I tried overwintering my orange habanero plant. Now, as the snow is finally (and rapidly) melting, it's been pretty nice out the last two days and will continue to be for at least a week. It was even sunny yesterday and 66 degrees, I should've put it out then... oh well. It's out there now, even though it's cloudy. The weather's getting me anxious to see what's going to happen this year, especially to the overwintered hab... if it makes it.
Which leads to the question: How can you tell if a pepper plant is dormant or outright dead? Is the only way to put it in the ground and hope it springs back to life?
A few notes... This particular plant lost all of its leaves, still green with no odd markings or discoloration, over a period of two or three days due to the cold weather early last fall just before I decided to bring it in. It was protected with a frost cloth, and all the C. annuums kept their leaves... the habanero was the only one to drop them.
I trimmed damaged branches off (quite a few of them) and broke the little brittle stems that once held peppers, though I didn't bother messing with the roots. I planted it in some standard (probably cheap) potting soil. I tried seeing if I could somehow make it produce new growth by giving it a bit of nitrogen and plenty of water, but then decided it was pointless... the thing's either sleeping or dead. I proceeded to water it less to avoid fungus and fungus gnats, and occasionally misted the stems with water. I didn't notice any aphids, spider mites, or webs, but then I didn't really pay that much attention.
So now, months later, and still probably a couple months before it can be planted back outside, the plant still looks virtually identical to when I first brought it in. No rotting that I can tell. It's like it's just frozen in time. Is there any way to find out if this plant is dead or dormant without the waiting? This anticipation is killing me!
Edit: I forgot to add, the plant had around 25 unripe habaneros... I left them on to ripen when bringing in, but eventually took them off (they didn't seem to ripen very well indoors; got soft and mushy)
Which leads to the question: How can you tell if a pepper plant is dormant or outright dead? Is the only way to put it in the ground and hope it springs back to life?
A few notes... This particular plant lost all of its leaves, still green with no odd markings or discoloration, over a period of two or three days due to the cold weather early last fall just before I decided to bring it in. It was protected with a frost cloth, and all the C. annuums kept their leaves... the habanero was the only one to drop them.
I trimmed damaged branches off (quite a few of them) and broke the little brittle stems that once held peppers, though I didn't bother messing with the roots. I planted it in some standard (probably cheap) potting soil. I tried seeing if I could somehow make it produce new growth by giving it a bit of nitrogen and plenty of water, but then decided it was pointless... the thing's either sleeping or dead. I proceeded to water it less to avoid fungus and fungus gnats, and occasionally misted the stems with water. I didn't notice any aphids, spider mites, or webs, but then I didn't really pay that much attention.
So now, months later, and still probably a couple months before it can be planted back outside, the plant still looks virtually identical to when I first brought it in. No rotting that I can tell. It's like it's just frozen in time. Is there any way to find out if this plant is dead or dormant without the waiting? This anticipation is killing me!
Edit: I forgot to add, the plant had around 25 unripe habaneros... I left them on to ripen when bringing in, but eventually took them off (they didn't seem to ripen very well indoors; got soft and mushy)
I will continue to check every couple days to be sure they don't return.
