I would try a little Superthrive with your fish emulsion as well.
Just curious can i ask the brand of emulsion you bought?
 
Novacastrian said:
You would be surprised at what does come up from overwintered plants.
It can look like a dead stick and still come back. When you pruned it did you wax the ends of the cut bit?
Click to expand...

I'd have a go at the super thrive also, some times it can wake the dead
 
I cut them back at least a few months ago and they have been under moderate CFL bulbs about 8 to 10 hours a day and temps at least 70 degrees.
 
Hm, I would expect to see some signs of growth by now. Get those pictures when you get a chance.
 
Ok, here are the pics...I just took them. I hate to be negative, but these bhuts look like they have no life to them at all. I'll start feeding/watering them more frequently and keep them under the HID for a while and see what happens.


Bhuts_Overwintered_3-6-09006.jpg
[/IMG]
Bhuts_Overwintered_3-6-09005.jpg

Bhuts_Overwintered_3-6-09003.jpg

Bhuts_Overwintered_3-6-09002.jpg
 
Yeah... It also looks like you only watered around the area of the plant, I watered mine up to the brim once, and only watered when the top inch and a half was bone dry.

Also, it helps to wax the tops, otherwise the stem drys out and dies from the top downward.

Good luck mate :(
 
So I didn't water them enough? And I didn't wax the ends of the stems, and this is what killed them possibly?? Or was it the white fly/aphid infestation that probably killed them? I'm pretty sure I watered them enough (at least once a week...about a gallon per plant). I pruned them way back because I didn't have a choice, and didn't even prune as much as some other folks that over-winter plants. Never once did I hear that you are supposed to coat the ends of stems with wax or something. Oh well. So much for that overwintering project. I guess I will still keep trying to revive them with good HID light and more watering/feeding. In the meantime, I will have to tend to my other 11 to 25 other bhuts that are planted now.
 
superdv1 said:
So I didn't water them enough? And I didn't wax the ends of the stems, and this is what killed them possibly?? Or was it the white fly/aphid infestation that probably killed them? I'm pretty sure I watered them enough (at least once a week...about a gallon per plant). I pruned them way back because I didn't have a choice, and didn't even prune as much as some other folks that over-winter plants. Never once did I hear that you are supposed to coat the ends of stems with wax or something. Oh well. So much for that overwintering project. I guess I will still keep trying to revive them with good HID light and more watering/feeding. In the meantime, I will have to tend to my other 11 to 25 other bhuts that are planted now.
Click to expand...

Proably a combination of everything, I had an aphid infestation and cut mine back, waxed them and watered them deeply only when the soil was dry.

They all sprouted but had alot of nutrient deficiencies, once I corrected that they took off like rockets.

Next time just make sure you wax the tops and water deeply the first time and not too much light, they only need a little to stimulate new growth. Too much light will dry the stems out faster than they can suck up water.

Of course once the leaves start getting bigger you can use more lights. I used one 26 Watt CFL w/reflector for each pot at two inches above tip of stem.
 
Well, I pruned them down further and further for each of the 3 plants and am seeing nothing but dead wood all the way down to ground level. Thats probably a bad thing, isn't it?

I overwintered a total of 6 plants last fall (3 bhut jolokias, 2 thai, and 1 peter pepper). Looks like all three bhuts are dead and both thai's were turned into a litter box by our stupid cat and are probably goners too. The only survivor is the peter pepper plant, which still appears to have green leaves and stems on it.
 
If they've died back to the ground, it's probably best to toss them. I have had plants that came back from the root crown, but they don't produce as well as new plantings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top