• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

overwintering Winterizing

crazy8

crazy8

Well its August and fall/winter are around the corner. I have been thinking of bringing in maybe 6-8 plants to be winterized. Now I MIGHT keep them producing, I havent decided yet but I do have a few questions.
1) I have a 200w light w/o ballast but if I did get one this light would be JUST enough (35w/plant) for 6 plants. Would it be better if I had a 400w or higher light/ballast especially if I was going to keep them producing over winter?

2) If I did get a 400w light/ballast how many plants could I use with that and how much space should the light (cast) use?

3) If I decided to do it a different way, would I be OK with bringing in 4-6 plants and putting them in pots, cutting them back and just letting them sit on the floor in a bay window all winter?
 
Not sure about wintering, but if you plan on keeping more than 1 plant fruiting all year I think your going to need at least a 400 watt setup. I don't think 400 is mandatory as some use shop lights and floros and will get results, but if your going to do it I just say do it right. With my 400 I can only fit 2 plants after starting with 6. They are both TS and have grown to around 3' tall and 3' wide which forced the others plants outside. Although I could squeeze 4 under the lights I noticed the ones one the outside of the light where not really doing as well because they where not getting direct focused light. I counted 20 flowers / pods on the ones on the edge of the 400 that didn't get direct light and over 100 on the plants directly under the light of the same variety and size. However my 1000 watt setup can easily fit 6 plants. Again I could probably squeeze 8, but optimal light only 6 large plants.

Here are a couple of charts that show how much area you can expect to cover on light size and how many lumens the plant should be getting for optimal growth.

table.jpg


table2.jpg
 
I wonder about the second chart and why it is included here.

Chiles are day-neutral and photoperiod has no effect on fruiting/flowering.
 
Thats good info. So now what about my other question? Would my plants be ok (by ok I mean stay alive) if I just cut them back and place them on the floor of my bay window all winter?
 
Staying alive will be the key.

I have had plants fruit over the winter in pitiful amounts that just stress the plant.

Plants have died because they were producing, that would have otherwise survived until spring and exploded with pods.

My advice is to cut back, give minimal light (a couple of $20 shoplights and grow bulbs), pinch flowers, and hang on until spring.

Bugs seem to like fruiting plants inside. Could be just me, but that is how it seemed.
 
Well I do still have my 2-dual bulb 35w fluorescent grow lights hanging. So with what your saying I should just place the plants under those? Would red spectrum or blue spectrum be better? Or maybe a little of each? By minimal light you think maybe only 6-8 hours?
 
By minimal, I meant, not metal halide or sodium or whatever. Just flourescents. Balanced spectrum, 16 hours a day.

keep them watered, once a month put them in the sink or shower and soak them good.

Watch for bugs, pinch flowers.

When done right, the plant will be bursting by spring and will produce enough to make the podless winter well worth it.
 
Im taking a shot in the dark here since some light terms are still new to me, by balanced spectrum does that mean I should do equal parts red and blue? So water regularly but also give them a thorough soak? Should I allow growth of new branches or will that not happen since I will be pinching?
 
Last winter was my first attempt at over wintering plants and the plants did fine. I didn't cut them back at all. Four plants total with 18" "grow" lights I picked up at Walmart. One on each side and one directly over the top, all three about 18" away for the nearest plant.

I watered them lightly every 5-7 days and gave them a good soaking once a month or so. I used a basic fertilizer, 10-10-10 once a month and at half strength.

Had an aphids infestation that I had to use Safer Soap on. Never got rid of all of them but kept the numbers down and manageable.

Best of luck to you crazy8.
 
I plan on overwintering a few plants this year as well. This is great info and a thread I'm going to keep an eye on.
 
willard3 said:
I wonder about the second chart and why it is included here.

Chiles are day-neutral and photoperiod has no effect on fruiting/flowering.
Click to expand...

That was the only chart I was able to find that had lumen suggestions for the plant based on the phase of growth it was in.
 
Hmmmmm so maybe with my 2- dual bulb 48" lamps, perhaps I could bring in about 6-8 plants then to be winterized. So does it matter in the end if you cut back or not as far as winterizing goes? The one thing I think I would like to do is once spring nears, give the plants a nitrogen rich fert so that new branches grow and will have even higher yielding plants once I throw them outside.
 
Cutting back vegetatively is neceassary.

The old foliage will suck life out of the plant and then die and fall off anyways.

Cut the thing back to NO leaves.

Some cut back roots too, I save all of the roots I possibly can.
 
Well considering they haven't been potted yet and are all kinda packed in a little, I may end up cutting some root anyway. I think I may consider potting soon to. I heard that if you cut the root ball a little when you transplant into a pot, that it can be enough for the plant to start the pods to ripen. I have a TON of Jalapenos that I need to ripen up soon before it gets colder in October. I also have some Joes Long Cayennes, peter peppers, and Black Pearls I am waiting on. But the big thing is that I have some hotter plants that have just started to flower and I am afraid I wont get anything from them this year but if I winterized them, then they would be ready to rock right off the bat come spring.
 
Overwintering is a gamble too.

Most plants will take off like a rocket.

Others, (my hot cherry for example) will look like they are about to produce at the end of the season, overwinter well, and proceed to produce 3 pods all season!

My orange hab did the tha year before.

I just overwinter my prize plants that did well that season.

This year will be:

7 pot
Big Sun SB
aji lemon
purira
 
Well if I can fit 8 I am going to do...
1-black pearl
1-joes long cayenne
2-jalapenos
2-??Habs?? (they havent fruited and my dad planted them without me knowing where he put what so im lost now.
2-??some other real hot one I have growing and dont know what it is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top