About a month ago I brought my overwintered plants (Habanero, cayenne, serrano, and jalapeno) outside for the summer. The serrano and jalapeno are staying in the 3.8gal pots they were in last year and all winter. The leaves on the jalapeno had some kind of crazy discoloration going on so I trimmed all the leaves off in hopes it would just start over, and so far the jalapeno appears to have made the most progress. The serrano had most of its foliage cut back pretty severely but it seems to be going alright. The cayenne and habanero were both taken out of their containers and put into a raised bed so they could have some extra room. Both of these plants had a decent amount of foliage on them when they went in the ground, but for some reason they don't seem to be growing at all (at least not on the surface). Is it possible that the cayenne and habanero have spent the entire month focusing solely on root development? I had figured my OWs would have a nice head start as opposed to my seedlings and that I would have fresh peppers soon, but at this rate I think the seedlings may beat them to the first pods of the season!
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Slow start for OW's, any idea why?
- Thread starter sreinhard88
- Start date
My OW's last year were lapped and out produced by new plants. That was my #1 reason for not doing a single OW this past season.
i have to say this is has been the worst overwintering season i have experienced. started out with 75 plants, just put 18 into the greenhouse and it looks like i may end up with 6 O/W.
Burning Colon said:
Indeed. Long and cold. I know mine ended up spending more time indoors this spring than usual, and when they did finally make it outside, they had a really tough time hardening off with all the swings in the weather.
In response to your question, sreinhard88, I think the long winter made plants (my OWs, at least) expend a lot of their energy cache stored in their roots. Using their current foliage to replace all that lost energy would be the top priority for any perennial shrub, like a pepper plant. Once they feel like they have sufficient starch reserves to see them through another stretch of bad growing conditions / owner neglect, they'll begin to pour energy back into above ground growth.
Just be thankful your plants aren't dealing with damage from herbicide drift, like my plants. They just can't get a break this year!
The ones you put in the ground are most likely feeding on their new-found freedom from the constraints of the pots and are growing their roots. Patience is in order for these, as it is a common occurrence not just for plants put in the ground but also for plants switched to bigger pots. I had abundant production from two douglah plants, one a high producer for 3 seasons, the other for two seasons, but then they bit the dust after a bad aphid attack that I didn't catch in time. You indicated the jalapeno and serrano seem to be going alright, so I'm not going to comment on those other than to say you might want to figure out what was causing the discoloration as that could be a factor now.