I have a bunch of plants in pots that I don't think are going to get pods to ripen while it's nice out. So will I be able to bring them indoors for them to finish ripening and will they be able to stay alive and growing new pods if they are kept in a window? Or will they lose all the leaves and stop growing? I am hoping to keep them alive until next spring so I can put them out early and hopefully get them producing very quickly.
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overwintering Bringing plants in over the winter
- Thread starter roadhouse
- Start date
Keeping them by the window works well IMO, some will survive, others might not. The two most important things I've found are to remove ripe fruit or nearly ripe ASAP and DO NOT over water. Watering needs diminish greatly on inside plants especially if they are in a cool room and start to lose some foliage. I had about 75% survival rate last year including a Burkina Yellow Scotch Bonnet that is now on it's 5th year and doing great. It's in it's original MG potting soil, got 1 Jobes plant stick last year and nothing this year except water and sun.
+1 on the over watering; the biggest mistake most people make.
Do a site search for overwintering or wintering, there is a tonne of info. To sum things up:
"You basically have three options:
You can drastically cut back the plants, roots and all, and put them in a coolish place with minimal sun in attempt to let the plant go semi-dormant for the winter, or try without cutting back if you have tonnes of room.
or
You can grow the plants under lights over the winter(cutback or not) or sunlight with supplemental lighting
or
You can just leave the plant(cut back or not) in front of a window, although plants will get leggy and usually need major pruning to keep them strong and stalky.
Whatever way you decide, your biggest problem is probably going to be aphids or other pests that don't have natural predators around in the winter"
"You basically have three options:
You can drastically cut back the plants, roots and all, and put them in a coolish place with minimal sun in attempt to let the plant go semi-dormant for the winter, or try without cutting back if you have tonnes of room.
or
You can grow the plants under lights over the winter(cutback or not) or sunlight with supplemental lighting
or
You can just leave the plant(cut back or not) in front of a window, although plants will get leggy and usually need major pruning to keep them strong and stalky.
Whatever way you decide, your biggest problem is probably going to be aphids or other pests that don't have natural predators around in the winter"
I will be overwintering also, I have a south facing window, but I will have mine set under lights.
I would do as the others say about watering and cutting back also about fruit removal. I have over wintered three wild species now for four years with lights and help from a lighted window, I cut back all weak growth leaving only some of the best of the plant.
This seems to work for me, so You can give it a try .
George W.
I would do as the others say about watering and cutting back also about fruit removal. I have over wintered three wild species now for four years with lights and help from a lighted window, I cut back all weak growth leaving only some of the best of the plant.
This seems to work for me, so You can give it a try .
George W.
Last year I successfully overwintered several plants. I squished them up near two west/NW facing windows. The room was cold on cloudy days (~60 F) and warm on sunny days (70-80). I did not do anything special to them besides just moving them inside (they were already in pots). I did not fertilize throughout the winter. I let fruit ripen that was still on the plants. I trimmed them once or twice when new growth got too big. Most of them I trimmed before setting them back outside in May.
Some other observations: I left the chinensis out in the cold too long, it took them a bit longer to "recover", I will bring them in earlier this year. When the days started getting longer again, especially in February my plants began flowering again, They even set fruit which I did not remove. Sure enough I had fresh cayennes, orange habs, and a few others in March and April. The pods were a bit smaller than normal, but still tons better than store bought! I battled aphids throughout the winter, but it was worth it in the end. Instead of waiting until October/November for ~100 ripe piquins from several plants, I just harvested several hundred from one plant in August!
Some other observations: I left the chinensis out in the cold too long, it took them a bit longer to "recover", I will bring them in earlier this year. When the days started getting longer again, especially in February my plants began flowering again, They even set fruit which I did not remove. Sure enough I had fresh cayennes, orange habs, and a few others in March and April. The pods were a bit smaller than normal, but still tons better than store bought! I battled aphids throughout the winter, but it was worth it in the end. Instead of waiting until October/November for ~100 ripe piquins from several plants, I just harvested several hundred from one plant in August!