Peppers!

[greenwitch]

I have a stunted pepper plant. I think I may have done the damage by waiting too long to get it in the ground (I left on a 2 week vacation the same day I got the seedlings, which were about 4-5" high at that point, and then once I got back didn't get them in the ground for at least another week.) The plant is about 8" high at the moment, and doesn't seem to have grown in over a month, while it's sibling (about 1 1/2 ft away) is twice the size and already has a pepper on it. I also planted it in not-so-great ground, so about two weeks ago I dug it up, loosened the dirt underneath and added some store-bought garden soil, and replanted it. It's still alive, and looks perfectly fine (minus any actual peppers), but still not growing.

If I were to dig up the plant, and put it in a pot instead of the ground, with fresh potting soil (store-bought, sadly my compost dirt is full of bugs and nasties), think there's any chance it will grow, or is it just too late? Though I'm sure I don't have anything to lose if it isn't growing anyway...

Comments

[amalnahurriyeh]

I have no advice, except to say that when I moved my tomato seedlings from six-in-a-pot to five-in-the-ground, one-in-the-pot, one of the transplanted ones went VROOM, while the rest lagged. So, transplanting can't hurt, and might help?

But, yeah, I've got six tomato seedlings started at the same time, and only one of them's got flowers yet. Sometimes, plants are just weird.

[greenwitch]

Yeah, everything else shot up (including the other pepper plants), but not this one. But it's not dead, so, I have no idea. I do have one other pepper plant (in a different location) that doesn't have any peppers on it either, but at least it's growing bigger.

I'll let it go for another week, and then see about transferring it. We had a bit of a drought, too, so I wonder if that had something to do with it (I was away for a few days and couldn't water daily.)

[fatoudust]

I'm no expert, but that sounds good to me. If it hasn't been long since you planted it, it may still be suffering from shock, in which case another transplant would exacerbate it. But I'm a big believer in the "try it and see" school of gardening, especially when it comes to apparent failures. It may well be happier in a pot with some more nutrient-filled soil. Some plants just need a little more coddling, especially after stress. If it's not dead, it still has a chance. I don't think it's too late to try, and in a pot you could extend the season if you needed to and have a sunny indoor spot.