overwintering "overwinter" where there is little chance of frost

[alphajam]

First guys, let me pull my noob card. This may be covered somewhere already. If it is, I will gladly hang my head in shame and go where directed. . .
 
Otherwise, how do growers handle climates where it may not freeze at all handle overwintering?
Do you prune plants back?
Will cutting them back and letting new growth emerge ensure a healthier plant with more pods?
Repot in new soil?
 
Anybody that has any experience, or suggestions around this topic will be GREATLY appreciated. I am sure there are things I am not even considering. . .

 

[smokemaster]

Mine I leave alone.
They are budding right now and some are setting pods.
Most are Frutescens,I have some Annuums and Baccatums out there too.
I'm hardening off 80+ plants right now that will be out all winter...
I usually get pods year round,less per plant in the winter thouigh.
Spring kicks butt.
It lets me get pods before June - Aug. heat shuts things down.
 
I usually get rid of a lot of plants in Aug. and start my Fall stuff.
 
I'll probably start a few Chinense whenever I get the shelves cleared and have everything outside in their grow out pots.

 

[SavinaRed]

Mine I leave alone.
They are budding right now and some are setting pods.
Most are Frutescens,I have some Annuums and Baccatums out there too.
I'm hardening off 80+ plants right now that will be out all winter...
I usually get pods year round,less per plant in the winter thouigh.
Spring kicks butt.
It lets me get pods before June - Aug. heat shuts things down.
 
I usually get rid of a lot of plants in Aug. and start my Fall stuff.
 
I'll probably start a few Chinense whenever I get the shelves cleared and have everything outside in their grow out pots.

In what area of California do you live ? 

So far I've left all my plants outside as the temps have stayed between 40-50* at night. Daytime temps for the next 2 weeks will be from 54-65* and lows at night from 40-50*

 

[smokemaster]

North hills,Van Nuys area.San fernando Valley.

 

[bucdout57]

Same here I'm in Los Angeles and pretty much all of my plants are what look to me to be in a dormant stage. Pods seem to dy out or fall off frequent.

 

[Dave2000]

Will cutting them back and letting new growth emerge ensure a healthier plant with more pods?

 
Absolutely not.  Cutting them back just stunts their growth.  It can be helpful if you have limited space indoors or indoor insect infestations and want the plant to go dormant, but otherwise the plant will be more productive the less you prune it.
 
However with a good 2nd season it is possible there is so much growth at the end of long limbs that they become too heavy from pods and start to bow or even break, so in those cases it can be good to trim a few inches off the ends of long limbs to encourage more growth lower down, but this has to be taken on a plant by plant (shape) basis.
 
You asked about repotting in new soil... if this plant is a good/healthy size, in a pot that isn't relatively large (10 gal. or more) then you may need to repot it in something larger so the roots have room to grow next year, or cut it back to deliberately stunt it so it doesn't outgrow the pot, and accept a lower # of pods.
 
To make up for a lower # of pods you would just grow a larger # of plants... in the end it's about available space to grow larger plants or more plants, but generally speaking fewer larger plants will be more productive than more smaller ones, especially plants that are larger because they're more than one season old so they are ready to start pods at a point in the new season when new plants are still working on increasing stem and roots.

 

[alphajam]

Thanks Dave2000. I have enough room to let them grow out. Most of my plants are in 5gal buckets roght now. I do have 2 fatalii's in 10gal pots, but I am going to replace those with something I like a little more. I will probably transplany the ones I plan on keeping into the 10 gal pots, and put the rest in the ground to see what happens.
 
Thanks all!