Hey guys. I know a lot of you overwinter your plants by bringing them indoors. Some of you trim the plants back; but I was wondering about a method I read about in which plants were basically chopped down to only 4-5 inches above the rootball leaving no leaves. The roots of these plants were also trimmed back to accommodate for the loss of vegetation. Here is a link from another forum which they discuss it http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pepper/msg1018501614958.html. Any thoughts on this procedure? Has anyone tried it successfully and if so what tips do you have? What is the smallest size pot they can be transplanted into? Thanks for any and all suggestions.
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overwintering Cutting to Overwinter?
- Thread starter Josh
- Start date
AlabamaJack
Extreme Member
I will help all I can...I just started cutting back last year as an experiment and it paid off...and I did only one plant...
all I did was pull the plant up...(read "pull" the plant up not dig it up)...shake a bunch of dirt off of it...trim the limbs back to almost nothing and replant it in fresh soil in an 8" clay pot...then took care of it like a seedling...
I think Potawie and others even trim the rootball...I suppose I was just lucky...
posts crossed in cyber Josh...
the grow lights are just fluorescent shop lights...you said "overwinter" plants and not grow thru winter...Potawie is the man for that answer....my bad....I have not "overwintered" any yet
all I did was pull the plant up...(read "pull" the plant up not dig it up)...shake a bunch of dirt off of it...trim the limbs back to almost nothing and replant it in fresh soil in an 8" clay pot...then took care of it like a seedling...
I think Potawie and others even trim the rootball...I suppose I was just lucky...
posts crossed in cyber Josh...
the grow lights are just fluorescent shop lights...you said "overwinter" plants and not grow thru winter...Potawie is the man for that answer....my bad....I have not "overwintered" any yet
Yea I just posted on your other thread but thanks you answered my questions. I will have to get in touch with Potawie and find out how to do it. On a side note, I am glad I saw this stuff because I was planning on chucking my plants at the end of the season. I am planning on growing more plants next year but at least I will have a few that get an early start with an established root system. Plus everyone seems to say they produce more the second time around. Thanks again for your help.AlabamaJack said:
This is from a post I previously made on another forum:
Here's where I cut back the top and the roots and repot in a smaller container. The trick is to find the right conditions to keep them semi-dormant for the winter or you'll have to cut back again as I had to and you're likely to have aphid problems as I did.
And here's a pic in the spring after a few months of growing.
And here's the monster now(August 2008)
Here's where I cut back the top and the roots and repot in a smaller container. The trick is to find the right conditions to keep them semi-dormant for the winter or you'll have to cut back again as I had to and you're likely to have aphid problems as I did.
And here's a pic in the spring after a few months of growing.
And here's the monster now(August 2008)
I still think this prosedure (just like declawng a cat) is mean.
Ill be overwintering all my superhotties for next year with my mystery cat loving bird pepper plant ive had 2 years now and its offspring..Id still like to know what kind of plant it is lol
I will be overwintering maybe 8-10 plants this way as well. I don't have room for full size ones. Sometimes they make it, sometimes they don't. With Michigan winters here and single digit temps, they sure won't outdoors. lol.
Another idea I am doing to really minimize room is to take cuttings of my favorites and grow those as seedlings. However, you don't get the advantage of an enormous root system. It's another way to preserve the genetics of a variety you really enjoy if you don't bag blossoms.
Chris
Another idea I am doing to really minimize room is to take cuttings of my favorites and grow those as seedlings. However, you don't get the advantage of an enormous root system. It's another way to preserve the genetics of a variety you really enjoy if you don't bag blossoms.
Chris
Ive never been lucky with cuttings myself..tried powders,jell pots you name it
A homemade bubbler unit works fairly well for me. I failed miserably every other way.
Chris
Chris
What exactly is a bubbler unit?
Yes. I don't like cats....they have a nasty habbit of being able to kill me.wordwiz said:So you would let your cat outside to die from freezing and not getting enough food?
hehe
I say put them inside, that's what I'm doing!
Wow that thing really came back nicely. What size pot did you downgrade to?POTAWIE said:This is from a post I previously made on another forum:
Here's where I cut back the top and the roots and repot in a smaller container. The trick is to find the right conditions to keep them semi-dormant for the winter or you'll have to cut back again as I had to and you're likely to have aphid problems as I did.
And here's a pic in the spring after a few months of growing.
And here's the monster now(August 2008)
JayT said:
good question, i would like to know that as well please..lol
i do know from what was explained in previous threads and posts that you do have to trim the root balls as well....
smaller pots ? i dont know the reason for that except perhaps space, and maybe changing the soil.... correct me if i am wrong please...
There's a quite extensive guide to overwintering on the chileman site:
http://www.thechileman.org/guide_overwinter.php
There are various methods. One guy swears on not cutting back before February.
I wanna overwinter several plants and will experiment with methods. I'm not sure yet, what works best for me.
You water them less during overwintering, but it of course depends on the conditions. Overwintering in an office is pretty different from overwintering in a barely lit room at 10°C.
http://www.thechileman.org/guide_overwinter.php
There are various methods. One guy swears on not cutting back before February.
I wanna overwinter several plants and will experiment with methods. I'm not sure yet, what works best for me.
You water them less during overwintering, but it of course depends on the conditions. Overwintering in an office is pretty different from overwintering in a barely lit room at 10°C.
Whenever you cut the top back on any plant, you should cut the roots to keep things proportional. The same as if you cut the roots, you should cut just as much mass from the top. I've overwintered without cutting back roots with some success but the roots really have no room to grow and the size of the pot is always too big and you'll have to pot up to an even bigger pot in the spring.
I downgraded from a 5 gallon to probably a 3 gallon pot and during the winter very little water is required, and no fertilizer until spring.
There is no way I could wait till February to cut back with my climate. I cut back in October, and the plan this year is to give them very little light starting immediately after cutting back. Too much light in the fall(or winter) will start leggy new growth and you'll have to cut the tops back again.
Oh and Chiliac, your link doesn't work
I downgraded from a 5 gallon to probably a 3 gallon pot and during the winter very little water is required, and no fertilizer until spring.
There is no way I could wait till February to cut back with my climate. I cut back in October, and the plan this year is to give them very little light starting immediately after cutting back. Too much light in the fall(or winter) will start leggy new growth and you'll have to cut the tops back again.
Oh and Chiliac, your link doesn't work
