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overwintering Highalt's 1st Overwintering Attempt

highalt

highalt

So I brought a lot of my container grown peppers into the garage right before our first frost, back in September. I cut them back as much as I could bring myself to, then hit them with some insecticidal soap, waited a week, hit them again, and brought a few of them indoors. Most of them dropped their few remaining leaves, and now have new growth. After 3 or 4 weeks, the fungus gnats appeared, and one plant had aphids. It went back in the garage for another dose of insecticidal soap, and came back in . I had to spray it down again today, so not sure if I will win the aphid battle or not. Ironically, the one with the aphids is also my healthiest looking plant of all.

Georgia Flame
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It even has a new pod on it.
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Another one that is doing very well is Chilhaucle Rojo. There are several blooms on it.
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The leaves on it, and a couple of the other overwintering plants are pale, yellowish green. What nutrient do I need to give them to correct that?

Here is a shot of all of them. I know it's not many, but I'm not sure where I'll put them to once I start my 2012 crop. I'm only using the grow light on cloudy days, but this is my only cat free room that has a south facing window.
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Looking good, Bonnie. Aphids are a bitch! I tried overwintering 40 plants last year and had to unleash an army of ladybugs in my basement in early January. The overwintered plants didn't perform as well as I expected either, so I only have about 10 this year. Not quite sure what to feed them except more light. It's kind of hard to come by until March or so.
 
Yeah, I guess I should have figured it was a light issue, but the leaves on the Georgia Flame are such a dark green, compared to the other plants, that I thought maybe it was a nutrient thing.
 
Looking good, nice to see greenery in the dead of winter. If you use any nutes, I'd keep it low dose to match the foliage growth.

Keep a close eye on those f-gnats. If they infest your soil, the insecticidal soaps won't help. For aphids, I used Safer a lot last winter and it knocks them back a few days, must be re-applied regularly. Gets to be a real pain as foliage increases. If I get any aphids or gnats this year, I'm going with the Bonide product (sulphur/pyrethrin) that Big Cedar and Pepper Guru have been mentioning. That seems like a good organic approach and more effective than the soaps.
 
Hey, Siliman, I know Bonide makes quite a few different products. Do you know which one is the sulphur/pyrethrin combination?
 
It's the Bonide "Citrus, Fruit and Nut Orchard" spray. Have not tried it myself (yet) but gets a lot of great reviews.

Here is the discussion thread with link to the product:

Bonide
 
Took a few more pictures today.

Here is one I forgot about last time. It's Aji Yellow. It was just starting to get buds on it when we had our first frost. It's dropped all of it's leaves now, but when I look closely, it looks like it's about to put out some new growth.

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I also found this one in the garage. Just a stick with one tiny leaf poking out. All the other pepper plants that were left there had died, except him. Look at all the new growth.
Pasilla Bajio
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These next three have put out a lot of new growth in the last couple of weeks. Especially considering I haven't turned the grow light on at all. They know the days are getting longer.

Big Jim

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TAM Jalapeno

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Ancho Gigantia

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The Chilhaucle Rojo now has a tiny pod on it.

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Here is a shot of the whole plant. This is one of the ones that was looking pretty pale before, but I"m seeing some darker green leaves now.

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The Georgia Flame looks about the same as before. Didn't take his picture today, as he was banished to the garage to be sprayed for aphids again. I'm also going to have to pick up something for fungus gnats, which have been multiplying recently. Since this is the room where I start my seeds. I need to get the insect issues under control.
 
Just a quick update. Repeated sprayings of insecticidal soap were ineffective against the fungus gnats and aphids. Picked up an organic product from the hydro store, called Azamax. Not cheap BTW, but the guy gave me a first timer's discount ... or maybe it was ladies day that day, IDK. Most of his customers are medical marijuana growers, so when I got home my husband asked if I received any samples. Actually, he did give me several organic fertilizer samples, which my spouse found amusing, commenting that, "The first one's always free."

http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/azamax.html

Anyway, I'm pretty impressed with the Azamax. I think I might just win this battle now! Used it as a soil drench, and also sprayed the foliage with insecticidal soap about 10 days ago. The population has been decreased by about 90%. Gave the plants another dose today to finish off what's left. Now that I've found an organic solution that works, I'll automatically treat the soil before bringing the plants in this coming fall.
 
Hey Highalt they look great and that good news you were able to reduce the pest issue by 90% hopefully you wipe them out before bring them back inside.
Good luck
 
Those are looking good. I cut mine back a lot more. Just a thought if you have any other types of plants in the house you may want to check them for those critters its just a thought.
 
okie joe said:
Those are looking good. I cut mine back a lot more. Just a thought if you have any other types of plants in the house you may want to check them for those critters its just a thought.
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Thanks Okie Joe! There are a couple of mints that are overwintering in that room, and they got the treatment too. I do have a few plants in the kitchen window, but they seem to be bug free at the moment. I did throw out a basil, and a marjoram for aphid issues a couple of months ago, but now that I have found something that works, maybe I'll finally be able to keep them going through the winter next time.

I probably should have cut the overwintering peppers back more than I did, but it was my first time, and I had a hard time chopping down a perfectly good plant. I'll be more ruthless in the future.
 
I thought there was a difference between keeping the plants growing through the winter and overwintering the plants.

I thought overwintering was when you put your plants into a dormant state, and not letting them have new growth. You cut them back and keep the soil just barely wet (just enough so they do not die) and keep them in a cooler (45ish degrees F) dark place. Then you wake the plant back up in the spring. Maybe I am wrong in this and you can not do that with peppers?

I know this would not have prevented your pest problem, but it would give you less to worry about in terms of light, water, ferts, warm temperatures.
 
I did cut the plants back to around 12" - 15". Most had no foliage left on them. They were in the garage, which is dark and cool, for about a month. What you are seeing it the new growth that happened once I brought them inside and placed in a sunny window. I guess I could have left them in the garage longer, but in previous years, plants put there were forgotten about until they were not dormant, but just plain dead.

Besides, my husband uses the garage for a workshop, and I hear about it if I take up too much space in there.
 
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