Overwintering Sweet and Hot Peppers?
 

Hello,

I grew sucessfully for the first time peppers started from seeds in Massachusetts! I started 12 weeks before my last frost, mid January. However is such a shame to let the plants die this fall when they are loaded with flowers and small peppers. We already had frost around here but I managed to rescue 2 hot peppers plants and one of each of my 6 types of sweet peppers to overwinter.

I have 3 locations to test this, any advice is welcome!

1. My basement, unheated, poor light.
2. Spare bedroom in the second floor, good light but also unheated... it may get to 40F during the night. It nevers goes below 35F
3. And last is my office, tight space but has light and we keep it at 55F during the night, daytime is 65-70F.

I also saved one eggplant but I am not sure if the options are good for it. Should I prune them and stop watering? Thanks!

Wendy

Wendy:
Last year I grew a Fatali pepper. It didn't mature until the end of the season, so I brought it in and gave it to my mother to take care of. She grew it inside during the winter here in WI in an east facing window. Just in time for spring, it was developing peppers. It spent summer in a pot outside on my deck. The peppers have ripened and I am getting more now so I brought it inside again. This time I will try to overwinter it in my east window. The funny thing is that these peppers are SOOO hot, I don't even eat them, but have given them away. Will put some in Chili tomorrow, but I hope I don't kill my family with the heat. :)

fataliis are awesome peppers. great producers too. =D

There is a pepper head on another forum that overwinters plants by heavy root and branch pruning, putting the plants in relatively small pots and then keeping them in fairly dim cool condiditons to prolong dormancy. I would say that the light he uses would equal something that would keep a shade loving houseplant alive, and the temps he used were fairly low 50s-60s, maybe a little less.

I think that any of your three options has promise (depending on the basement light), but I might go for your spare room and turn the heat up just a little bit.

I tried it last year and mostly failed because I let the pots dry out, and after about the third time I did that the plants stopped putting out new leaf sprouts. I did get three plants through the winter though because they were in smaller pots and it was easier to water them.

I know it gets colder where you live but last winter my native pepper (chile pequin) froze back to the stump (10 degree night) and came back better than ever.
the peppers you have will vary with the cold but none of them will die at any temp above freezing.
A cold room with light will make them go dormant with slow growth if any.
Then next sprig put them back out after the last frost and see what happens.

Worth

Thanks to all for your input. Makes me feel very good about the chances of them surviving now after reading your comments. I have enough plants to try the prunning idea and put the rest near the south window in the spare room with good light/temp monitoring I think they will be fine. I might keep the eggplant in the office to help me get through the winter and have an eye on the aphids!

Should I stop watering all together soon so they go dormant? :?!?:

I put them in pots and it rained before I had the frost. I brough them to the porch to protect them, some I moved indoors already. I check and the soil feels cool/moist.

I would keep the soil evenly moist. I killed mine by not watering frequently enough. Even with big pots the low indoor humidity dries out the soil quickly, and the pruned roots must grow new roots into damp soil to support any new leaf sprouts.

Just keep in mind: there is black & white, and a million shades of grey in between. Same with growing/dormant/dead. What you should be looking for is a sustainable level of dormancy. When you put healthy plants back outside in the spring, they will show their appreciation and reward you. If you provide an ideal environment for the plants, you have also provided an ideal environment for the pests/diseases that accompany them: be vigilant to keep them under control. Good luck, and if all goes well, be prepared for some early peppers next season.

Quick update. I did some severe pruning on an eggplant and pepper plant and they looked like dead for a week but they put on new growth! They will have a good chance of making it. Also I placed 3 pepper plants near the south window in the spare room with good light, the temps are dipping to 45F and they drop most of the folliage, no new growth so far but I am keeping an eye on them. I might lose a chilli plant, had 2 fruits which are turning orange but is so wilted it might die soon. One plant had flowers and set 2-3 small peppers, the rest of the flower buds fell off but they are not dropping more leaves nor making new leaves. I have also a peppadew plant looking amazingly green in my office, no fruit or flowers.

I have been checking the soil moisture every weekend and watered once. Fingers crossed.

eggplants are pretty tough plants. not as tough as peppers imo. but they're pretty tough. very resilient to flooding too.

franzb69: interesting. The eggplant I have is drought resistant, maybe there are different adaptations to other weathers?

[QUOTE]The eggplant I have is drought resistant, maybe there are different adaptations to other weathers?[/QUOTE]

adaptations or perhaps they were bred that way?

i've seen eggplants grown in my area that do fine getting flooded in and even in drought.

I had some good luck with overwintering some of my bells that were cropped back heavily and planted in one gallon pots to overwinter. They produced peppers again in the spring when set out about a full month before the new seedlings produced anything. I have noticed that the plants have stayed rather short and bushy and the peppers overall have been smaller on the overwintered plants.
You really have to watch for aphids during the winter and very early spring when the new growth comes out and be careful to keep them watered.

Thanks b54red, I am keeping a watchfull eye on them and checking for moisture in the soil. I am giving them a good drink weekly. I did twice per week but got some fungus at the top of the soil and got also noticed some small fly almost like the fruit fly that came inside with the eggplant. I put some horticultural oil and got rid of 90% of them. There are few still that I hope to get rid of this weekend on a second spray application.

The peppadew plant did not even set flowers outdoors so I hope that overwintering it will do the trick next spring. I want to start pepper seeds again but early January (14weeks before last frost).

[QUOTE=wmontanez;188910]
The peppadew plant did not even set flowers outdoors so I hope that overwintering it will do the trick next spring. I want to start pepper seeds again but early January (14weeks before last frost).[/QUOTE]

I think you might want to try starting some Pappadew even earlier. I started mine in Feb. but got most of my peppers off in late October and we had an unusually hot fall. I think they will develop much slower in your cooler climate and will need a really early start. Pappadew was the slowest pepper to set fruit that I have ever grown.