ucovinero, please substantiate your claim. For the sake of debate, we can all benefit from knowing the facts. Sounds like you and I share the same concept as to what dictates TRUE dwarfism. Morphological characters are brought about by gene seperation or isolation, not by propagation from cuttings. Personally, I believe dwarfism is characterized by how many genetic changes are responsible for the evolution of new characters. New species can be derived from segregating progenies produced from hybrids within and between plant species. For example, so called "dwarf" fruit trees and Japanese maples are generally trees grown from grafted stock. Grafting is simply a quicker method to achieve a more compact form which would otherwise take many years to bring about morphological divergence. It has been my personal experience with fruit trees that if not properly maintained, they can resort to becoming standard size trees. Now I do have some true hybridized dwarf daffodils coming up in my yard at the moment. :)

I haven’t had this experience (yet) because I haven’t embarked on my new gardening lifestyle. But, next spring will be a new day. I wonder if this damage occurs mostly in the spring, or if it is related to the birds raising young. Baby birds cannot eat seeds, and parents need to find insects or worms to feed their growing family. If insects are in short supply, maybe they resort to leaves. Are those of you who have had damage located in cities or suburbs, where there might be a limited supply of wild plants or insects? Maybe try planting a bed of sprouts for the birds and covering the real garden. They might also need the moisture from the leaves, if there isn’t a nearby source of water. Install a bird bath? Just my ponderings.

Thanks Josh The mix I am using is the same I used with my Alocasia that we discussed in your thread (I added the coconut during my recent repot). The Alocasia survived the winter continuing to grow leaves and after another repot, root prune, it is reestablished and growing yet more leaves! It just refuses to go dormant as everyone says will happen! Back to peppers: yikes I may not have room for 3 large pots! So even if I got one very large pot, I still should not be mixing the 3 plants in the same pot? I am going to have to do some rearranging with my window sill after the summer it seems!

Hello! I returned to (a) this forum, (b) growing peppers, and (c) growing wild peppers after some number of years! I'm happy to see that the wild pepper community is growing! :) For those of you who haven't come across it yet, there's a great European forum dedicated to wild peppers (can't post the link here, but email me for it, if you cannot find the site). I'm wondering whether something similar exists for North America? A forum dedicated to chile peppers, or possibly even wild chile peppers? Looking forward to hearing from you guys. Cheers, Marcus