• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

overwintering Overwintering success so far..

At the end of the season, this year, I decided to bring in a few plants to finish ripening pods. As the pods all finished off, I got rid of the plants. My chocolate habaneros hadn't even produced flowers, but I had brought one inside to see what would happen. At first it lost a lot of leaves and looked like death had come over it. After I stuck it in the tub and gave it a rinse to kill off aphids, the plant came back to life. At first it was just new leaves, but then it finally started to produce flowers. Now it is growing several nice pods and there are even more buds popping up all over the place. It also homes maybe a dozen or more ladybugs that are keeping the aphids at bay. Looks like I am going to hang on to this plant for next season. Almost feel like putting Christmas lights on it. Under the lights it really sucks back on the water too. Once or twice a week, I have to give it a watering because it starts to droop a bit. It almost impresses me more than when I was growing them outside.
 
 
 
20161207_204023.jpg

 
20161207_204103.jpg
20161207_204128.jpg
 
i agree... this is not overwintering its just indoor growing... even i am not overwintering even though i cut my plants down to less than a foot tall they have 24hoursoflight and grow still..not enough lights to fruit for me, but enough to start sending out new leaves and branches... if you were over wintering they'dbe under something like 12 and 12 light dark, barely growing just surviving and at tempatures below room temp like a cool basement...
 
Masher said:
Nice looking plant...but I think you are now indoor growing, not over wintering  ;)
 
12 tubes..yikes. That's a lot of tubes.
 
Nice little grow box  :P
 
 
 
Thank You! I originally had the two fixtures set up for the other plants that I had brought in to finish ripening. Once those plants finished I got rid of them one by one. This box is a setup I build last year, when I couldn't afford a grow tent. It measures at 5 feet by 8 feet. It was only 5 feet high and the base is off the ground one foot for storage underneath it. This year I raised the roof to around 6 foot 8 inches. I have room for 4 6-tube t5 fixtures if I want to. Right now I only have 3 fixtures and don't think I will need more for right now. I am thinking of closing it right in and adding ventilation fans to help raise the humidity.
 
JBSmooth said:
i agree... this is not overwintering its just indoor growing... even i am not overwintering even though i cut my plants down to less than a foot tall they have 24hoursoflight and grow still..not enough lights to fruit for me, but enough to start sending out new leaves and branches... if you were over wintering they'dbe under something like 12 and 12 light dark, barely growing just surviving and at tempatures below room temp like a cool basement...
 
 
Thanks for the correction. I guess I assumed that because I dug up the plant and was continuing it through the winter that it was considered overwintering. This leads me to a question of whether I can continue this method all winter, or if the plant will need a bit of dormancy period to continue growing healthy. If it is still growing nice next year, I want to plant it in a bigger pot to continue growing on my deck.
 
shaggs2riches said:
 
 
Thank You! I originally had the two fixtures set up for the other plants that I had brought in to finish ripening. Once those plants finished I got rid of them one by one. This box is a setup I build last year, when I couldn't afford a grow tent. It measures at 5 feet by 8 feet. It was only 5 feet high and the base is off the ground one foot for storage underneath it. This year I raised the roof to around 6 foot 8 inches. I have room for 4 6-tube t5 fixtures if I want to. Right now I only have 3 fixtures and don't think I will need more for right now. I am thinking of closing it right in and adding ventilation fans to help raise the humidity.
 
 
 
Thanks for the correction. I guess I assumed that because I dug up the plant and was continuing it through the winter that it was considered overwintering. This leads me to a question of whether I can continue this method all winter, or if the plant will need a bit of dormancy period to continue growing healthy. If it is still growing nice next year, I want to plant it in a bigger pot to continue growing on my deck.
 

doesnt need it... its just more convenient for some of us... you have new fruits coming, your plant is happy and will do that all winter in your conditions... mine are under way less lights, different spectrum, less hours and kool basement... you never have to overwinter your peppers.. like i said,  some of us just cant grow them year round... i overwinter my keepers and use my grow lights to start growing the new plants last month that i sell in the spring...i could never afford to grow my keepers all winter under bulbs... not enough room and not enough bulbs...so i let them rest... for me, not them... you'll be fine... just check often for bugs... for some reason they explode when brought indoors... for me anyway... not a pest to be found outdoors, but bring them in and suddenly its an aphid farm... well not anymore, use to...now i assume it will be and stop it before i ever see a bug.. good luck and keep the pictures and progress going...
 
Back
Top