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Elderly pepper plants

Wulf

Wulf

Everything I read seems to hint at pepper plants having a lifespan of 5-7 years. How many of you have taken a plant from seed to natural death? Does it just die, or do they stop reproducing in their golden years and thus get discarded?

It's weird to think of a plant dying of old age, though that could just be my lack of botanical experience. I assume with such a short span, this would quickly render any cuttings useless? A 3 day old cutting from a 5 year plant would still be a 5 year 3 day old plant, right?
 
Plants can grow indefinitely but I find they do best in the first few years, although this is not always the case depending on climate/conditions
 
I agree about after a couple years they seem to be much harder to keep happy. It seems they are happiest the first year or two. After that I have not had much luck . But that is with containers. I am starting to find the ingrounders might be able to live longer happier more productive lives. :woohoo:
 
If you do not have to over winter them like in So. California or So. Texas or So. Florida then you can have them all year round growing like mad. If they start to slow down then just give a nice haircut and they will explode again.


This picture belongs to Oziam and is of a pequin growing in Aussie-land. They have no idea how old it is but by the looks of it, it has to be many many years...

pequinm_2.jpg
 
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I have never seen a pepper plant even close to that size. Truly amazing.

Does the production match its size?
 
Oziam hasn't been on in quite a while so I cannot say. If youblook closely though that plant is absolutely loaded with tiny pods.
 
In so cal, in winter, they do slow down a lot, and pretty much stop growing if you have them outside in the ground (I guess it depends on the microclimate)

IME they just sit and wait until the weather warms. which can happen anytime for a few days or more, we often get weather in the high 70s during the winter. but it usually cools down a lot at night in winter.

I have lived and grown in 4 different areas in san diego, and that has been my experience.
 
I bet in warmer climates that those poly tunnels can be handy. I live up north and would probably need to disassemble one before it snows. I don't see any reason why a plant would die naturally at 7 years. If it was potted, it could be cut back and the roots can be thinned. I'm planning on re-potting the same 3 plants I over-wintered last winter. I'm wondering what the roots will be like.
 
I just leave mine alone during winters but they usually end up pretty scarred from some cold nights and end up with a lot of frozen branches that turn gray and I have to prune.
This is in general Los Angeles area and temps in my neck get to 30 on a few nights each year.
 
My first Habanero De Arbol lived over 10 yrs,closer to 15.
It got killed by a couple seasons of mite attacks.
It put out more pods in the end than it had leaves.
Age didn't seem to matter to it as far as pod production went.

But I do think different varieties last longer than others and produce different with age.
Most of the Anaheim types I have grown put out jalapeno sized pods after a couple years.
 
my 2nd year red hab seem to put out smaller pods this year, but I would like to keep some super hots for years so I dont have to replant them.
 
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