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overwintering Coming up with a winter strategy for a mild climate

slowrolling

slowrolling

So I live in Northern California with pretty mild winters (though not as nice as you So-Cal'ers)

I was originally planning on bringing my plants out of the ground, into pots and indoors to try and overwinter peppers for the first time.

Every year in the past I've left my peppers out (with no plans to overwinter, basically expecting them to die and just being too lazy to rip them out beforehand) they have died in frosts. However after reading up on this forum and other internet sources, I think it may be possible to leave them in the ground (or maybe in pots) with just a cold frame and some solar heated rocks/water jugs.

If I did put them in pots I have a west facing house wall painted a very dark grey that radiates out heat when the sun comes down that might be an option also depending on how much saved up solar heat I need. Any other mild climate folks found something that works well?

Here is some specific average weather data for my zip code:

Mth avHI avLO mean...... avRAIN recordhi...... recordlo
Jan 58°F 39°F 49°F...... 4.94 in. 79°F (1962) 18°F (1949)
Feb 62°F 41°F 52°F...... 5.06 in. 80°F (1992) 21°F (1962)
Mar 66°F 43°F 55°F.. ... 3.63 in. 88°F (1960) 27°F (1953)
Apr 70°F 45°F 58°F...... 1.40 in. 96°F (1981) 30°F (1967)
May 76°F 49°F 63°F...... 0.54 in. 101°F (2001) 34°F (1952)
Jun 81°F 52°F 67°F...... 0.10 in. 114°F (1961) 37°F (1976)
Jul 85°F 55°F 70°F...... 0.00 in. 113°F (1972) 37°F (1977)
Aug 84°F 55°F 70°F...... 0.03 in. 107°F (1959) 39°F (1978)
Sep 82°F 53°F 68°F...... 0.18 in. 109°F (1955) 38°F (1978)
Oct 75°F 49°F 62°F...... 1.01 in. 103°F (1980) 31°F (1971)
Nov 64°F 43°F 54°F...... 2.37 in. 87°F (1955) 28°F (1961)
Dec 57°F 39°F 48°F...... 4.01 in. 83°F (1958) 16°F (1990)


In the past 20 years it has gotten as low as 25 only once and only for a single day. Typically in Dec and Jan we have a handful of days below 32, with most nights in the high 30's low 40s.

My biggest concerns though would be:

1 Them getting fried on hot winter days (would need to build in some kind of automatic/greenhouse vent system without a thermostat or electricity).

2 Figuring out how and when to hack them back / rejuvenate them since they are getting kind of sprawly and scraggaly
 
not knowing your numbers i will comment:

do not put all your eggs in one basket


maybe you can try to leave some out and cover on cold days
and take some others in and grow them or dormant them inside

try to do a few things as experimental mad scientist

pick what does and does not work for you

if you report back with pictures we like to see stuff :eek:
 
I just posted a similar comment in another thread that bringing plants indoors after they have been outdoors is never a good idea. Pests that may have been kept in check by natural predators all season will get out of control given the cosy indoor chance. A coldframe idea sounds good. Someone living closer to your part of the world will probably have better advice about what to do.
 
I'm with NitWit, try a few things and see what works.

With those temps you posted, I'd be tempted to leave a few plants in the ground after chopping them way back. Bury the 'stumps' and the surrounding area in deep shredded leaf litter mulch before the first serious frost. Utilize a cold frame and some of those solar techniques you mentioned placed over the top of everything to really increase your chances, because if the ground freezes you're probably doomeed. Around March, see if any survivors. Photo shoot this one, dude!

As for bringing them indoors, beware as Megamoo says. Not impossible, but it might have buggy challenges.... :cool:
 
aphids have been hittin my seedlings in the light chamber on the back porch. It's not bad, but every day after treating, or picking... theres more the next day.
 
built a bunch of raised beds this weekend with old fence redwood, pics to come. Coldframe(s) will hopefully get built in the next 2 weeks..

low temps the past 2 weeks have been mid 60's to mid 50's as things have been slightly warmer than normal, so looks like I hopefully still have a bit of time to get this completed.
 
Been busy after work this week getting things ready since it actually broke into the mid/high 40's at night this week.

I put a raised bed over my in ground peppers without digging them up, then hacked back my peppers pretty significantly except my hab which had several peppers on it still. Then I built a hoophouse that slides right in to the raised beds I built last week.

I followed this method pretty closely:

Pictures to come shortly along with the start of Grow Log 2012
 
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