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overwintering Winterizing

So speaking of soil, I dont need anything special since I am winterizing them correct? I could just throw my peppers in some black dirt and call it a day right?
 
I have always heard good things about miracle grow. Maybe I will have to get some bags of that "feeds your plants for (3 or 6 months I dont remember) stuff". But just some regular potting soil would be fine...i mean you really wouldnt want anything rich in Nitrogen since that will speed up new growth.
 
It has worked well for me, the overwintered plants get going again about the time I am sprouting new seedlings, they all go under the same lights.

That's why adjustable lights are so great.
 
Yeah I think my plan to beef up my plants next year and to get some awesome yields is to...
1) Cut back for winter
2) When spring is near, feed the plants Nitrogen rich ferts so they grow like weeds and grow extra branches. Maybe do this for a month or two.
3) Once flowering has started then feed it Phosphorus and Potassium rich nutes for an explosion of pods.

This is a good aproach right?
 
So would it be bad if I used the ferts every other week instead of every week? Any suggested usage if I were to use the ferts?
 
Personally I give my plants a nitrogen boost early on when I add compost or manure, but then I like to use a well balanced fertilizer instead of "bloom" formulas since the plants should continously keep growing as they're flowering. I also like to give a boost of pottasium just before overwintering. Just remember that chiles don't require a lot of nutrients. I've grown plants with only water and they produced, although not incredibly well
 
OK, OK....

great thread...

no hijack intended but I have a question...if I cut them back (like the ones in Dereks picture) and put them in my garage ( Garage will be dark until I start germinating seeds at the end of January), do you think they would grow or maybe grow very very slowly...I don't need growth until about February...
 
They need some light, but how much I'm still expirementing with. Last year I tried to overwinter a lot of plants with very little light in my crawlspace and for the most part it was a failure.
 
giving them light is no problem, well, indirect light...I can run some of my germination/seedling set up lights if needed...and the temperature in the garage will not drop below about 8-10C...

I would really like to overwinter about 50-60 plants if possible but if they start growing I will have to repeatedly cut them back to keep them from outgrowing the area I have...
 
I usually find that a few hours of window light is all that's needed but I like to keep things very dark during the rest of the time, when possible. Too many hours of indirect light and they seem to grow stretchy. I'm not too sure how many hours is optimal, and I don't usually use lights unless I want growth so you may need to expirement AJ
 
Exactly what I am going to do...thanks...I have a few windows in the house I can use if the wife will let me...she freaks out when I want to bring plants inside with all the grow room and set up I have in the garage, green house, and storage building...
 
So Potawie what do you use for your nitro and potassium boosts and whats the reason for the potassium boost just before winterizing? Speaking of light I will be putting mine under 4-4' 35w grow fluoros (I dont remember the brand but they are higher end) for 8 hours on. That should be enough direct light right?
 
They don't really go dormant AJ.

They have to be kept alive.

It may be a PITA, but I would say that having to cut back would be preferable to not enough light.

It will be the flower pinching that will kill you.;)

In the big TX you might be OK. Here, winter is long enough to require pinching.
 
cheezydemon said:
Thanks for posting pics. Mr Arbock was driving me batshit with his insistence that the plant could not live without leaves.
Click to expand...

Didn't say that. I questioned if it was the optimum way to do it. Still am. You said that they had to be cut back because the leaves would suck the energy out of the plant and kill it if you didn't cut them all of.
 
crazy8 said:
So Potawie what do you use for your nitro and potassium boosts and whats the reason for the potassium boost just before winterizing? Speaking of light I will be putting mine under 4-4' 35w grow fluoros (I dont remember the brand but they are higher end) for 8 hours on. That should be enough direct light right?
Click to expand...

I've got a greenhouse full of different nutrients, but for nitrogen I like to use compost and/or manure, bone beal is good for phosphorous, and wood ash for potassium which is supposed to beild up strength for overwintering plants

Since you are growing under light, you aren't really overwintering in the way I do, so you should skip the potassium and probably give plants a low dose of well balance fertilizer. Just always keep a good eye out for aphids and other pests, and treat your soil before bringing plants indoors
 
Ok stupid question of the day. By wood ash your talking like ashes from the fire pit or fire place kind of ash?
 
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