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soil Pruning and adding more soil?

T

Towlieee

Yesterday my baby bell peppers and Jalapeno plants were moist at 3pm was going to skip watering, but then around 6, my bell's were bone dry around the base of the plants, I stuck my finger in, and the roots were only like 1/8" under the surface!  Not sure if its from the potting soil settling or what....  So I gave a shallow watering and threw a hand full of fresh soil on top just for the night.

I've already been wanting more soil for my jalapeno as I didn't use a whole lot in its 5 gal bucket when I planted it originally, but at the same time, I don't want to disturb it and pull it out to put more soil in.  

My question is, would it be okay to prune the lowest leaves, then add around 1.5-2" of soil to the bells?  I assume that's fine and wont hurt the stem being in soil?

And my Jalapeno plant, it branches off RIGHT where it exits the soil, I'd like to prune the lowest leaves, and add 2-3" of soil, but not sure if that'll harm it having all that soil over the stems?  
 
Bell pepper plant this morning after I added handfull of soil last night
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Entire Bell plant
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Jalapeno plants base, has loads of branches splitting out
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Entire Jalapeno plant
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I'm having the same dilemma. My buckets settled a lot more than I thought they would... some to half the bucket's height. I'm thinking of taking them out and adding more soil beneath them, as adding on top doesn't do much in the way of giving their roots room to grow. The stems only sprout very limited roots when buried.
 
Hybrid Mode 01 said:
     Your plants look like they're past the point of being able to grow adventitious roots. Burying deeper at this point would likely lead to crown rot.
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Well I plan on over wintering them, and trying to produce throughout the winter.  Wasn't sure if adding soil would really help or not.  I added a little soil and just pruned the bottom leaves of the bell already, but not sure if it would cause more harm than good to add a good amount of soil to the jalapeno

My lights are supplemental, I only get about 4.5 hours of direct sunlight, but they get a good 10-11 hours of CFL's on them on top of that.  I'm new to growing and hoping I can closet grow these, just an experiment, a hobby ;)
 
     If your plants were mine, I'd probably just see them through this season and then repot them next spring into a much bigger container. When you do so, be sure to loosen up all the roots that are circling around the edge of the pot so they have an easier time growing into their new home.
     Also, you could do Myx's plan and add soil underneath the root ball. It will probably set growth back a bit, but it might be worth it.
 
     Something else you could try would be to add an inch or two of mulch to your soil's surface. It will help keep the top layer of your soil from drying out, allowing roots to make better use of the limited soil available to them. 
     Just be sure to not pile it up right to the stem. Otherwise that will also lead to crown rot.
 
How big of a pot would I need for long term growth?  I definitely plan on "overwintering", but am going to try and actually grow peppers year round.

I figured 5 gallons would be more than enough for a good 3 years of growth (might prune the tops back if they get crazy big).  Don't want something too heavy as it'll be difficult to move.  The melons I'm growing are in a 45 gallon tote with around 37-40 gallons of soil, I can barely move it on the patio haha

If I do transplant them, it will definitely be early next season, going to let peppers grow undisturbed as much as I can, before disrupting the root system
 
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