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overwintering synclinorium's Overwintering adventures

So, it's getting to be that time of year when frosts are becoming more likely and frequent. Deciding I didn't want to bother trying to prolong the season, as most of my plants have slowed down pod production anyway due to neglect and other issues, I've started cutting down my plants to a manageable size and moving them into small containers after a heavy trim and cleaning.

I know winging it is a bad idea when it comes to this sort of thing, but that's how it's going down, as I'm broke right now and I'm working with what I have. I decided to remove all existing vegetation to minimize the chance of introducing pests inside, and gave the plants a heavy top and root trim, removing as much existing material as possible, finally rinsing off with the hose before repotting. I've moved them under my ailing T5 fixture which needs a new bulb, but should be sufficient for them to adjust until I can move them to under my larger T5HO fixture with 4 bulbs. I doubt it's enough light for them to thrive, but I'm not looking for pod production, just... not dying would be awesome. Not deliberately looking at bonchi, but, I'll probably experiment with that too, and the rest will be kept in a dwarfed state regardless.

Fortunately I also have a south-facing window at the office. It's small, but my Rocotos seemed to do just fine in the shade this year, so I might move a couple there and should suit their needs just fine.

These are the plants I have gotten to for now: still just as many outside, with pods on them, I'm hoping a few will ripen in the next few days. Many of the ones inside already have new buds forming, which is a good sign.

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I also have some citrus trees and Dragon fruit which need to be moved inside, and the lighting situation for them will be awkward at best... it's in the works.
 
Hey Synclinorium,

You're cut backs look fine,
The local grow shop by me had some thai plants that looked similar, I asked my friend Brian what he did with them, not realizing he had moved them from the T5's under different lighting , I couldn't believe the amount of foliage after only 3 wks.
You'll be on your way soon....
And by the way you took the right method in prep work
Good luck

Greg
 
This is my first shot at overwintering. I cut mine way back like yours. My jonah plant has new foliage and a couple buds just from a south facing room. I am not really looking for growth either. Keeping them alive in my first attempt at this would be rewarding. I have started a couple bonchis also. Not as fancy as some of the others I have seen. Good luck synclinorium!
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You'll want a "bit" of growth even to ensure enough photosynthesis (it helps to keep the capillaries in the branches viable). If you really want em to "chill" then only allow a leaf or two to grow. Then, if you're still afraid of aphids you can watch the two leaves you allowed to remain very closely. Pinch em off with your fingers if they show up at this point...lol
 
I've been warning my office-mates that I was going to turn the place into a greenhouse, so I finally started moving a few plants over... here's a crappy webcam photo of a Rocoto, Aji Amarillo, Datil, and Tabasco starting to leaf out again next to my very convenient south-facing window. The rest are at home under my 4-foot T5 fixture, which is working out quite well inside my now Mylar-lined closet.

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I also finally removed my last two Rocotos from the ground and stuck them into ~2-gallon pots. They got to be just over eight feet tall at the time I dug them up, with the longest stem reaching 10 feet in length. Unfortunately none of the peppers on them ripened, but I stuck them in a paper bag. There were about two dozen good-sized peppers between them. I pruned them back to the strongest stems and gave them a bit more to work with than the others since I kept more of the root systems intact.
 
Random question: are green Rocotos any good? Just wondering if the ones I pulled off the plants will eventually ripen, or if I can use them in their current state...
 
Happy to report that all of my peppers are alive and well, no sign of pests yet aside from a few aphids that managed to make it inside on my lemon tree... squished the little buggers, and now I'm keeping a vigilant watch.

The plants are growing a lot faster than I was expecting, I'll probably prune them in the next couple weeks... I'm tempted to start cuttings, but knowing me I'll have hundreds of plants going by the time I need to plant next spring- definitely not something I have the space for.
 
Random question: are green Rocotos any good?


random answer: only one way to find out.

are they? :dance:

Haha, good point. I'll try one later...

In other news: I was talking facetiously with our office secretary about how I needed more garden space for next year, and she mentioned that she has been meaning to start a garden forever (and she has a huge backyard). She told me that since they're usually gone during the summer, I could use some of her space provided I leave it in a usable state for next year, and toss any extras her way come fall. Sounds good to me!

I was considering supplementing my income by getting a booth at the farmer's market next summer. I guess this means I should start looking into heavy producers that aren't too terribly exotic... or spicy (I doubt this area has enough chile heads for a steady cash flow)... Probably the best producers of what I've grown this year have been the Datils and White Habaneros (soooo many white Habs...). Any other suggestions, perhaps on the slightly less hot side of things? I loved the Aji Amarillos, but the damn baccatums take so long to mature...
 
Maybe you could substitute Aji Amarillo with Criolla Sella, otherwise I would recommend some Aji Dulce, and some common stuff (but choose good varieties) like Jalapenos, Serranos, New Mexican, and cayenne types. Maybe throw in some Trinidad Scorpions and Bhut Jolokias for any curious people who may have heard about them on TV or in the news.
 
...I decided to remove all existing vegetation to minimize the chance of introducing pests inside, and gave the plants a heavy top and root trim, removing as much existing material as possible, finally rinsing off with the hose before repotting....
+1. I'm using mostly your approach. I'm keeping the vegetation down right now with just enough light to keep them spitting out a few small leaves. I hope its enough when I try to revive them in the Spring.
 
+1. I'm using mostly your approach. I'm keeping the vegetation down right now with just enough light to keep them spitting out a few small leaves. I hope its enough when I try to revive them in the Spring.

Siliman,

Spring might be alittle late to get a jump on things. How about letting your plants run with the new shoots after the 1st of the year. You can always prune back the lush growth. The way I look at it is one good size O.W. generally takes up the space of 4 to 6 starter plants. I like to have both, sometimes lack of space inhibits it. My plants have been semi dormant. But as of the 1st of Dec. I'll start the lights and a feeding program. Right now I have about 20 or so and I know I'll probably toss the least robust into the compost pile at some point.
Do you start your indoor seeds in the winter or spring..?

Greg
 
Spring might be alittle late to get a jump on things. How about letting your plants run with the new shoots after the 1st of the year. You can always prune back the lush growth. The way I look at it is one good size O.W. generally takes up the space of 4 to 6 starter plants. I like to have both, sometimes lack of space inhibits it. My plants have been semi dormant. But as of the 1st of Dec. I'll start the lights and a feeding program. Right now I have about 20 or so and I know I'll probably toss the least robust into the compost pile at some point.
Do you start your indoor seeds in the winter or spring..?
You're probably right, maybe I'll crank up a bank of lights with mylar like Sync did, get them going around Jan 1. I just don't want to get too much foliage underway too soon. I'll be starting seeds in late January, but they won't be sharing lights or the same room with the O.W. plants. Call me crazy, but last year's O.W. fungus gnats, aphids and some token spider mites took a lot of work to control. I'm looking with interest at the Bonide bug killa product endorsed by Pepper Guru and Big Cedar--that could be a game changer.

Anyway, thanks for the idea PIC 1

... :cool:
 
Yeah, my plants are going a bit nuts... probably should have held off on putting them under the strong lights. I won't say I don't have any aphids or fungus gnats, but for the moment I have things under control, just making inspecting the plants a daily ritual... if necessary I have some insecticidal soap.

Anyway, here's a few of the plants I have at home. I'll probably consolidate eventually...

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Wow, those are doing well! With the precautions you took cleaning at the beginning you should be in great shape. I took same approach as you outlined this year and no major bug problem thus far. Now if I can just keep them alive with the minimal light.... :cool:
 
Haha, yeah I was worried that the light I had wouldn't be enough to keep my plants going, but they are growing much faster than the plants I have at the office next to the south facing windows, so I'm no longer concerned... it'd be nice if I could at least get the White Habs to produce through winter, but we'll see. I might need to move them closer to the lights for that.

I really just want to try keeping my two largest Rocotos alive. I'm curious to see how big they'll get next year...
 
So far so good. Still finding a few stray aphids here and there, but they aren't out of hand yet. Nothing a quick squish can't fix, anyway. This is a mix of peppers and other random things I have...

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I've been pinching the new growth as it gets out of hand... though I'll probably just let my White Habs go for now, given how compact they are anyway:

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My Mini minis are at the office for the time being until I figure out what to do with them. They're starting to flower... desperately need a potting-up, but they'll just need to make do.

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My other Rocoto plant, also at the office in a spare room that is currently full of clutter, but it has south facing windows... it yet lives!

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Trying to decide what to do for my grow list for next year. I really want to restrict myself as I have many more varieties than are listed here, but most are wilds and other just-for-fun peppers.

So, right now these are my plans:

-Chocolate Bhut. Sort of an impulse decision.
-Yellow 7 Pot "Brain Strain" from Judy... not sure what to expect from this.
-Trinidad Scorpion BT... just because.

-Fatalii/Datil... they served a similar function last year, and while I liked the Fatalii heat and flavor, the Datils were one of my heaviest producers so I might just stick to them.
-White Hab, again one of my heaviest producers in spite of its diminutive size.
-Aji Amarillo, mainly because my roommate makes awesome Peruvian food
-Red Rocoto. Mainly because I have four plants being overwintered and I'm curious to see how big they'll get.
-Assam (and/or Prik Chi Faa). I don't know much about these, but they were a free sample so I might give them a shot.

Since I'm still relatively new to pepper varieties, any suggestions to round this off and maybe get some different colors/flavors going for me? I'm trying to avoid the baccatums, as they were the last to ripen for me last year and I don't know what my plans are after summer, so my season might be cut short. At least I know my housemate will get some use out of the Amarillos if I leave them with her.
 
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