Responses of pepper seedlings to rewatering after being subjected to 5 and 11 days of gradual water stress were investigated. Leaf growth, water relations, stomata conductance and xylem sap ABA in these plants were compared with plants grown under continuous well watered and stressed conditions. Leaf water potential returned to the control values immediately after rewatering but the stomatal conductance of stressed plants did not recover until 48h after rewatering. The concentration of ABA in the xylem sap in the pre-treated stress plants returned to similar values to the control 6h after rewatering. After rewatering, leaf growth of plants pre-treatedwith 11d of water stress was rapid and exceeded growth of continuously well watered plants. The plants grown under continuous water deficit show reductions in leaf growth, stomata conductance and increase in xylem sap ABA.