Trimming Back Peppers?

O

obchili

Hi there again.  It is now regularly cool here in Manitoba, zone 3, and I am officially worried a bit.  My peppers are mainly in the raised bed pictured below.  Out of all my hot peppers, only 2 pods are starting to change color.  I do not have the room to overwinter these.  Today we built a top for the raised bed and used clear wavy type plastic for the top.  This was mainly to stop the frost from falling on my plants, as well as so I would not have to cover and uncover daily.  So, I was wondering if it would be alright to do a lot of trimming of my plants, as the tops of my plants do not have any pods on them, only a bunch of flowers trying to open and start pods (as in the picture).  I was thinking if I pruned the tops to rid them of the flowers, it would help in my other pods ripening.  The biggest majority of pods are on the lowermost foot of the plants.  Thank you.
 
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There is not much you can do to speed up the natural process of ripening pepper pods. Trimming back as you described is a way to make the plant more rapidly produce a pod by not sending valuable nutrients to every pollinated flower or developing pod  on the plant.
You are facing the dilemma that everyone who grows hot peppers and lives north of the Mason Dixon faces at years end, especially those who cant get the plants started in Jan,Feb or Mar.
 
Your one choice may be to hold out till the last minute and pull all the pods and finish ripening on the counter.
 
Holding out till last minute is definitely on my menu.  So, then the only benefit behind trimming the plants is to help the current pods grow quicker, and in that case, I do not believe that it would signifiganetly help me out much then.  I will just have to play the waiting game.  I do plan on starting in late November this year.  I had a February start this year, and a LATE hardening off, so will hope next year is better.  Thank you.
 
I am in somewhat the same boat with a later start than I had wanted, and am waiting on several plants to catch up. Our weather has also been dismal up to now and is looking to get even worse next week. Good luck
 
Shocking the plants late in the season won't help.
 
You have a chance if you have a few feet by a sunny window.
 
When the first cold frost is imminent, you can trim them way back leaving only the podded branches, trim the roots way back till they can fit in a 2.5 gallon bucket or similar, water the snot out of them and let drain well outside, throw a couple garbage bags on the floor in front of the window and bring them in------------------maybe they will live long enough to finish off.
 
This is not quite "overwintering", but just extending the growing season a few weeks.
 
Peppers are fairly hardy, and mine start in dirt, get rinsed off and go to hydro over the winter inside, then planted in the garden in the next spring.
 
Yes, that first damn frost is imminent, and I cannot, and I mean cannot bring these inside.  The better half said so.  As well, our four legged child would be all over, in and around these.  I would have to say that they would have a better chance at survival outside over inside with the feline.  I will just sit back and monitor what is going on.  I do contribute this to a later start than expected and a very late plant-out, due to weather and my first year growing.  Thank you.
 
Hey, a fellow Manitoban.  Yeah, frost is happening tonight.  Anything left outside will have a tough time of it.
 
Has the woman banned anything outside from coming inside at all, or just the space necessary to overwinter the plants?  You might have some better luck with things if instead of plucking all the pods early you cut the branches, bring them all inside, and have them all sitting in a single bucket of water.  Purely theory of course, but most of those pods look like they'll rot on the counter rather than ripen.
 
I know this is prob to late but if you had plastic/tarp to wrap around them, place non LED Christmas lights inside if you have them and that might keep them warm enough to last thru ripening. If you water enough and it's warm enough during the day you shouldn't have to open and close it daily, just occasionally to check peppers.
 
I'm most likely late with this but you have the frame already. Cover it with 6 mil plastic from lowes. The run a space heater. It will keep the area warm. You could actually get vent openers that will automatically open the make shift greenhouse. If you wanted to go that far. But in a pinch you could just cover and heat with space heater. Plastic is cheap from Lowes. 25' x 10' is $25. Space heater will run you about $17-20. Milk house heaters are what I use in my GH.
 
Yes, she pretty much banned all of them from coming inside, after she accidently ate a hot one.... :rolleyes:   As of now, I trimmed a few of the larger branches with no pods on them, removed all plants without pods.  Also, I took a couple of sheets and stapled them to the frame tonight.  All got covered except my Trinidad perfume which I covered with towels.  The ones in pots on the deck are now in the garage.  I did however leave 1 Moruga Scorpion outside to see if it has any effect on it, as it had no buds or pods. 
 
And also thank you for all the help and advice it was greatly appreciated.  I will invest in more equipment next year, as it is getting late in season and I have a sled that needs a lot of work done on it and then assembled before the snow flies and I hear about it some more as to why the missus has to park outside.
 
At this point you should not trim back the plant, leaving all leaves on it so the maximum amount of energy for growing existing pods is generated, but also picking off all new blooms and tiny pods since they won't make it to ripe by the end of the season, will only divert energy away from other larger pods which have a chance.  This combination of keeping leaves and losing tiny pods, buds, and blooms will result in the highest yield (in size/weight) making it to ripeness.
 
That is, if you want to put the work into it.  It won't speed up ripening of existing pods, rather result in the remaining pods that would ripen anyway, getting larger before they do.  However, ideally this would have been done at least 4 weeks before you expect to have to pull the plants, especially in the case of superhots and other chinense since they take longer to ripen, so they have some time at full size sitting on the plant before they have to be brought inside to finish up ripening.
 
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