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do peppers produce more in thwe second year.

gnomepunter

gnomepunter

just curious since i am overwintering my carribean reds and habs if they will be worth it or if the second year fruit production is better or worse.
 
you'll get mixed results and it really depends on the plant and how it grows after its sleep period.

my caribbean reds are producing the same number of pods but the pods are larger. my orange habs are smaller and 2 plants have low to no pods, loads of flowers but no fruit set. my fatalii are producing relatively large pods and last year didn't produce 1 pod. gold bullet habs have lots of flowers and 2 plants have produced many peppers and 1 has no pods. hot lemons produced larger and more pods.

last year i didn't put the plants in a dormant state but left them in a south window, though i did trim some branches back on all plants.

good luck
 
If you can handle the aphids and other pests then overwintering should give you an incredible head-start on the season, but its not always a simple process
 
Also depends on species an variety,
for example C. pubescens can have a much higher yield.
But do not forget that after you overwinter peppers you might want to give them larger pods for new root growth,
because more roots can support more foliage and more fruits
BR
Jan
 
POTAWIE nailed the main problem in my experience--rat bastage aphids. First year I tried with three plants and ended up putting them out into the freeze, second year was three more plants and I made it until the end of February before giving up and tossing the aphid homes out into the frozen tundra again. Despite that I had a 7 Pot Primo survive the freeze and it's growing quite well and is producing pods at several times the rate it did it's first year of existence.

If you do over winter some do everything possible to kill the critters before taking them indoors. Still won't stop them though as I'm pretty sure the darn things burrow into the dirt to hibernate the winter away. As soon as they feel that warm indoor air here they come.

Good luck to ya.
 
If aphids are an issue, could you put a ton of diatemecous earth to prevent ants from coming? And if they do they will get torn up, and aphids hate the stuff too?
 
gnomepunter said:
just curious since i am overwintering my carribean reds and habs if they will be worth it or if the second year fruit production is better or worse.
Click to expand...

I usually overwinter a couple of Caribbean Red plants amongst others, but I also take stem cuttings from pepper plants, jell'em and into rock wool they go. I usually pot them up a month or so later. Last year I had "Bonnets and Congo's" ripe during New Year's......fresh salsa.
I generally fire up part of my lights in October, due to the numerous flower cuttings that we take, my pepper clones share the light source while the overwintered plants stay dormant in basement. They will hit the lights in Feb. and if there are any "flying dare devil's" I'll treat them as needed.....good luck and give it a try...you already have the plants...your ahead of the game...

And to answer your question , from my results the production has been greater, plants are not always taller.
 
POTAWIE said:
If you can handle the aphids and other pests then overwintering should give you an incredible head-start on the season, but its not always a simple process
Click to expand...

I tried to overwintered two superhots last season, and like you said the aphid became uncontrollable. I had to bring them outside where they succumb to their death. With seedling to deal with I couldn't have the aphid hive hanging around.

 
I overwintered for the first time last winter. The only plants that have had good production are the pubescens. The chinense plants look nice but they just never really went into pod production mode after planting back out this spring until recently. Now it looks like frost will be here before they get a chance to ripen. Not sure what went wrong.
The aphids actually attacked the new seedlings way worse than the overwintered plants. Not sure why on that either.
I'm gonna keep trying with some of my favorites. I did have fresh pods all winter. That alone almost makes it worthwhile.
 
well maybe ill get lucky i havent yet seen not one aphid or pest of anykind on any of my plants...i hope like hell i didnt just curse myself lol
 
I've discovered if I put my pots on CCA treated pine, the ants don't come. Plus you can keep the roots warmer as the pots aren't sitting directly on the cold concrete.
 
I found that if you remove any new growth through-out the winter, the aphids tend to stay away. Its been my experience that aphids like the vigorous new growth or flowers of the plants, both of which I prune off during the winter.

What I have had problems with are fruit flies, for which I leave a dish full of apple cider vinegar out, the little bastards love it and die the horrible death they deserve.

To answer the original question, I am currently on my third batch of fruit on the Caribbean Reds and Scotch bonnets that I started last spring (2010), and each round of fruit seems both more plentiful and larger in mass (on average) then the last.
 
I have over wintered bhuts for 3 years now. They produce flowers way earlier than new plants started in the spring, so I was able to get an entire extra batch of peppers. In the 7 gallon containers, I am getting, on average, about 140 peppers at one time on each plant, so that was at least an extra 100+ peppers for the over wintered plants. Also, I got peppers about 2 months earlier than the new seedlings.
On the aphids, I had no problems. I just mix up an inch of used coffee grounds from Starbucks in the soil about a month before they go inside and they are clean all winter. It seems like the alkaloids in the coffee protect the plants from insects for about 4 1/2 months, which is longer than the time they need to go inside, for us anyway.
 
What if you do not have to actually overwinter your plant. As far south as I am I think I can keep my plants growing through winter.

Do peppers NEED the overwinter rest period or will the be fine continuing to grow?

Kind of an offshoot question.............
 
Hello armac,
I think they should not need the rest period as they are quite tropical plants, so if you provide enough light and warmth, they should grow on( Albeit I have no idea about the winter in Texas...): For example I have a 5 year old C. pubescens in my Grenhouse with a minimum temperature of 10°C and it produces pods over the winter.
BR
Jan
 
I've had better luck overwintering Chinense and Pubescens for better yields. For Annuum varieties, it seems the chiltepin does extremely well after the first year and can live several years. The other Annuums for the most part are short season and too easy to either germinate or find in the store.
 
I also have to agree with with Bob_B that most C. annuum are not worth overwintering(atleast outside of the tropics), the only ones I can think of are the wilds/semiwilds, Goats Weed and Chile de Arbol( In the second year it can honour its name with its growth)
BR
Jan
 
I've had a lot of good luck overwintering annuums but in the long run its just too much work for a plant type that grows very quick to start with. Even pequin/tepins always grow well for me the first year, and only slighly better the second and third+ years
 
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