We have started harvesting pepper last year. But this was from a farm which was neglected for 4 years and most of the vines had died as people in the higher planes had grown Ginger.
So the vines which were left were the ones which stood the test of time. There is no Chemicals, pesticides etc used for the past 4 years.
I would also appreciate any inputs on reasoning as to how some vines and their corns were able to survive without pesticides but others persihed.
Please share more information of natural methods to grow and process pepper.
There can be many reasons why some pepper vines survived.
Black pepper is very delicate creeper. It absolutely cannot tolerate heat. I am assuming your are from western ghats or its low lying area.
There are many places where there is underground water source even during summer months. Good mulching also gives moisture to this creeper.
Also Organic matter is very important. ones that survived would have bigger trees around with leaf litter all around.
Pest(worms) from ground get into the vine and start eating inside of the vine.
As of now I can only think of all this problems. there are times when cattle eat pepper leaves and bite the vine.
Pepper only needs cow dung and dried leaf matter. nothing much. good mulching will help a lot. I will try to document pepper from growing till preserving over coming few years. Also As of now I don’t have a camera.