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Questions from a newbie, so thanks for your patience!   I'm hoping for some recommendations based on real world experience preserving megahots over the winter for use in homemade sauces.  I am most concerned about preserving the peppers that are not available commercially such as Caroline...

  While I don't doubt you, why therefore do I have so much trouble with low yield, scraggly plants and hornworms?  I fertilize, spray for pests, protect from the wildlife, and more, yet I still have plants that hardly get to 12" in height.   This is more a rhetorical question than anything else...

  Wow.  Those are impressive looking plants.  I'd like to know some of your secrets.  Last year, my first, was a disaster, this year has been checkered but much better, but there are still perplexing things happening.

  That's what I'm seeing now.  But do they ripen later than the others?  Just trying to understand the variables, not do something stupid.

  This is exactly what I'm noticing with my chocolate habaneros.  The brown color starts on the open side of the plant, the part without canopy.    What does sun scald look like?  Not all my plants are bushy, some are still scraggly, and the larger peppers (Ethiopian Brown, Orozco) are taking a...

  Yes, while I don't disagree, nature does not apply fertilizer that turns what would otherwise be a scraggly natural plant into a blossoming, bushy one.

Newb here still asking dumb questions.  Thanks for your patience.   My megahots (Ghost Peppers, Reapers, Chocolate and Red Habaneros, Scotch Bonnet) were planted in mid-April and are close to harvest.  The plants themselves are very bushy and doing well after a rough start.   My question is, do...

  Wait, I just noticed this.  So you think one of my options should be to repot already established plants?  Especially in the case of the vigorous plants that turned from green to yellow and spindly over a week?  Is it possible that the roots have filled the container already below the surface...

  I totally agree.  Since I'm new to this, I'll say that even if the topic was addressed 3 times over the past 5 years, in detail, it still never hurts to communicate with a newb who asks his own questions in a certain fashion.  For that, I am eternally grateful to y'all here on THP.

  Thank you for the info, I'll review it tonight.  And rest assured, I'm the type who loves to compose thoughtful answers.  I just need to learn more this year.  Cheers --  

  OK, beyond the foliar feeding with Epsom salts, what would be your Plan B?  No time to uproot and repot existing plants that are already 30" tall.

  Thanks for the detailed answer, I understand your position.  Can you tell me, then, based on your own experience, when you apply Epsom salts using a spray?  And how frequently do you do it when needed?  Or consider the same questions if you're adding it to a liquid fertilizer.  Thanks  

  What else would you recommend?  Thinking back, this is one of the pots where I used the substandard potting soil from Kellogg (mostly bark) but the chinense plant (Red Savina) appeared to thrive anyway.  There are three plants in a faux barrel container.  Could the simple answer be a lack of...

  I was thinking about you when I asked the question.  But both plants changed quickly so I decided to give it a try.  I know about your objections.  If this year is still an experimental year for me (I was hoping it wouldn't be but it is) then I want to try out different things.  

  Well, I am most certainly not overwatering, and the best proof is that the plants in adjacent barrels are doing just fine.    Can you comment more about the other questions, or at least how much coverage you use when you spray?

I have 45 plants of all types in 15 containers, and for two pepper types, all plants are now yellow.  Three of them (Red Savina) were, until a week ago, full and lush and filled with tiny fruit buds.  In a week, the stalks have gotten more spindly, large leaves have fallen off, and some of the...

Update:  the critter cam has been up every night for two weeks now.  The coyote seems to return every 3-4 nights and other than that, nothing except rabbits or my own dogs when my son gets home late and lets them out at midnight.  Problem solved for now, it's a young coyote that is attracted by...

  Can you be a little more specific about your technique?  Do I need to lift up leaves and coat all surfaces?  Or is a general top coat good enough?   Also, the hornworms are delayed out here in California.  Do I wait until they emerge, or should I spray now?

  OK.  That photo shows three Fatali plants along with a fourth Bhut Jolokia.   All three were ailing, all were yellow and stunted, until I repotted them a month ago.   The ghost pepper is in the top of that photo and responded well and quickly with new long green shoots.   The Fatalis are the...

  Can you be more specific about the type of soil and any additives? Also, where to purchase it from?   Also, did you read all three posts?  You wanted the long story and there it is.