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overwintering Controlled Growth vs Dormancy in the Winter

Hello, this is my first post here. I've done a tiny bit of lurking before signing up, but not much. There's a wealth of information here and after browsing through some of the stickies (especially the overwintering guide) I've decided to make an account. I'm very much a novice, so if I use improper terminology or leave out valuable information please don't hesitate to call me out on it and I'll supplement it as best I can. I apologize in advance for the essay, but I figure it's better to give too much info rather than too little.
 
This summer I got a "Ghost Chili" plant as a gift from my friend who works at a plant nursery. I've never really been much of a gardener, but she knew I liked hot stuff and that I like to grind dried Bhut Jolokia on my food sometimes. I knew it typically grew in India, so I was skeptical of the little leafy plant in a plastic pot sold at a nursery 50 miles east of New York City (my plant hardiness zone is Zone 7a : 0 to 5 (F) - I figure it's worth working that in somewhere). I stuck it in the ground in my shady backyard and watered it occasionally. I really half-assed this part. After a while it got really big, leafy, and started to flower. It looked really healthy, but I knew it wasn't getting enough sun, even with my extremely limited knowledge, so I moved it to the front of my North facing house. This is when I got a little more serious. The house shadowed where I planted it sometimes, but overall it got comparatively more sun. More time passed and to my surprise I saw a couple tiny little green peppers. By the time it started to get cold (like October) it had tons of half-grown green peppers and only one or two ones turning orange. I didn't give it good growing conditions until far too late in the season and ended up paying the price for it. I had read that they were perennials, so I wanted to try to give this plant and myself another chance and keep it alive to try again next year and that's why I'm here.
 
I pulled all the green peppers off because I figured trying to grow them would be too taxing on the plant. There were two orange peppers left, but in moving it to a large pot one got knocked off. I took some of the bigger peppers and the orange one, let them sit for a week and ate them. The green ones had very little to no bite, but the orange one had serious heat - I knew this was the real deal. I cut it way down after the cold took out the leaves (it didn't freeze up yet) and left the one lone orange pepper on a branch void of life (picture A Charlie Brown Christmas) .  I stuck in in the garage where it received little to no sunlight for several weeks. It occurred to me that I may have misinterpreted some thing I had read, since I'm pretty sure zero light will eventually kill it and the one pepper would slowly sap any life left in the plant, so I decided to move it up to my bedroom near an East facing window. I had noticed even after depriving it of light for weeks there was new growth at the base.
 
I left it in this spot for weeks. It hasn't received water since sometime in October from rain. It varying degrees of sunlight each morning and there's are more and more growth near the bottom. I had intended to make this thread weeks ago, but I'd put it off. My primary question is: can I keep it in this spot through the winter into the spring, or does it need to go dormant? I know I won't be able to grow peppers like this and that's fine. I just want to know if plants have certain stages and if I keep it growing slowly throughout the cold months I'll be interrupting this, preventing it from producing properly when it gets warm again. 
 
And I was going to make a second thread for this since it's really a separate issue, but I'll keep it to one:
 
Until today it had that one pepper left on there to continue maturing (I've since pulled it and will prune the last branch tomorrow). That was a rookie mistake because I left it on too long. It looked fine the whole time, it had just started to shrivel lately. I knew they shriveled as they dried, but this one was still on the branch. I didn't put in the time to research if this was a good thing or not. Checking it a couple days ago I realized the side facing the window and away from me was turning black. I'd be a little bummed about not being able to enjoy the one decent pod I'd been able to grow, but I'd be more bummed about losing the seeds. My primary goal is to keep the plant alive to put it in the ground next year, but being able to have seeds to germinate as a fallback would be nice. Since the pepper is starting the go black and mold is beginning to grow I'm worried I'll pass along disease to potential offspring. Creating offspring was just a passing idea, but I'd mentioned it to family members and I ended up with a germination heating pad and a blue/red LED grow light for Christmas, so if I did shoot myself in the foot and let them go bad I'd be extra bummed.
 
So my second question: can I use any of these seeds, or do I risk growing diseased plants?
 
Thanks in advance for any assistance you might be able to provide.






 
Welcome to THP. The plant looks fine. keep it where it is and consider this your first lesson. However, it will not over winter where it is, it is actually warm enough and there is enough light available that it wants to grow. Don't feed it and only provide enough water to sustain it. As it gets closer to say mothers day you can then start feeding and watering to build up its strength and put it in an area that it gets more and a longer duration of light.
 
As far as seeds go. If you use seeds that are in any way suspect you set yourself up for a huge disappointment. You potentially will waste valuable germination time on seeds that will not germinate or will have other potential problems. best to start with seeds from a reputable source. any one who has responded to your post thus far fits that description.
 
moruga welder said:
:welcome: to T.H.P. !   I wouldn't use them  ,  theres boat loads of seeds to be had if one just asks .   I've got chocolate , peach s.s. , red Bhut seeds if you'd like some .      :onfire:
 
 
Guatemalan Insanity Pepper said:
Hello and :welcome:
 
 
i've got way more seeds than i need as well 
Happy to share :)
 
 
 
 
 
 
:cheers:
Guatemalan Insanity Pepper
 
Thanks guys so much for the warm welcome! If you could spare some that would be so cool! The Bhut is nice and all, but I'd love to try something else. I've only heard about those peppers, much less seen or tasted them.
 
 
CAPCOM said:
Welcome to THP. The plant looks fine. keep it where it is and consider this your first lesson. However, it will not over winter where it is, it is actually warm enough and there is enough light available that it wants to grow. Don't feed it and only provide enough water to sustain it. As it gets closer to say mothers day you can then start feeding and watering to build up its strength and put it in an area that it gets more and a longer duration of light.
 
As far as seeds go. If you use seeds that are in any way suspect you set yourself up for a huge disappointment. You potentially will waste valuable germination time on seeds that will not germinate or will have other potential problems. best to start with seeds from a reputable source. any one who has responded to your post thus far fits that description.
 
Thanks for the response. I understand it's not going to go dormant in its current state. Like you said, It's too warm in my room and it's getting too much light where it is now. Is overwintering getting the plant to go dormant or is it just keeping it alive throughout the winter one way or another? Do people make their plants go dormant because it takes up less space and requires less maintenance, or is it a vital step to have it produce again when it's outside? If I just keep it in its current state (maybe give it less light), will I somehow gimp it next year?
 
I don't mean to bombard you specifically with these questions
 
I'll probably take a couple of the best looking seeds anyway just to see what happens since I've got some germination gear already and nothing to germinate.
 
When someone decides to over winter some plants it is generally because they have insufficient accommodations to grow the plants. either they're unable to provide the necessary heat and or light needed to keep the plants healthy.
 
Plants can be grown continuously all year long providing you give them the necessary essentials.


 
 
20151126_132717.jpg
 
A misconception is that peppers go dormant. They don't. It's only that sometimes they don't have the requirements to grow, but that's different from properly going dormant, and they would be happy to grow if they could.
 
I would consider snipping that perpendicular branch back.  Hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like you have some necrosis going on there.  I would probably snip it back to where its green.  Usually the plant browns (gets woody) from the trunk then works it's way out.  Any branches that are turning black/brown are a haven for disease to start.  
 
Other than that, you have a nice plant there. :welcome:
 
moruga welder said:
:welcome: to T.H.P. !   I wouldn't use them  ,  theres boat loads of seeds to be had if one just asks .   I've got chocolate , peach s.s. , red Bhut seeds if you'd like some .      :onfire:
Shoot, I would take some chocolate seeds and ss peach if you got em..
 
Guatemalan Insanity Pepper said:
Hello and :welcome:
 
 
i've got way more seeds than i need as well 
Happy to share :)
 
 
 
 What kind of seeds do you have?
 
 
:cheers:
Guatemalan Insanity Pepper
 
I keep telling myself I just want to dip a toe in and test the waters, but as I look over to what was my bedroom dresser I think that's no longer the case.
 
On it 8 bhut seeds soaking in my french press, a 36 cell seedling tray ready to go resting on a seedling heat mat that's in turn resting on a slab of insulation, a bag of plant/seedling soil mix from the local nursery (I have to go back and ask about the contents, I'm not sold on it yet, though I also don't need it yet), a LED grow light, several acrylic sheets, and extra insulation in case I need to build something resembling a greenhouse.
 
I plucked the 8 seeds farthest from any visible contamination, soaked them in 3% hydrogen peroxide for 30 minutes, then put them in a 1:9 part mixture of that and water. They've been in there since last night. I'm hoping to kill off anything insidious and expedite the germination process. I wanted to proceed today by trying to get them to germinate in a damp coffee filter, but I'm out of those. I read they sometimes stick to paper towels, so if I can do something slightly better with an inexpensive item I'll go out and get some.
 
I'm on the fence about getting a heat mat thermostat like this one, but I'll probably spring for it because if I'm going to do this I want to do it properly.
 
All I need now is some seed variety. I've already got one healthy bhut plant. If I'm successful with the seeds I'll have more of the same at best. I checked out pepperlover.com since it seems like this forum very much likes it, but there are so many options I don't know where to start. Are there any peppers you guys would recommend? Heat-wise I've had up to habenero, then jumped the bhut and nothing above that (tasted, not grown). Having at least one or two peppers that super hot would let me more easily share them with the many people who can't tolerate the heat.
 
On the other hand, I very much like the idea of getting some from forum members, especially if they came from their own plants. It just seems more personal.
 
How many plants do you want to end up with and what kind of space do you have available to grow them til they go outside? It appears you have researched your info very well. But it is very easy to miscalculate how much space you will need in a very short period of time.The growing requirements also increase with plant size.
 
Umbra said:
 
Thanks guys so much for the warm welcome! If you could spare some that would be so cool! The Bhut is nice and all, but I'd love to try something else. I've only heard about those peppers, much less seen or tasted them.
 
did you still need/want seeds ?
Check out my grow-list in my profile, send me a PM if there's anything that interests you
 
 
 
 
 
:cheers:
 
Guatemalan Insanity Pepper
 
Ozzy2001 said:
I would consider snipping that perpendicular branch back.  Hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like you have some necrosis going on there.  I would probably snip it back to where its green.  Usually the plant browns (gets woody) from the trunk then works it's way out.  Any branches that are turning black/brown are a haven for disease to start.  
 
Other than that, you have a nice plant there. :welcome:
Thanks for the heads up. That branch held the single pepper until I plucked it. It serves no purpose now, so off it goes. I got some "die back" (I think it's called) from when I pruned it before bringing it in. Should I try to cut some of this away, or is it like a scab at this point and should be left be?
CAPCOM said:
How many plants do you want to end up with and what kind of space do you have available to grow them til they go outside? It appears you have researched your info very well. But it is very easy to miscalculate how much space you will need in a very short period of time.The growing requirements also increase with plant size.
Thanks for bringing that up because that's definitely something I should consider. I've got 10 square feet to work with on the dresser and another surface with 6'. In a pinch I could probably place a board on it to expand it to 20 sqft, but that's probably overkill. Aside from space the next resource I'd need is light. It's next to a East facing window. I don't think it provides anywhere near enough light, but my one adult plant thinks otherwise as the new growth continues. I have one grow light which might be enough to cover 1/3rd to 1/2 of the dresser. If need be I could get another one or two, but hopefully they'll be more sunlight by the time I need to cover that much area.
 
Realistically I'd like something like 4-8 plants by the time I can plant them outside. If I have more than that I'd try to give them away. I'm germinating a ton at the moment just because I know that I'll realistically lose some at each stage of gro I think that might be possible under current conditions.
 


Guatemalan Insanity Pepper said:
did you still need/want seeds ?
Check out my grow-list in my profile, send me a PM if there's anything that interests you
 
 
 
 
 
:cheers:
 
Guatemalan Insanity Pepper
 
Thank you for the offer. I've also gotten offers from three other members. I feel silly because I don't have any seeds to trade. I read up on sending SASBEs, but it seems like it'd just be easier to send a member a few bucks to coverage postage and their trouble. I get that far and think, "if I'm going to do that, why not just order some seeds from a vendor", so I hop on their site and see a million different varieties.
 
The only thing I have to offer that I think anyone here would find remotely appealing is computer-related (I fix computers, phones, etc.). If someone would like I could work with them through PMs to review their programs and startup items and help trim the fat as well as a few other tricks to speeds things up in exchange for sending me a few packets of seeds (their pick).
 
 

Thank you for the offer. I've also gotten offers from three other members. I feel silly because I don't have any seeds to trade. I read up on sending SASBEs, but it seems like it'd just be easier to send a member a few bucks to coverage postage and their trouble. I get that far and think, "if I'm going to do that, why not just order some seeds from a vendor", so I hop on their site and see a million different varieties.
 
The only thing I have to offer that I think anyone here would find remotely appealing is computer-related (I fix computers, phones, etc.). If someone would like I could work with them through PMs to review their programs and startup items and help trim the fat as well as a few other tricks to speeds things up in exchange for sending me a few packets of seeds (their pick).

 

 


 

 

we were all there at one point!  i bought mine from a vendor cause i'm trying out various kinds, more so seeing what i like and dislike :)  and when i have seeds i offer up ones i dont use or like.  no sense in having a pack if you dont like them, unless its a situation where you have to depend on them for survival.  
 
gangaskan said:
 
 

 


 

 

we were all there at one point!  i bought mine from a vendor cause i'm trying out various kinds, more so seeing what i like and dislike :)  and when i have seeds i offer up ones i dont use or like.  no sense in having a pack if you dont like them, unless its a situation where you have to depend on them for survival.  
 
If all I have left to survive on is a few seed packets I'm screwed. :P
 
I'm going to be making a Grow Log, but this bit of info is pertinent to this thread. After only ten days 2/8 of my questionable Bhut seeds have sprouted! They might have sprouted a day or two ago, but I hadn't checked.  One has gone funky (it looked funky days before, but I wanted to see what happened). I've planted the two, tossed the one, and misted the other five. I'm going to continue trying to germinate the others. From my understanding Bhut seeds typically take 3-4 weeks to sprout, so I'm happy that two have already done so and more might be on the way.
 
 
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