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overwintering Winters in a greenhouse. Thoughts, opinions.

Jeshwa

Jeshwa

Heya, I have been wondering, since I had to emergency transplant some little guys they won't have enough time to fully produce. That being said, I am in process setting up a mini greenhouse on a covered balcony, my question is hopefully simple. Would it be feasible to keep growing a full chinense and cutting back around 5 more and start small seedlings in said greenhouse well through winter? (winter here has few days freezing) I plan to have it south facing away from the north winds with stone on bottom to absorb the days sun, it's the basic 28x18x63. Good idea bad idea? I could bring them in during threats of frost if they possibly won't stay warm enough in the home.
 
if you can keep them warm(ish) they will survive. If you cant then they probably wont.
Growing indoors / in a greenhouse is feasible at any time if you can keep the thing heated.
 
If its warm (enough), they will grow and produce.
If its quite cold (say 5-10deg C) they will survive, grow slowly/not produce any real pods during the cool months. but they will live to see the summer
If it drops much below that you will have anything from dead plants to plants that drop all their leaves that may or may not bounce back. depending on just how cold it goes in there.
 
A bunch of people overwinter plants  but these plants are prone to bug infestation due to the lack of predatory insects in the winter. I think its a good idea simply for the learning experience. 
 
Excellent! Thankfully it mega rarely even dips into the 20s here.  I will just keep some stickies and canola handy for the hungry bastards.  Will def start a journal once it gets set up.
 
Scoville DeVille said:
Best answer on the internet.
 
Click to expand...
 
This^
 
If you do get below freezing and bring them in, leave a sacrificial plant outside on the balcony and see what it does. Might be surprised.
 
Good rule of thumb - Plants just want to grow.
 
So push 'em to the limit! On the other end of the spectrum, I have a Peach Habanero in my living room bay window, Ive seen the temps reach as high as 122F. Growing right along when I remember to water it. :shh:
 
Well, the seeds arrived this morning, so I may start setting things up soon. Great idea to sac to the pepper god. I currently struggled with the same temps here with underdeveloped cuttings and all watering did was near dampen, thankfully they recovered which is why this project arose in the first place + aphids & whitefly. Thanks for the feedback guys.
 
Yea i considered it as well with a standalone greenhouse but heating can be pretty expensive. You may not have many freezing days but you might have some trouble under 40-50 degs
 
Not sure how cold it gets in houston on an average night in winter but if it dips below 40-50 heat from the days sun is going to go FAST. Insulation is a huge issue.
 
Even above freezing you will need heat supplemented and most people that ive seen up north use propane to do so as electricity would be far too expensive.
 
People get pretty intense with it up north if they DONT use heating ...but that includes using things like solar pool blankets for cover and even read about people using bubble wrap as insulation lol. Thats for green house winter crop and not warmer plants like peppers..
 
IIRC the most you can get out of the best insulated greenhouse is a 15-20 deg boost to the coldest part of your nights. Would probably be more trouble than its worth for a balcony.
 
I've thought about a solar panel and small space heater for colder nights but if I recall we had maybe 4 or 5 days under 32 last year so I'm wingin it. I'll just talk dirty to them to keep them good and puckered up.
 
Yea, keep us posted. Cooling and heating require a huge amount of electricity...not to mention you have to have the battery bank to back it up when the sun is down. At that point your better off bringing the plants indoors and getting a decent light fixture for $100-125

With the money you'd spend trying to make this work on solar or even the jump in your power bill if you ran an extension cord... You could build a pretty sweet indoor setup with grow lights
 
I'm honestly most likely going to have a t5/8 set up and 4-5 starters indoors as well, just feeling a little frisky and curious this year since I finally got a hold of some super hots.
 
you live in TX...if you have south sun on your balcony just bring them in your living room on cold nights/exceptionally cold days. They may not flourish, but they'll survive and you'll have a head start next year.
 
I'm just going to severely top and root prune to overwinter in a south window, just to have a mature plant in the spring.
 
Awww yeeaaaa, indeed I do live in Texas, which is why I'm only slightly worried about the low temps, I can easily bring the more precious ones in during danger times. As always love the feedback, I have just finished setting up the little bugger with some transplants.
 
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