Capsicum Casualty

Question: If you “botch” a transplant and cut or break a significant amount of a plant’s roots, should you: pro-actively trim foliage; trim foliage as it appears to die off; or leave it the heck alone (after transplanting, of course)?
Specifically asking about capsicum annuum, but curious if the instructions would be nearly universal.
The plant in question is already dead; I’m looking for future instruction. (I left the foliage alone.)

Answer: Yikes! That’s an unfortunate accident. The plant you our speaking of is a pepper plant.

Capsicum Anuum, a jalapeno plant.

When transplanting a potted plant, great care should be taken not to damage the roots. They are the most important part of the plant! You could grow back many plants if you cut off the leaves and stems, but the same is not true if you cut off the roots. My advice would be to just do your best to continue potting it, and water it well. Make sure the pot is well drained. The plant may be able to bounce back. Don’t cut back foliage if yuo have accidentally cut off sections of the root. This is uneccesary and causes more stress to the plant. If there is a natural foliage die off, it is probably because the plant is now having trouble transporting nutrients. Pinch off dead matter as it happens.

It’s not really possible to extend this advice to all plants. Some plants can be reproduced by snipping off a few leaves, some can stand being split in half, some can die if you cut them at all. most plants are different. My advice here is that plants with fruit meant to transport seeds by being eaten can generally stand a bit of rough handling.