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overwintering Overwintering? Don't over water...

Snarg

Snarg

When you are trying to overwinter your pepper plants, make sure you do NOT over water them. Bad things happen.

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That royally sucks :(
 
I don't know if you've gotten any tips on preventing overwatering or not, but thought I'd let you know I determine when to water my plants based on the weight of the pot. Water it one day, then pick the pot slightly up off the floor to get an idea of how much it weighs. Wait at least 3 days, then just go pick it up again. Because you're overwintering, it's probably not taking up water at the same rate as it did before you chopped it down, so it will probably still be pretty heavy. Wait a few more days, then pick it up again. Wait until the container is fairly light (consider the weight of dry soil and the plant, of course) before watering again. Once I've pruned back my plants for overwintering, they generally don't get watered more than once a week - sometimes less. They may need just a tad more often at first while they're in the process of going dormant, but not much. Also, how do you know that resulted from overwatering and not something else?
 
Thanks geeme. This is my first time overwintering. My wife kept telling me I was watering to much but I did not beleive her. Guess this just goes to show, sometimes women are correct :)

Anyway, I have clipped off the yucky parts and sprayed the plants and soil with an anti-fungal spray. I hope this works.
 
If you were watering that pot, multiple times while there was no leafy growth then yes you were overwatering while overwintering. THat looks like some nasty fungus and not a result of too much water.
 
I was watering once a week. It seems that may have been to much.

millworkman, I am hoping that it is a fungus based on to much water. The stem was also starting to turn black which led me to beleive that it was based on to much water.

Obviously, I have now pulled WAY back on the watering. I'm hoping the plants improve.
 
The stems will go black at the tips on some, it just happens. What it seems like is you had too much water in there so the stem that had died started to rot, no biggie. Sometimes if they dont have enough light new leaves wont sprout and the tips die back, just snip off any black you see and go on your way.
 
Once a week is too often unless it was a big plant repotted in a tiny pot to save space. I give mine about 1 to 1.5 cups of water every 2 weeks if a (formerly) big plant in 5+ gallon bucket, or reduce water appropriately for smaller pot. I'm referring to plants that have gone dormant like yours, not any which still have leaves on them.

You could water it every 3 days if you wanted to, but then give them a lot less water each time. You're just trying to keep the soil from completely drying out, in an area with very low humidity you might need to water more or more often but I don't think that's a low humidity area...

Are they getting a little bit of air movement in the area? It's usually excess humidity that makes stems mold. For example you could set two tomatoes on a counter which if exposed to the same amount of mold spores, one with no air movement around it will grow mold sooner and faster than one with a fan nearby.
 
Dave2000,

Thank you for the reply. I don't have a fan set up, yet, but I'll get on over there pronto. Thank you.
 
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