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overwintering overwintering help needed

peter pepper

peter pepper

here is my problem and i'm thinking someone will have an idea that will help. i want to overwinter a couple of my peppers but don't know what to do. I don't have a basement (crawl space) to where I can put them. My house only has 3 bedrooms and with 2 kids you do the math - no spare room. I thought about just bringing a couple into my living room or kitchen, but I don't know how i would keep the kids out or stop them from digging up the dirt (my son is 3 daughter is 1). my garage is detached from the house, uninsulated and not heated. I do have some nice big florescent lights in the garage which i could turn on, but i'm afraid if it would get to cold???

what do you guys think? house - warmer, but kids. garage - cold and no kids. any idea, thoughts, suggestions.

thanks
-PP


(maybe i could move the kids / wife to the in-laws for the winter....hummmm that might work. :lol:)
 
Surely you can teach the kids not to dig up the plants? I know for a fact that some families have potted plants and kids at the same time! :lol:

But seriusly - what if they do damage the plants? The kids won't die and if the plants do does it really matter?
 
A heated garage in NW Indiana?????

I think not. Not for a few pepper plants anyways.

Can't part of the basement be devoted to 5 or 6 plants?

Do you sprout seeds?

I have my overwintered beauties right in with the seeds I sprout from November on.
 
I don't have much for space either. I don't have kids so my only problem is putting them in a place that's out of the way. My only real option is in a corner behind chairs in the living room. Maybe you could do something like that. You may be able to partition off a corner some other way then you won't have to worry about the kids getting into them. You'll only have to worry about the wife complaining about it being ugly :)
 
Blister said:
You'll only have to worry about the wife complaining about it being ugly :)
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Pepper plants ugly? No way. :lol:

She might complain about the attention being diverted to the plants after they move in.
 
MrArboc said:
But seriusly - what if they do damage the plants? The kids won't die and if the plants do does it really matter?
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very true. guess if they do dig them up it might be a bit of a dirt mess, but otherwise i can just start from seed again.

Blister said:
I don't have much for space either. I don't have kids so my only problem is putting them in a place that's out of the way. My only real option is in a corner behind chairs in the living room. Maybe you could do something like that. You may be able to partition off a corner some other way then you won't have to worry about the kids getting into them. You'll only have to worry about the wife complaining about it being ugly :)
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i think this is what i will being leaning towards doing. the problem is your sentence i bolded. don't know what the wife will say about this.
 
peter pepper said:
i think this is what i will being leaning towards doing. the problem is your sentence i bolded. don't know what the wife will say about this.
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Well, it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission ;). Just don't come to me when she rips a strip out of you because if that happens, I don't know you and we never met!
 
So what minimum temp does an overwintered plant need to survive?

Up here in New England my basement gets pretty cold since its not heated. Can the plants be stored down there?
 
Silver_Surfer said:
He doesn't have a basement. See first post. :P
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Doh! I saw "I have a basement with a crawlspace".

JJBagoose said:
So what minimum temp does an overwintered plant need to survive?

Up here in New England my basement gets pretty cold since its not heated. Can the plants be stored down there?
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As long as it doesn't freeze!

They will be happier over 55F, but they will live a few months lower than that.
 
JJBagoose said:
So what minimum temp does an overwintered plant need to survive?

Up here in New England my basement gets pretty cold since its not heated. Can the plants be stored down there?
Click to expand...

Most of mine survived an unheated basement that dipped into the 40s routinely. But they did have a good amount of natural light. I think the plants can survive the cold, but not overwatering, or no water, or aphids. Overwatering is a big problem because they don't transpire much in the cold. I killed some of mine with root rot.
 
Where I live in Spain it has not seen below zero since the last ice age. The plants I have are strong and will definatly survive outside over winter. Should I try to cut them back or just leave them?,... which will be best for the plants for next year? Saw somewhere that my scotch bonnet (the only hot one I have) will keep producing all year in this climate. Ideas please, thanks.
 
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