Chilli plant going downhill

[Marb67]

Well, I bought this very healthy chilli plant at the end of last Summer from Booths supermarket as it was reduced but had loads of chillis on it. It kept producing into Winter and has stayed healthy until now sadly. The frustrating thing is its now getting hotter, the kind of weather they love and its deciding to wilt and go sickly. I have kept it watered as needed but not too much or little so why is this now looking like another moribund plant ? is there anything I can do to revive it ?

Thanks.

[ameno]

For it to go like that it seems likely something happened to the roots. Either it was overwatered, despite you saying you didn't give it too much (they don't need much in the winter; you should let the soil dry out completely before watering again), or else something got into the compost and ate the roots.
Either way, looking at the state of it it's sadly probably unlikely to live.

[Marb67]

I re-potted it in good nursery compost a few weeks ago and haven't overwatered. I have looked at the roots and they are hardly any left. No sign of vine weevil grubs in the soil. Just sprinkled some mycorrhizal fungi around what is left of them in the hope they will grow. Shall I just prune it for new growth to start ?

[ameno]

If there is any hope of it surviving then pruning is your best bet, as a reduced root ball would not be able to manage the amount of top growth it currently has.
I think with root rot that bad it is very unlikely to survive, however.

[Marb67]

It cant be root rot as I havnt been overwatering.

[ameno]

If the roots are dead and there are no signs of any insects which might have eaten them, it's root rot, regardless of what might have caused it.