overwintering Pre-Planning for Winter

[geeme]

I never really know when fall has hit here - seems like we sometimes go from summer to winter before summer even started. But it's the middle of August, so I know it will be almost no time before I start pining for Tejas again. I've looked at posts on both this site and the Chili Man site, and have the basic idea down - bring the pots into the house for the winter before the first frost/freeze, cut the stems down to maybe 1", don't over-water but also don't let dry out completely.

I'm thinking I'll put the pots on a stand in the kitchen next to a window, so I won't forget to water them - out of sight out of mind is only too true. But I'm also thinking maybe if I put them in the basement next to the laundry, it will be darker down there in general, yet they'll be visible every time I do the wash. (There are windows across the top of the basement, but they get covered with snow most of the winter.) Any input regarding the amount of light would be appreciated.

Also, regarding the "severe pruning" - how do you know it's time to do this? Do you wait until leaves start dropping, or until most have dropped? Or do you just pick a date and go for it, regardless of what's going on with the plant? It seems that waiting for signs of dormancy is ideal, but I've never done this before, so want to ask.

 

[charlesNYC]

On the first weekend of October, I'm building my little table on which my overwintered plants will face a south-west facing window.

On October 16, I will be laying a bunch of old news paper on top of my fire escape and essentially transplanting two of my three habs into 2 liter coke bottles which will be painted black. they're gonna get root pruned enough to allow them to fit into that container and the tops will be pruned right below the first splits unless I have some weird growth, then it's a case by case thing.

Whatever's edible from my annums will also be cut down that day.

That's my plan on how my season ends.
I'll deal with the spoils from winter next spring.

 

[patrick]

The couple of times I've over wintered plants I didn't do the severe prune job. I used a couple of puny 100W equivalent florescent bulbs and watered sparingly and they came through pretty well. Lost a lot of leaves but they came back just fine.

Thing is when you keep most of the foliage you usually bring in a few pests so make sure you go over the plant with a fine toothed comb--twice and check things periodically during the winter. I've had to trash plants before around January because I didn't do the bug check like I should have. Aphid city big time.

 

[napalmxv3]

My overwintered Habanero was lost to an aphid invasion, too. T'was a sad day in my household.

However my Jalapeno came out like a champ. I didn't do a severe pruning or even any form of root pruning. Being a beginner I hadn't thought of root pruning.

With the jalapeno I merely removed a few leaves one day, and a few days later, removed more. I then cut him down to where his main stem split, at about 20-22 inches. I watered him very rarely, and when the temps got above 50 degrees I would put him outside for a little bit.

Today he's filled with peppers. Harvested him a good 4 or 5 times this season and ready for another. Time to make poppers.

 

[geeme]

I've read about root pruning, but that seems like a guaranteed death to me - at least nothing I'm jumping to try my first time out, either. Napalmxv3, sorry to show some ignorance, but just what is your avatar supposed to be? Also, I noted you're a fairly close neighbor - may I ask where did you get your hab? I didn't look online for plants, and the nurseries around me had both a late and a weak selection of peppers. Could get all the bells one could possibly want, but the hot peppers were pathetically few and far between, and most of them looked half-dead, anyway. I even spent a long time looking for the tall Russian Sage - plenty of places had it, but the stems were all split up and down. It was a pretty sad plant year in my immediate area.

 

[napalmxv3]

Lol, my avatar is from a late night adult Cartoon Network show called 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force'. It's a selective interest, so don't worry about not knowing what it is.

My first Habanero was purchased from a Corso's nursery. It had a decent variety for the casual pepper grower, so it was good getting my 'wings' so to speak. Also, they're best purchased early in the season so they don't get overly cramped in their tiny pots. I've since started ordering seeds online. I've seen advertisements for a nursery about 20 miles (I believe outside of Wakeman/Vermillion, OH) away from me that apparently has a large variety of peppers, but I can neither confirm nor deny it's existence.