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overwintering Does over wintering just mean putting your plants in pots and bring them indoors?
- Thread starter Ronan
- Start date
Im new to the whole pepper growing thing and i want to know when the season is done how to preserve my plants.
You've got the basic idea. I've had good luck overwintering the last couple of years. Biggest problem I've encountered is aphids. turn your back for a few days and there's an infestation. Safer soap has controlled them for me. I keep my plants in a greenhouse that gets down as low as 40 F, so I have to be careful not to overwater the plants. The benefit is a plant with a good root system ready to take off in the spring.
Good luck with it,
Tom
Good luck with it,
Tom
For the most part, yes. There's a pinned overwintering thread in the growing forum, and also www.thechileman.org has a good overwintering post worth checking out. I overwintered 2 my first year, then 10 last year, and it's worked out pretty well for me. I repot before bringing my plants indoors to reduce the aphid problem, but it doesn't eliminate it 100%, so also spray regularly. I use the method to prune both the tops and roots fairly severely, so that and the reduced light makes the plants go dormant, but you don't have to do that.
that is what i do, just bring my potted plants indoors and line them up on a south facing window, some remain in totes; from this effort i usually lose about 10% for whatever reason. i preferred that the plants that were going to die, die early but that is never the case, they always wait until spring after a winter of babying then drop. my yellow bhuts did that, around march/april they started to grow nicely then by june, they started to drop their leaves and by mid june both plants were dead - several other plants just died off also. i do trim back some branches just for the sake of making the plant fit easily into a tote or on the window ledge and to not interfere with other plants. i do not trim the roots. as for watering i can usually get away with once every 2 weeks.
previously, i would take my plants and cut back both roots and branches then hibernate the plant in a dark north facing room with only early morning sunlight. i would only water maybe once a month depending on soil moisture. this technique usually had a 50% survival rate for me, so i switch methods, now i have some plants that are several years old.
i do get aphids but more so with my hydro plants, just do to my set up it makes reaching some plants very difficult. i use a mixture of just soapy water, Safers Trounce and another no name bug killer.
at some point i do have to cull the inventory, this allows me to try new things. like right now i am looking at a assam bhut in my hydro system that has dropped most of its leaves and roots are browning - hate like heck to kill it off as it is about 2 years old but....... i have a whole bunch of other varieties that i would like to grow but have no room. things like dundicut, sannam that are 3 years old and take up way too much room and just taste like an ordinary cayenne that i can buy at the grocers.
have fun.
previously, i would take my plants and cut back both roots and branches then hibernate the plant in a dark north facing room with only early morning sunlight. i would only water maybe once a month depending on soil moisture. this technique usually had a 50% survival rate for me, so i switch methods, now i have some plants that are several years old.
i do get aphids but more so with my hydro plants, just do to my set up it makes reaching some plants very difficult. i use a mixture of just soapy water, Safers Trounce and another no name bug killer.
at some point i do have to cull the inventory, this allows me to try new things. like right now i am looking at a assam bhut in my hydro system that has dropped most of its leaves and roots are browning - hate like heck to kill it off as it is about 2 years old but....... i have a whole bunch of other varieties that i would like to grow but have no room. things like dundicut, sannam that are 3 years old and take up way too much room and just taste like an ordinary cayenne that i can buy at the grocers.
have fun.
