So I read your original thread and then this one. Question on the first thread, how long we're they grown indoors before you put them out into the sun? I ask because it looks like sunburn shock to the plants in the first post. Did you harden them off?

The brown or woody stalk is normal as the plants grow it will cover a lot of the stem by the end of the summer.

The second pic link that looks to me like over watering that has caused damping off fungus the curling of the branch at the top that's dying is a trait my seedling had with damping off, only thing to try that saved a few of mine was to sprinkle cinnimon around the base.

It's rough trying to save sick plants but the best thing is to not over care and over treat them. I sprinkled cinnimon and watered then a few days later plopped them in the ground 3 out of four survived.

Good luck and I hope the other members can give you some good pointers.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thank you for the reply. They been grown outdoors since seedlings but recently I've had them indoors cause of the winter weather. Could the lamps cause the sun shock as well cause theirs been a few times where I've forgot to turn them off and been on for 2-3 days straight.

Harden? What is that?

Should I sprinkle cinnamon to all of them? How do I do it? Sprinkle them water or just sprinkle.

So these are plants you brought in for overwintering, did you have them in the ground or always in pots? Usually when overwintering the root ball is trimmed and branches are trimmed. Search overwintering on the forum.

Not sure what type of lighting you are using but from the looks of it, its the type that produces some heat, unlike florescent lights, which I use. I do have a plant bulb that puts out heat but only use that one on occasion. 2-3 days of light can and will cause the leaf wilt and burn your plants exibit. Also if the room temp and the light producing that much heat along with no water for 2-3 days can dry out your soil as well as plants.

From the looks of the soil looks to be a lot of peat which dries very quickly and hard, may choke the roots.

Harden off is when you indroduce the plants slowly to the sun and outdoors, from indoor conditions. If they go from indoor to outdoor in the sun they burn drop leaves and some do not recover and die.

Hope this helps.

Mark

This post was edited by habjolokia on Tue, Dec 25, 12 at 22:01

Hi mark,

They plants have always been in pots. The two lightbulbs are fluorescent and don't give off any heat. I do have a heating mat underneath te plants that I only turn on during the night when it gets really cold. Plus the plants are on top of some crates so they're not on the cold tile floor. This is my first time over wintering them since so I haven't done anything different to the plants. On the soil would it be better if I repot them with a looser soil? Which one would you recommend?
Also how could I tell if I burnt them?

Thanks again.

Here is what I recommend, if you plan to try and save them and overwinter. Trim them down on top and also trim the roots back (do a search on overwintering on the forum) wash old soil away from roots trim back to a nice size root ball and then repot. An easy great soil to use is MG Orchid mix, it has the right size bark as well as perlite, it also contains 3 months of slow release fertilizer. Once you repot water them nicely and let the plants recover over time and they do not need as much watering in the winter as in the spring and summer. Try to keep your light cycle to 10-12 hours of light per day, some purchase a timer to regulate light time cycles. After the three months of slow release fertilizer has ended I would recommend using Alaska Fish fertilizer 5-1-1 (caution it really stinks, but once mixed with water and poured into the soil it's not so bad and dissipates rather quickly) then once spring comes around, harden them off and start the new season.

Based on the leaves and soil from the pictures it looks like the soil was too dry and leaves wilted and the lighting could have caused some browning of the leaves so overall I think conditions were the issue for the plants but you should be able to get them to bounce back.

I would also recommend that between mid Jan - first week or two of Feb that you start seeds of any super hot peppers and any milder varieties end of Feb-March as a backup plan.

Mark

Thanks mark so I repotted using the mg orchid mix. On the 27th

Does anyone why this is happening? I been having them 2-3 hours of sun and 6-7 hours with a fluorescent light.