Heating pepper roots killed it?

[tanaaron]

Hi there,

I had a couple of California Wonder plants that were medium in size, with a few baby peppers.

I tried putting them over a radiator recently to warm them up, and in 2 days, the plants started wilting and are basically dead now. The soil was/is not dry.

Any ideas if what I did would normally kill a pepper plant? I remember when I germinated the seeds, I also put it above a radiator, and the seedlings sprouted...

[Meatburner]

What did you read, or hear from someone, to try this? What were you trying to accomplish? What is the correlation to germinating seeds have to do with doing this? Sounds like you cooked the roots, which never works.

[tanaaron]

I thought peppers like hot climates. It is getting really cold in Michigan now so I thought warming them up would help speed the growth.

[applestar]

Hmm... What a bummer that it didn't work. Try putting a thermometer on the radiator and see what kind of temperature readings you get.

Also other possibilities include too dry air if the plants just came inside and were used to more humid air (and morning dew). Also if they had been in the ground and had been potted up, they could have suffered transplant shock.

You said the "soil" isn't dry -- what kind if soil?

[imafan26]

I put plants next to my frig and they can die overnight from the heat from the exhaust.