How to recover from overwatering?

At first I thought I had an insect problem, and was spraying insect soap and BT... but the leaves on my chili peppers seemed to be getting worse, deformed, thinning out, plants looking scrawny and listless. Then I noticed the lower leaves turning yellow and dropping. I had fertilized for the first time right before I noticed the leaves yellowing and dropping.

So, now I have been told that overwatering could have been the problem all along (except for the leaf eating critters). And since I just fertilized, I could have damaged the roots even further. How can I recover from this? Any advise on what to do next, and a good way to know how often to water? When the lower leaves turn yellow and drop, is it to late?

If there are no flowers or fruits on the plants yet, the best thing to do is re-pot the plants into a slightly larger pot with fresh compost, try to very gently remove some of the old compost either by using your fingers or a plant label will help remove some, while doing this, have a look at the old removed compost for insects and all the foliage, if any are there, then identify and remove in whichever way you feel you need to, dont have your plants sitting in saucers filled with water after you have watered the compost in the pot, pour any excess away when you notice water at the roots, when you re-pot, dont water again till you put you finger into the compost, if it feels dry, then the plants need water, if still wet, they dont, you may get the plant to recover this way, but also dont have it getting scorching hot sunlight onto the foliage as this will stress the plant too, when plants are stressed with heat, they close down at the roots naturally as a defence mechanism, then when it cools, they recover a bit, that's the best time to add the water in those conditions, too soon means the plant is just sitting in water and the roots are not able to take the water in, hope this helps you out a bit, WeeNel.

Thanks for the tips; however, the chili peppers are not in pots, but rather planted in my garden. Are you suggesting digging them up? as I would thing that would be the most shocking thing to them. I have stopped watering for now and will try to make sure the soil is dry before watering again. Is this all I can do?

I would only water if the soil is dry (Ecrane's tip is to sick your finger in the dirt and feel if it is dry).
That is pretty much all you can do for now - they will recover.
good luck
bre

Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought they were in pots, NO DONT dig them up, you are right to say this will put them into shock, the best way to find out if the soil is too wet is to stick your finger into the soil about 2 inches down for outdoors, if wet, you have a drainage problem so water less, if dry, then it will be too rich or over feeding with the dosage you used for your fertilisers, I dont really know what you would do if it is too much fertilisation as it will have burned the roots and they cant take up air or water if they are badly damaged, sorry about the first confusion, but hope someone else can help if it is over use of fertilisers. Good Luck. WeeNel.