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Question regarding tonight's frost advisory

mjdiamond83

mjdiamond83

Hey All,
I'm new to the forum (and pepper growing) and had a couple questions. I live in central New York, where we have a frost advisory tonight (it's supposed to dip down to 23). I have 12 Cayenne plants and one each of Scotch Bonnet and Aji Limon. The Cayennes and Aji Limon are littered with pods that have been slowly maturing over the past few weeks. With the temperature getting as low as it is tonight, would it be best to dig the plants up and put them into containers? I have a huge bay window that gets a good amount of sunlight that I could put them next to, or would it be better not to disturb the roots and put a tarp or old bed sheets over the plants? After tonight the weather is going to be in the 70's and sunny for the better part of the next week, so if they can get through one rough night they should be alright.
Also, a lot of the Aji Limon pods, and some of the cayenne pods have dark purple spots running along about half the length of the pod on one side. Early in the season I was feeding them every 2 weeks with miracle grow and supplementing them with a little calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate. After they started forming pods, I stopped with the MG and just gave them Calcium Nitrate and Epsom Salt, so I didn't think it could be blossom end rot. We've had a ridiculously rainy season here (we set the 115 year precipitation record for the full year with 3 1/2 months to go) so maybe that could have had something to do with it?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Matt
 
23 would probably freeze them through a sheet or tarp without a heat source. Pests can be a problem when bringing plants indoors. Maybe a bucket of hot water under the tarp?

The purple is the pod's equivalent to a sun tan. Very normal.

Good luck tonight!
 
Might make it with a tarp tented over them. As long as the moisture doesnt freeze on them and hopefully the internal cell structure wont freeze - If the pods are close you can pick them and finish ripening in a bag
 
Thanks for the replies guys! They changed the forecast, it's only supposed to get down to 35 now. I think I'm still going to toss a tarp over them with some hot water buckets (thanks for the tip Mojo!) and not risk killing them off in case it does frost still. I've still probably got about 300 peppers between the plants and I'd hate to lose them.
 
they are calling for 35 tonight but that's in the hartford area. i'm in nw ct and it is always 5 or more degrees colder here. i'm going to cover my plants with comforters and sheets. good thing they changed your forecast, 23 is hard freeze and i doubt covering them would work unless you used something heavy and maybe a few layers cuz that cold will penetrate a sheet or 2.
 
Good luck with your peppers! I ended up digging up my Scotch Bonnet and brought it inside. I don't think the Chinense varieties handle the cold as well as Annuums and Baccatums do they?
 
mjdiamond83 said:
I don't think the Chinense varieties handle the cold as well as Annuums and Baccatums do they?
Click to expand...

You would be surprised how much the C. chinese can take! I have had 3 or 4 nights of 3C temps so far this year and have only brought them in when it was supposed to be a hard freeze once this season. Granted my plants are only 10 feet from my building, so the radiated heat would probably be significant, but these temps are still well below what one would think Caribbean/Gulf coast native plants could withstand.
 
Hopefully mine are that tough. Last night was down to 40 and tonight will be down to 35. I would love to pot them but I moved and no longer live in the area... I am going this weekend to pot them, I just hope they last til then as there were a couple of supers ripening and I don't want to lose the whole plant. There is calls for light frost in some areas but nothing heavy, will they be ok?
 
Temps all over the maps here and I'm hoping for the best. Nights have gone down to +2c and up to 23c during the day not to mention this weekend into 30c with the humidex. I'm hoping it will help give my loads of green pods some colour
 
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