overwintering Ghosts and Datils in NH...time to winterize

[frankandsteph]

Hello All,

This is my first real post so I hope I do not sound like to much of a newbie. I am currently growing Ghosts and Datils and the weather is just to cold to keep them outside anymore. I have a bunch of fruit still growing strong in my living room. My question is, how do I take care of these over the winter? Would they keep going if I leave them in my living room with some big bay windows? Should I winterize them some how?

Thanks,
Frank

 

[Indiana_Jesse]

I'm certainly no expert but last year I had a similar question (my first year overwintering). I ended up just sticking them in/near a window. They all continued to grow. Once the days began getting longer again in February they really started growing and even produced some small usable peppers (although most of the annuums had zero heat!) I gave them a good haircut before setting them back out in Apr/May. Most people don't recommend this method. Like many other people, I did have to battle aphids and spider mites throughout the winter, even though none of the plants appeared to have aphids or mites when brought inside.

 

[Sci]

just bring yah bhuts in side at night thats all i would do

 

[bigt]

Unless it gets freezing outside, I leave mine out. Once nights get below 32F, they come in. I keep them by a window all winter and I'm very careful not to over water. The water needs of dormant plants are minimal and root rot is the biggest risk to survival. Don't trim them back until late winter or early spring, if at all. Don't leave ripe pods on the plant. Some overwintered plants do great for years.

 

[geeme]

There are several good posts on over-wintering here. I'm in the Cleveland, OH area, but I'm no where near ready to bring mine in yet. They're full of pods, just going to town. Once the nights start getting a bit cooler, I'll put the plants into the garage at night, but plan to leave them outside during the day. I won't bring them into the house for the winter until we start hitting the 30's on a regular basis.

I'm in the area east of Cleveland, so we get a lot of lake effect snow (ugh!) That and frost are killers for the peppers. But in general, I've read that peppers do well until it gets below 50F, and also that it's tough to keep peppers from going dormant this far north, unless you plan to keep them between 80F and 90F. This is also my first year growing peppers (though I have grown plenty of other plants here), and have been voraciously reading about over-wintering. There's plenty of us newbies on this site, and the vets are very, very helpful.