Great news for short-season pepper growers! - Page 2

bitterwort · January 28, 2012

Have you tried overwintering the long-season pepper plants in the house? I usually take in a few of the long-season C. chinense, baccatum, and pubescens peppers in the house to spend the winter indoors. I cut them back and root-prune them fairly severely, putting them all in one or two large "Noah's ark" pots in my sunniest window. They tend to lose leaves and look awful, but if they remain alive until spring, they usually take off when I pot them up and put them outside--and they seem to fruit sooner. Might be worth it for just a few that you'd really like to try.

janezee · January 29, 2012

I can't grow anything in the house in the winter. I have a very long line of 40-50' Douglas firs to the south of the house, and it keeps the low sun from ever penetrating through. All day long. Sun starts hitting the west windows on the equinox. That's a very happy day here!
I am considering a cold frame inside a hoop house with lighting for heat, though.

bitterwort · January 29, 2012

Janezee, I think it's less about growing in the house and more about just surviving. I have cut plants back so that they had only the barest minimum of stem and no leaves at all and had them survive (without releafing) during the winter. Cold frame inside a hoop house would never work for us here because of winter temps, even with heat, so I figured I had nothing to lose. If you could keep the plants cool and in bright light, as in having a dormant period, you might be able to get them through. Might be worth an experiment some year if you get a pepper you really like.

Petronius_II · January 30, 2012

Quote:

It is amazing to see the stuff that would have went into the compost pile turn into beautifully ripe peppers.

Excuse me for being such a New Mexican

, but... haven't these people ever heard of green chile?

http://www.sos.state.nm.us/KidsCorne....html#question

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gr...ile+recipes%22

January 28, 2012	#16
bitterwort Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MN Zone4b Posts: 292	Have you tried overwintering the long-season pepper plants in the house? I usually take in a few of the long-season C. chinense, baccatum, and pubescens peppers in the house to spend the winter indoors. I cut them back and root-prune them fairly severely, putting them all in one or two large "Noah's ark" pots in my sunniest window. They tend to lose leaves and look awful, but if they remain alive until spring, they usually take off when I pot them up and put them outside--and they seem to fruit sooner. Might be worth it for just a few that you'd really like to try. __________________ Bitterwort

January 29, 2012	#18
bitterwort Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MN Zone4b Posts: 292	Janezee, I think it's less about growing in the house and more about just surviving. I have cut plants back so that they had only the barest minimum of stem and no leaves at all and had them survive (without releafing) during the winter. Cold frame inside a hoop house would never work for us here because of winter temps, even with heat, so I figured I had nothing to lose. If you could keep the plants cool and in bright light, as in having a dormant period, you might be able to get them through. Might be worth an experiment some year if you get a pepper you really like. __________________ Bitterwort

January 29, 2012	#17
janezee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Whidbey Island, WA Zone 7, Sunset 5 Posts: 931	I can't grow anything in the house in the winter. I have a very long line of 40-50' Douglas firs to the south of the house, and it keeps the low sun from ever penetrating through. All day long. Sun starts hitting the west windows on the equinox. That's a very happy day here! I am considering a cold frame inside a hoop house with lighting for heat, though.