Having selected a few plants to over winter a few weeks ago i trimmed them back to help them preserve their energy over the cold months and moved them inside to keep them away from the very cold temperatures.
Unfortunately we ran out of heating oil for about 1 week just before Christmas and as a result it was very cold in the house as outdoor temperatures dropped as low as -12 degrees.
So far I have not seen any new growth on these over wintering chilli plants and they have all developed worrying looking hallow stems. I do hope the plants arenot dead.
I have been here before in previous years thinking the plants are dead, only for them to suddenly burst back into life. For now i’ll try and keep the plants warm and watered and hope for the best. Fingers crossed!
Has anyone else out there noticed this hallow stem in their over wintering plants? How are your plants doing?
They look similar (if a little better) to the serrano I’ve tried to overwinter. I Fear that I under-watered my plant and though the main stalk is still green the extremities had turned brown and dried out. I’ve now pruned even further back but think the damage might already be done.
allo chilliking, i agree with mark, it looks fine. i have a habenero and a super fresno that look far worse! good news is that my demon reds are flowering again already!! got them on a window sill above rads. got around 10 different plants on sills around the house, and a big heated propergator in kitchen where 8 varieties have germinated already!! my mrs is putting up with it for now. i mean buisness this year! hope yours pull through!
al – good stuff. i really should get some seeds in the soil!
i have had the heating on the in house all over winter and my habs have started to go yellow and the leafs are dropping off! any ideas to why????
chilli Novice – i suspect they are shutting down for the winter. hopefully once it warms up and the days get longer they’ll bounce back into life!
Hi Chilliking from the pic i can’t tell but it looks like a divit and not hollow all the way through. Another good sign is the stem is still green. Hope all the best with your overwintering. My Bhut plants are doing well I left as is, no cut back to the plants, they are slow growing and few leaves growing. I will post pics in the next few days on Chilliking flicker site.