On one of my bonchi, I ended up cutting the stem significantly above the nearest node (maybe an inch) in a couple of places.  Those stems have recently started dying back down towards the living branches coming off of it.  Makes sense, those sections of stem aren't supporting anything, but still take up resources, so the plant is cutting it's losses.

My question, should I trim those dried out stem sections back, or is it okay to just leave them there?

Oh well, moot point now.

The problem got worse, living branches started wilting and dying and I finally got a good clear look at the cut stems.  They had a mold growing in them.  Oh well, my first bonchi is officially dead, had to pull it and get rid of it.

Oh well, I have a dozen more peppers I'm growing this year to replace it!