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tutorial The Comprehensive Guide to Over-Wintering
- Thread starter Pepper-Guru
- Start date
Got a question about overwintering.
I am in zone 7 in NJ. We had an early frost that I wasn't prepared for. I brought in a dozen small hot pepper plants that I had grown from seed sown directly into the garden in May. Those plants never grew taller than 1ft, never got peppers on them. I should have started the seeds in doors. I brought them in and the great thing is that all 12 plants are showing growth and are alive. So, that is a positive. Unfortunately, I don't know which peppers are which. The seeds are from pepperjoe.com and are from the Volcano in a box that he sells. Of course I didn't label them. I am a horrible gardener.
Now, onto that question.
I have 3 Habanero plants that I purchased from a local gardening store and 4 Bhut Julokias that I purchased from Hirts Gardens via Amazon. These plants did well so I want to overwinter them. These plants were also hit by the early frost but not as badly as the little guys above. The Habanero plants are like 2-2.5 ft tall and the Ghost peppers are like 3.5' tall. I see in all of the pictures that people post, they have pruned the plants down really hard. Is that what I should do here? I feel weird cutting back so much of the plant. I am afraid to prune so much that the shock will kill the plant.
Am I just being a wimp? Should I prune these plants down under one foot?
Thanks for you assistance and recommendations.
I am in zone 7 in NJ. We had an early frost that I wasn't prepared for. I brought in a dozen small hot pepper plants that I had grown from seed sown directly into the garden in May. Those plants never grew taller than 1ft, never got peppers on them. I should have started the seeds in doors. I brought them in and the great thing is that all 12 plants are showing growth and are alive. So, that is a positive. Unfortunately, I don't know which peppers are which. The seeds are from pepperjoe.com and are from the Volcano in a box that he sells. Of course I didn't label them. I am a horrible gardener.
Now, onto that question.
I have 3 Habanero plants that I purchased from a local gardening store and 4 Bhut Julokias that I purchased from Hirts Gardens via Amazon. These plants did well so I want to overwinter them. These plants were also hit by the early frost but not as badly as the little guys above. The Habanero plants are like 2-2.5 ft tall and the Ghost peppers are like 3.5' tall. I see in all of the pictures that people post, they have pruned the plants down really hard. Is that what I should do here? I feel weird cutting back so much of the plant. I am afraid to prune so much that the shock will kill the plant.
Am I just being a wimp? Should I prune these plants down under one foot?
Thanks for you assistance and recommendations.
If you read back to Guru's first post, he pruned the canopy back so it was the same size as the root ball when he potted up each plant. Plants lose most of their water through their leaves... that's why deciduous trees drop their leaves in the fall. There won't be any liquid water available to the plants since it'll all be locked up in snow and ice until the spring thaw. Pruning does that too... and it removes the primary nodes where flowering happens, so the plant won't be getting conflicting messages and continue to put energy into growing pods instead of going to sleep. Just be sure to leave at least 3-4 nodes on each branch since the new leaves will grow out from there.bpiela said:
Awesome. Thanks. Will have to clear some space in the spare room tonight. Luckily it's only 2 nights then supposed to warm up a bit again so don't have to worry about lights just yet.Rancor said:
Sounds like you have it under control... we're using the same method... I have mine in an unlighted basement too, but I have a couple of droplights on a timer with 23 watt, 5000k CFL bulbs. You might want to check out Omri's "Light 101" thread in the Grow Tech forum... http://thehotpepper.com/topic/25876-article-light-101/ as additional reading.bpiela said:
Here are some shots of my OW plants... I had no leaves showing on 3 of them when I put them downstairs 3 weeks ago... so what you see is all new growth, with the exception of the Manzano, which is a very slow-growing chile anyway.
Question: Should I pick off buds??
My OW's are doing great. In fact, they are doing so great they are covered in buds every few days! I want my plants to get as big as possible next year, should I pick off the buds and hope for more bushy growth? Or let them do their thing? They are in front of a window, no other lighting.
My OW's are doing great. In fact, they are doing so great they are covered in buds every few days! I want my plants to get as big as possible next year, should I pick off the buds and hope for more bushy growth? Or let them do their thing? They are in front of a window, no other lighting.
I am going to try to show what I have done.
The white top is my daughters food service canopy (Kettle corn) and is my home made green house. On the right is my four boys whose lives I am trying to save.
Half way through the set up.
Here they are all settled in. This canopy has screening on the top half of the sides so I have added 3.5 mil plastic on three sides. The fourth side will be installed on the day it is going to get really cold.
I moved my coffee pots out to the green house. I drink most of my coffee out here anyway. The question is, How cold can I let it get in there and for how long before my boys die? How much must I cut them back?
Please, Look at these leaves. Am I not watering them enough? Maybe more food?
Here is a picture of the forth side. It only went down to about 32 last night.I don't know what to look for (for damage) but they look ok this afternoon.
Thank you all for the information I have found around the site.
The white top is my daughters food service canopy (Kettle corn) and is my home made green house. On the right is my four boys whose lives I am trying to save.
Half way through the set up.
Here they are all settled in. This canopy has screening on the top half of the sides so I have added 3.5 mil plastic on three sides. The fourth side will be installed on the day it is going to get really cold.
I moved my coffee pots out to the green house. I drink most of my coffee out here anyway. The question is, How cold can I let it get in there and for how long before my boys die? How much must I cut them back?
Please, Look at these leaves. Am I not watering them enough? Maybe more food?
Here is a picture of the forth side. It only went down to about 32 last night.I don't know what to look for (for damage) but they look ok this afternoon.
Thank you all for the information I have found around the site.
AldenMiller said:
It is only too late if the plant itself freezes, or if in a pot and you stop watering it for a long time so it dies of dehydration. Cutting them back is up to you, but they are definitely still savable if the upper branches have a green color still instead of brown, unless of course they were killed by freezing just a few days earlier and haven't had enough time to turn brown yet.
MeatHead1313 said:
Same answer as above. Mid 30's will not kill them, but it will make them start to go dormant and they'll be dropping their leaves soon. If you want to keep leaves all winter then bring them in, and go ahead and leave them in since it's only going to get colder... though this is two months later so I suspect you've already worked it out.
Those are looking quite happy. What do you have attached to the water bottle caps for slow watering? That looks like something I need to do in the future.stickman said:Sounds like you have it under control... we're using the same method... I have mine in an unlighted basement too, but I have a couple of droplights on a timer with 23 watt, 5000k CFL bulbs. You might want to check out Omri's "Light 101" thread in the Grow Tech forum... http://thehotpepper.com/topic/25876-article-light-101/ as additional reading.
Here are some shots of my OW plants... I had no leaves showing on 3 of them when I put them downstairs 3 weeks ago... so what you see is all new growth, with the exception of the Manzano, which is a very slow-growing chile anyway.
Capsicum Select said:
They're called "Plant Nannies"
You set the unglazed ceramic spike almost flush in the soil and screw the green plastic "nipple" onto the top of a plastic soda bottle after filling it with water. Put your finger over the round hole when getting it into position and drop the nipple into the ceramic spike. The water will gradually perk through into the soil at root level.
New gadget, I like it. How often do you fill the bottles and do you water with any other method while using them?
AldenMiller said:
It seemed to work pretty well this winter.. I only used water though... I didn't want the pores in the terra cotta to get plugged with organics. If I wanted to add anything else, I watered it in from the top. As for how often I watered... I just hefted the pot. If it felt too light, I filled the bottles. In the end, I lost half of my OW plants, but I think it was because of the temperatures down in my cellar. It was just too much cold for the Yellow 7 and ButchT to take for months on end, and they cashed in their chips. The Manzano didn't mind the temperatures, and the Douglah was in the same Airpot I kept it in all summer, so it was disturbed less than the others. It's 55 degrees and windy outside, but I have the survivors out in the sun after giving them a good drink of water with some fish emulsion, sugar beet molasses and RapidStart nutes. The Manzano has started putting out leaves... the Douglah hasn't yet, but the stems are very green.
Manzano
Douglah
Two 23 watt CFL bulbs seemed to be enough light to keep the plants alive through the winter if they were warm enough, so I'd call that question answered. Cheers all!
Pepper-Guru
Extreme Member
Its alive! You'll want to feed the soil, bring its ph down a bit to clear up that chlorosisstickman said:
It seemed to work pretty well this winter.. I only used water though... I didn't want the pores in the terra cotta to get plugged with organics. If I wanted to add anything else, I watered it in from the top. As for how often I watered... I just hefted the pot. If it felt too light, I filled the bottles. In the end, I lost half of my OW plants, but I think it was because of the temperatures down in my cellar. It was just too much cold for the Yellow 7 and ButchT to take for months on end, and they cashed in their chips. The Manzano didn't mind the temperatures, and the Douglah was in the same Airpot I kept it in all summer, so it was disturbed less than the others. It's 55 degrees and windy outside, but I have the survivors out in the sun after giving them a good drink of water with some fish emulsion, sugar beet molasses and RapidStart nutes. The Manzano has started putting out leaves... the Douglah hasn't yet, but the stems are very green.
Manzano
Douglah
Two 23 watt CFL bulbs seemed to be enough light to keep the plants alive through the winter if they were warm enough, so I'd call that question answered. Cheers all!
but talk about a jump start on the season!
How much sooner can I expect to harvest peppers from my over wintered plants vs the standard first year younglings typically planted in mid June here. ? (I'm in zone 6)
The plants have been inside and I now have them "outside" in a green house and are loaded with buds and flowers which I keep picking off.
I still have to move to larger pots.
The plants have been inside and I now have them "outside" in a green house and are loaded with buds and flowers which I keep picking off.
I still have to move to larger pots.
Pepper-Guru
Extreme Member
Much sooner, and in much more abundance. With my ow's I notice buds pretty much right away so long as my soil and weather is right.
Don't pick your buds and flowers. That's the whole point. Pepper plants produce fruit and vegetative growth simultaneously. Picking your flowers will not produce a bigger plant and only diminishes your final yield, really.
Don't pick your buds and flowers. That's the whole point. Pepper plants produce fruit and vegetative growth simultaneously. Picking your flowers will not produce a bigger plant and only diminishes your final yield, really.
I have a few plants I'm about to fully overwinter to hopefully save my five favourite plants for my second ever grow season in September. My red savina is just ripening off the last of the late autumn pods, but has caught a black fungus on the stem and some of the leaves.
I was planning on just letting the last of the pods ripen / fall off, then cut it right back and give everything in the greenhouse a copper spray.
My question is, should I spray with copper before cutting back or vice versa? Or should I let the plan die and start fresh next year?
Current day temps are about 65-70 and will get down to about 55 at night... these temps will likely stay like that for another month or two before our lowest temps hit (40-55 day night cycles).
Cheers guys.
I was planning on just letting the last of the pods ripen / fall off, then cut it right back and give everything in the greenhouse a copper spray.
My question is, should I spray with copper before cutting back or vice versa? Or should I let the plan die and start fresh next year?
Current day temps are about 65-70 and will get down to about 55 at night... these temps will likely stay like that for another month or two before our lowest temps hit (40-55 day night cycles).
Cheers guys.
I'm not sure about the copper. What I did was spray with NEEM to minimize aphids, cut the plants back , hardly watered, brought them inside , kept them by the widows all winter with indoor temps upper 60's F
The plants kept leaves all winter and in March some new growth started happening so I gave them a light feeding and started watering a bit more.
Now with the temps in the 70's and an occasional 80 F day the plants are outside and look amazing!
Certainly made me a believer in over wintering! With your temps downunder, sounds like you'll be harvesting fruit off your favorite five next season for sure!
Below are pics from April. I'll take soe new ones to show what they look like now.
The plants kept leaves all winter and in March some new growth started happening so I gave them a light feeding and started watering a bit more.
Now with the temps in the 70's and an occasional 80 F day the plants are outside and look amazing!
Certainly made me a believer in over wintering! With your temps downunder, sounds like you'll be harvesting fruit off your favorite five next season for sure!
Below are pics from April. I'll take soe new ones to show what they look like now.
Copper was one of the first effective treatments against fungal/mold infections on grapes. A farmer was tired of passers-by eating his grapes, so sprayed his vines with (I think) cuprous sulfate (to make them bitter). When an outbreak hit that year, his vines looked markedly better than his neighbors'.