Never Give Up - Trepadeira Werner Pepper vs. Deer
Never Give Up - Trepadeira Werner Pepper vs. Deer
cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/25361855
Another gardening lesson in not giving up: The progression of pictures here are 3 of the same plant, a Trepadeira Werner pepper, taken over the course of this year.
1st pic: I grew them from seed indoors and a few days after putting them out in early April, I found the local deer had visited and eaten the plant down to the stem. I considered it a loss but didn't deal with it or pull the plant up. I just walked away, then went out of town for a bit the next day.
2nd Pic: When I came back into town it had new leaves so I figured I'd let it try again for kicks. It had fallen over under its weight so I staked it up. I did try a few things to keep the deer away, I think with moderate success.
3rd Pic is from last week. I see some evidence of deer nibbling but I believe the heat of the pepper may be keeping them away from it now. I'm still blown away remembering this thing when it was eaten to the stem.
Pepper plants are resilient af. I had a 10 yo pepper plant in a pot that i COULD HAVE SWORN i killed because... I was dating a guy.. and was over at his place a lot .. and didn't water it enough... Anyway this thing was dead, but i was heartbroken I had lost sight of my true love (lol) and watered a dead plant for at least a month and it amazingly survived. It took a year off from pepper production, but this year it's in full bloom. Here's a picture of this 13 year old beast of a plant:
Wow! What type of pepper is that?
Chile Pequin (Capsicum annuum)
It's native where I live. You can find them growing in people's yards. Super spicy, birds love em.
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=caan4
It's amazing how plants can recover from what looks like a major injury. Last year, I had a sunflower seedling in a small cup, and something bit off its head. Might've been a bug, or a bird, we'll never know, but all that was left was a thin stem, just like in your photo. I kept watering it, and after a while, it started growing new leaves, then a second head, and although it was much smaller than the other sunflowers, it still bloomed.
Wow, incredible!