overwintering Overwintering, dormant plants question

[sgraham924]

Hey guys,

So I brought my plants in to try to overwinter them, but didn't do anything special and now they have a bit of a pest problem. I've been treating them with Neem + dish soap and warm water soak in their regular water that I feed them, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. These plants are still full size and have most of their leaves. It's been about 2 - 3 weeks since I began this treatment. Does it just take longer or should I wait for a warmish day and bring them outside and repot, hose down, do all the stuff? Also, some of my plants have lost all their leaves, do I just leave those alone until spring now or are they dead? This is my first try at this. Thanks in advance!

 

[PaulG]

I'm not very scientific about OWing, but I usually prune the plants
back to the main stalk and let the new growth come out of the nodes.
I'm keeping mine under the lights to continue growing rather than go
dormant this year just for grins. Trimming off all the branches has the
added benefit of getting rid of the leaf-bound pests. Still have to be
vigilant for aphids, but it's easier to control them when there isn't much
foliage. I don't repot and all that. Just too lazy I guess. Good luck getting
your OWs through the winter

 

[sgraham924]

Ok, I'll keep all that in mind. I'm doing the same as you and keeping them under lights, but I may need to just trim them like you said. Thanks.

 

[Gambleu]

When i entered my peppers indoors i soon found out they had aphids (no surprise here). I began spraying them with insecticidal soap every few days, it kept the infestation under control but never eradicated them completely. I then decided to up my game and heavyly sprayed them everyday for a full week. It's been a month and i've never seen one of those fuckers again.

Be warned though that dish soap can be much more damaging to plants than insecticidal soap. Homemade soap should be just as effective as the insecticidal one. If you decide to drench your peppers for a full week with dish soap your leaves might pay a heavy toll.

 

[PaulG]

Ok, I'll keep all that in mind. I'm doing the same as you and keeping them under lights, but I may need to just trim them like you said. Thanks.

Here's a couple of pics in bad lighting

Under lights from Nov. 11. Pequin Rojo and some volunteers
that came up in very late Summer, early Fall. The Pequin had
already started to put out new branches when I cut it back.

The two wild varieties on the left were under the table
in the garage until a couple of days ago. The one on
the right has been under the lights since Nov. 11.

Once they get going they grow quickly due to the root mass.
Often, I prune and shape to get the growth habit I want, and
limit the growth that wants to shoot way out. The new branches
usually fork sooner rather than later, in my limited experience.
The Pequin in the top pic has had a number of small branches
removed.

@Gambleu - Right on about the dish soap. and the use of the
insecticidal soap. I also have found that consecutive treatments
work very well. I hardly use my NEEM anymore.

 

[sgraham924]

Thanks guys. I'll try anything at this point. For those plants that you cut back to just the trunk, do they produce a lot more fruit earlier than a plant started from seed?

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

Hey guys,

So I brought my plants in to try to overwinter them, but didn't do anything special and now they have a bit of a pest problem. I've been treating them with Neem + dish soap and warm water soak in their regular water that I feed them, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. These plants are still full size and have most of their leaves. It's been about 2 - 3 weeks since I began this treatment. Does it just take longer or should I wait for a warmish day and bring them outside and repot, hose down, do all the stuff? Also, some of my plants have lost all their leaves, do I just leave those alone until spring now or are they dead? This is my first try at this. Thanks in advance!

Note the progression from 'Deaths door' to productive plant in below?

_