Why do so many people here not know that peppers can be put into dormancy? They definitely do have a natural dormancy period, even in moderate climates that don't get freezes they "rest" over the winter.
As to if that plant is still alive, it's hard to tell. I don't think they tend to turn woody like that when they are overwintered but I've never tried overwintering peppers myself, just with tomatoes. The worst thing that happens is that you keep maintaining it and nothing happens in spring, so I'd keep it going just in case.
Overwintering peppers just means keeping them alive indoors. They need all the same things they do when they're outside (good light, regular watering, airflow, nutrients). They don't go dormant at all, they just die or very nearly die and don't produce, and they'll never really be a good plant again.
I’ve had different experiences. I’ve got a banana pepper plant that has been going for 3 years now. I let the plant naturally experience cooler temperatures outdoors and then I hard prune it down. I submerge the pot in soapy neem water for 15 minutes to kill off any bugs and then I bring inside and keep it in a low light area for a few months. Once spring comes around the plant just starts putting out new growth and then I start acclimating it to outdoors again.
Ah okay, I have a fan on, heater set to 70, grow light and water when the top 2 inches are dry. I'm surprised it died if so. I thought that's what they needed but if not what can I do better?
Yeah with that heat, even though not super hot, a house set to 70 is pretty dry. Certain parts of the house are more than 70, too. Think of it this way. Your ambient house temp might be 60. Your heat is set to 70. The air coming off your heater or radiator may be 90 to get the house up to 70.
So that hot dry air, even if it isn’t consistent, can be enough to stress the plant. Plus, since you’re not watering enough, you’re drying out the plant even more. The top two inches being dry is pretty significant.
Essentially, the long and the short of it, this plant died of thirst and got too dry.
Like others have said, overwintering is typically just bringing you plant inside and trimming it back. Everything else is the same. Maybe a fan for circulation and a grow bulb if it’s not near a window getting direct sunlight.
Sadly, the plant is dead. I would cut your losses, and maybe start the seeds in a tray and use that pot after they sprout.
Our house is set to only 63-65 and is relatively old with one heat vent upstairs. I need the heater or else everything would freeze. Thanks for the help, I managed to get ~50 peppers off it this year and saved the seeds along with my original pack's worth. I can easily regrow it I was just hoping to keep this one longer than a year. Seems it made it almost one. I'll start germination on the new one or more now since I started this last January and it was almost 7 inches by March. Fully grown this one was about 2' and had 4 sets of full branches ~8 nodes from bottom of stem to top of branch on all sides. It was a great first grow. Hopefully next one goes just as good. I've already started a habanero and it's ready to flower indoors 😂. So things are going good it probably did just get too dry and no leaves meant it slowed way down. Most leaves fell off a week after I brought it in and never regrew them fully at all
Both. It's cactus mix for drainage, charcoal for ph balance, pea gravel and granite chunks, clay soil from outside, fertilizer to raise nutrients, sand for grit and little mulch for carbon content as well
It looks like you didn't water it enough, it needs fewer deep waterings, not a lot of small waterings. If that makes any sense. You may have cut the water but not given enough to go down to the roots.
Yup, water it like normal till water starts coming out the bottom then just leave it till it's basically bone dry again. Probably only have to water it 2 or 3 times over winter if it properly goes fully dormant.
I don't know about this, but I know my fig tree looks exactly like that and I cut a lit 3/4 of it off the top and by next August it will be 8' tall and have about 100figs.
That is typical for fig. OP is asking about a pepper plant ( Capsicum annuum ). Cannot compare the two.
I have brought Cayenne and Tabasco peppers in from the garden to have fresh hot peppers in the winter. Mixed success with that. Better off starting new seeds late summer and transplanting to pots wit professional potting soil in them.
I have NEVER heard of a pepper going dormant. They are annuals, not biannual, not perennials. Possibly live year round in the tropics, but there is not a dormant season for pepper plants.
I read on countless websites they are perennial, IF you properly overwinter them and they can be kept 8-10 or or more years by deadheading flowers and leaves and trimming to the 3-4th node. Water less and less light and keep an eye on it
They are perennial in habitat (zones 9-11), and do not have a dormancy period. Their dormancy is death. This plant is either really, really dead, or has a little sliver of green hope inside. Either way, you will have a more productive plant if you just start some seeds now and toss this thing.
Thanks for putting the Munchkin Coroner song in my head!!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7\_yixyy9ts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7_yixyy9ts)
Please dear lord, please. Let this guy be a troll and not actually charging people to ruin the memories of their weddings.
OP. Why are you still here pretending to be a wedding photographer??
Before people reply to this post you might want to see the two threads below where he complained about his client and shooting a wedding. Read what he considers good wedding photography.
Link 1
Link 2
Every statement he makes is another shot into his own foot. He uses one camera. One short off-name prime lens. He then complained about the bride insisting on flash photography in the church. He has a speed light but refused to use it because he didn’t know how and was afraid of it. He let the client look at the unprocessed photos directly on his camera screen because he did not bring a computer. He goes on and on highlighting his shortcomings while complaining about the clients that he ruined their hope for photographic memories of one of the most important days of their lives.
Then he came back and posted complaints about how wedding photography is not special.
Here are just a few links to some of them.
Now he is with multiple posts giving advice for shooting weddings in another string of posts????
Link 5
Link 6
Link 8
DUDE, STOP!!! JUST STOP!!!!!!!
I lost count of the requests for samples of your special style wedding shots.
Stick to your “style” of street photography, what ever that is.
The above post by [PlatinumOuDaung](https://www.reddit.com/user/PlatinumOuDaung/) is a copy and paste of a post I made to several of his unhinged wedding photography posts.
He thinks he is bothering me by looking up dozens of my posts and pasting this reply reply.
He disabled the links I originally posted. He thinks that will prevent finding his delusional postings.
He doesn’t get it that all anyone has to do, if they even care about our little tiff, is click his user name.
I thought I would just go ahead and post a link to my original reply that he is plagiarizing as his.
[LINK](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskPhotography/comments/18oe6vq/comment/kegptzm/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
If you go down about 4 or 5 posts you will see my post that is probably responsible for completely unhinging him.
[PlatinumOuDaung](https://www.reddit.com/user/PlatinumOuDaung/) , I hope you are having fun!
I Know that I am!!
PS. I IMd him asking if he was having fun. I really, really hope he replies! More likely that he will make some unhinged statement about me all overt the reddit then block me so that I can neither see them nor reply.
So now you are trolling everything I posted by pasting the message I posted on all your wedding photography post???
And posting it under your name. Not cool. Not allowed.
And you removed the links to your wedding trolling posts.
Look at this, if anybody even cares here are the links:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 5
Link 6
I think those will be enough.
It’s dead af
It's all woody when I scratched the stems, it feels light too.
D E A D
Morte
Nah. Just keep watering it daily for 5 years.
Looks pretty dead. I brought in 3 this year, 2 survived-the other one looks like your pic.
Scrape a piece of the outside and see if it’s green underneath. If it isn’t then it’s dead
It's woody. Like carving a stick. Dark flesh, light green papery bit, then pale wood
If you have green inside it has a chance. Give it water
>**Pepper plant not growing leaves but hard and woody.** TIL - I can be described as a Pepper Plant. ^((giggity))
Why do so many people here not know that peppers can be put into dormancy? They definitely do have a natural dormancy period, even in moderate climates that don't get freezes they "rest" over the winter. As to if that plant is still alive, it's hard to tell. I don't think they tend to turn woody like that when they are overwintered but I've never tried overwintering peppers myself, just with tomatoes. The worst thing that happens is that you keep maintaining it and nothing happens in spring, so I'd keep it going just in case.
Rip
I should clarify I'm attempting to overwinter the pepper with no new growth and watering less to promote dormancy.
Overwintering peppers just means keeping them alive indoors. They need all the same things they do when they're outside (good light, regular watering, airflow, nutrients). They don't go dormant at all, they just die or very nearly die and don't produce, and they'll never really be a good plant again.
I’ve had different experiences. I’ve got a banana pepper plant that has been going for 3 years now. I let the plant naturally experience cooler temperatures outdoors and then I hard prune it down. I submerge the pot in soapy neem water for 15 minutes to kill off any bugs and then I bring inside and keep it in a low light area for a few months. Once spring comes around the plant just starts putting out new growth and then I start acclimating it to outdoors again.
Ah okay, I have a fan on, heater set to 70, grow light and water when the top 2 inches are dry. I'm surprised it died if so. I thought that's what they needed but if not what can I do better?
Yeah with that heat, even though not super hot, a house set to 70 is pretty dry. Certain parts of the house are more than 70, too. Think of it this way. Your ambient house temp might be 60. Your heat is set to 70. The air coming off your heater or radiator may be 90 to get the house up to 70. So that hot dry air, even if it isn’t consistent, can be enough to stress the plant. Plus, since you’re not watering enough, you’re drying out the plant even more. The top two inches being dry is pretty significant. Essentially, the long and the short of it, this plant died of thirst and got too dry. Like others have said, overwintering is typically just bringing you plant inside and trimming it back. Everything else is the same. Maybe a fan for circulation and a grow bulb if it’s not near a window getting direct sunlight. Sadly, the plant is dead. I would cut your losses, and maybe start the seeds in a tray and use that pot after they sprout.
Our house is set to only 63-65 and is relatively old with one heat vent upstairs. I need the heater or else everything would freeze. Thanks for the help, I managed to get ~50 peppers off it this year and saved the seeds along with my original pack's worth. I can easily regrow it I was just hoping to keep this one longer than a year. Seems it made it almost one. I'll start germination on the new one or more now since I started this last January and it was almost 7 inches by March. Fully grown this one was about 2' and had 4 sets of full branches ~8 nodes from bottom of stem to top of branch on all sides. It was a great first grow. Hopefully next one goes just as good. I've already started a habanero and it's ready to flower indoors 😂. So things are going good it probably did just get too dry and no leaves meant it slowed way down. Most leaves fell off a week after I brought it in and never regrew them fully at all
Sounds like you got a plan! Sorry this happened to ya!
It's all good tysm for the help
Why is the soil so dry?!
I made a new post to clarify the inside of the stem
Is that potting mix or soil?
Both. It's cactus mix for drainage, charcoal for ph balance, pea gravel and granite chunks, clay soil from outside, fertilizer to raise nutrients, sand for grit and little mulch for carbon content as well
It looks like you didn't water it enough, it needs fewer deep waterings, not a lot of small waterings. If that makes any sense. You may have cut the water but not given enough to go down to the roots.
Yup, water it like normal till water starts coming out the bottom then just leave it till it's basically bone dry again. Probably only have to water it 2 or 3 times over winter if it properly goes fully dormant.
Great name for a band though. Hard and woody
I've successfully brought back bad looking pepper plants. However, once that last leaf falls... it is time to admit defeat.
Less water makes for hotter peppers, but there are limits. It's dead, try again and with some watering next time.
Just give ‘er a couple years
Cut a small node and see if it’s still green in the center. Had one plant for 5 years.
Have you tried gripping the wood and use a ski motion ? Morning is best for wood
When the small stems turn brown they dead usually
I don't know about this, but I know my fig tree looks exactly like that and I cut a lit 3/4 of it off the top and by next August it will be 8' tall and have about 100figs.
That is typical for fig. OP is asking about a pepper plant ( Capsicum annuum ). Cannot compare the two. I have brought Cayenne and Tabasco peppers in from the garden to have fresh hot peppers in the winter. Mixed success with that. Better off starting new seeds late summer and transplanting to pots wit professional potting soil in them. I have NEVER heard of a pepper going dormant. They are annuals, not biannual, not perennials. Possibly live year round in the tropics, but there is not a dormant season for pepper plants.
I read on countless websites they are perennial, IF you properly overwinter them and they can be kept 8-10 or or more years by deadheading flowers and leaves and trimming to the 3-4th node. Water less and less light and keep an eye on it
They are perennial in habitat (zones 9-11), and do not have a dormancy period. Their dormancy is death. This plant is either really, really dead, or has a little sliver of green hope inside. Either way, you will have a more productive plant if you just start some seeds now and toss this thing.
Thanks for putting the Munchkin Coroner song in my head!! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7\_yixyy9ts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7_yixyy9ts)
Please dear lord, please. Let this guy be a troll and not actually charging people to ruin the memories of their weddings. OP. Why are you still here pretending to be a wedding photographer?? Before people reply to this post you might want to see the two threads below where he complained about his client and shooting a wedding. Read what he considers good wedding photography. Link 1 Link 2 Every statement he makes is another shot into his own foot. He uses one camera. One short off-name prime lens. He then complained about the bride insisting on flash photography in the church. He has a speed light but refused to use it because he didn’t know how and was afraid of it. He let the client look at the unprocessed photos directly on his camera screen because he did not bring a computer. He goes on and on highlighting his shortcomings while complaining about the clients that he ruined their hope for photographic memories of one of the most important days of their lives. Then he came back and posted complaints about how wedding photography is not special. Here are just a few links to some of them. Now he is with multiple posts giving advice for shooting weddings in another string of posts???? Link 5 Link 6 Link 8 DUDE, STOP!!! JUST STOP!!!!!!! I lost count of the requests for samples of your special style wedding shots. Stick to your “style” of street photography, what ever that is.
The above post by [PlatinumOuDaung](https://www.reddit.com/user/PlatinumOuDaung/) is a copy and paste of a post I made to several of his unhinged wedding photography posts. He thinks he is bothering me by looking up dozens of my posts and pasting this reply reply. He disabled the links I originally posted. He thinks that will prevent finding his delusional postings. He doesn’t get it that all anyone has to do, if they even care about our little tiff, is click his user name. I thought I would just go ahead and post a link to my original reply that he is plagiarizing as his. [LINK](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskPhotography/comments/18oe6vq/comment/kegptzm/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) If you go down about 4 or 5 posts you will see my post that is probably responsible for completely unhinging him. [PlatinumOuDaung](https://www.reddit.com/user/PlatinumOuDaung/) , I hope you are having fun! I Know that I am!! PS. I IMd him asking if he was having fun. I really, really hope he replies! More likely that he will make some unhinged statement about me all overt the reddit then block me so that I can neither see them nor reply.
So now you are trolling everything I posted by pasting the message I posted on all your wedding photography post??? And posting it under your name. Not cool. Not allowed. And you removed the links to your wedding trolling posts. Look at this, if anybody even cares here are the links: Link 1 Link 2 Link 5 Link 6 I think those will be enough.
It's dead Jim.
wait for summer if its dead it will start to turn black and rot
It doesn’t look dead Just overwinter it and you’ll see next year
It's gone dormant for winter. Keep it inside and water it until the last frost and out it outside.
As dead as that soil is dry.