Wilting Chilli Plant

[shoe402]

Hiya,

Good to be here. Just had a question about a rather sad looking chilli plant of mine.

Why is it wilting? Looked very happy and sprightly when I bought it about 2 weeks ago. I watered him a couple times the first week, but not abundantly. By week 2 he was wilting.
I heard they need minimal water when fruiting so have let the soil get dry and then only given a little amount. I haven't allowed it to stand in water at any time. The leaves you can see around the base I picked off because they were drooping.
Not sure whether I'm over-watering, or under watering, or if if the fruit needs picking or something else!

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers


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[rainbowgardener]

It looks dried up!

It's ok to let the soil dry a bit between waterings, but when you water, you have to be generous. Watering "a little bit" does nothing. What you are trying to water is the roots and the roots are all through the pot. Therefore you HAVE to water until water comes out the bottom.

In this case now that your soil is totally dried out, it can be difficult to wet again -- dry peat repels water. So you can get the situation where the water is just running down the edge of the pot and the center of the root ball still isn't getting any. I would put it in the sink, run water on it for awhile, at least until it is coming out the bottom, and then let it stand in some water for 15 minutes or so and soak up more. Then run the water until it comes out the bottom again and drain it.

Lots of people kill their plants with kindness, but you have been leaving yours in the desert. The good news is that the peppers that are on it will be pretty fierce. You can get bland peppers from over-watering and you definitely did not do that.

[imafan26]

I agree with rainbow. I actually water my potted peppers everyday, but mine are outside. Instead of a little bit of water, I would take the pot to the sink, drench and drain before putting it back. If wilting is caught early enough and the plant soaked in a bucket of water until the bubbles stop and then drained well, the plant recovers in a short time, if it doesn't it may never come back. Ideally, you want to water before the plant gets to the wilt stage.