Multi Year Peppers

H_TX_2 3/3/2013, 6:58 pm

My pepper plants made it through a Houston "winter" I have a couple bell pepper plants, jalapeno plants and a banana pepper plant. Will these produce again this year or should I replace them with new plants?

**camprn** 3/3/2013, 7:03 pm

H_TX_2 wrote:My pepper plants made it through a Houston "winter" I have a couple bell pepper plants, jalapeno plants and a banana pepper plant. Will these produce again this year or should I replace them with new plants?

That's wonderful!
I think they will produce again. I have had a serrano for 3 years and each year it outs out fruit. Prune them back to put out new vigorous growth. They will probably need a topdressing of compost.

CapeCoddess 3/3/2013, 7:20 pm

That's incredible. I am VERY interested in trying indoor peppers. Did you folks transplant those peppers from the SFG into pots at seasons end to bring indoors? Or were they always grown in the pot?

CC

cheyannarach 3/3/2013, 7:21 pm

That's awesome!!

Camp, how does your pepper do inside during the winter?

H_TX_2 3/3/2013, 7:56 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:That's incredible. I am VERY interested in trying indoor peppers. Did you folks transplant those peppers from the SFG into pots at seasons end to bring indoors? Or were they always grown in the pot?

CC

My peppers stayed outside in the SFG all winter and I basically neglected them. I have a tomato plant in a pot beside the garden that I did the same thing with. I am thinking about putting the tomato into my SFG.

**camprn** 3/3/2013, 8:36 pm

cheyannarach wrote:That's awesome!!

Camp, how does your pepper do inside during the winter?

I prune it before bringing it inside for the winter. Last year it bloomed around this time and had little peppers when I put it outside. This year it had been more cloudy and it's growing slower. I will feed it next week and it will improve.

H_TX_2 3/21/2013, 10:22 am

My pepper plants were planted into a square last year and survived through the winter; maybe nonsummer is a better word since we don't really have a winter. My banana pepper plant doesn't have any leaves left but it does have one small pepper (deformed and discolored) on it and I can tell it is still alive. Should I trim this back and hope it will produce some leaves or is it gone? My bell peppers don't look too good either they have lots of branched but not a lot of leaves, yet they do have some blossoms and small fruit on them. I am planning on leaving these in but wondering what to do to best help them produce a crop this year.

**walshevak** 3/21/2013, 7:42 pm

I think a good feeding/top dressing of blended compost is in order. Trim up any dried out branches and keep them watered. I'll bet you have new growth soon and flowers and peppers earlier than new transplants. We did last year on a habenero pepper that we overwintered in an unheated greenhouse. (unusually warm winter last year). Going for the 3rd year on the hab.

This year we put in heaters and most of the hot peppers are surviving. I'm sure they have some life in them because the orchids in the same space are alive. Time to give them a boost and get them ready to meet the great outdoors again.

Kay

TN_GARDENER 3/21/2013, 7:49 pm

i've got a couple pepper plants in my garage that i'm over wintering. This is my first attempt, but the plants seem to be hanging in there. I did the typical recommended stuff: prune & cut back on the watering. I have a single CFL out there to provide a bit of light. So far, so good.

**Turan** 11/19/2013, 1:16 pm

I brought in 4 peppers to over winter. Sadly I seemed to have brought in aphids as well. I have sprayed and washed but the aphids seem to be gaining now on me and I am worried about my other house plants. So I am looking for advice on how to get the peppers to go somewhat dormant to wait for spring. The garage will freeze solid in the next month but the mud room is both unheated but does not freeze. So I thought to put them in there.

Should i cut them back to a stump? Or just let them do their thing and then prune heavily in the spring?
Is this worth pursuing with them already fighting aphids?

Any advice and tips on how to do this successfully?
Thanks

**camprn** 11/19/2013, 1:48 pm

Turan wrote:I brought in 4 peppers to over winter. Sadly I seemed to have brought in aphids as well. I have sprayed and washed but the aphids seem to be gaining now on me and I am worried about my other house plants. So I am looking for advice on how to get the peppers to go somewhat dormant to wait for spring. The garage will freeze solid in the next month but the mud room is both unheated but does not freeze. So I thought to put them in there.

Should i cut them back to a stump? Or just let them do their thing and then prune heavily in the spring?
Is this worth pursuing with them already fighting aphids?

Any advice and tips on how to do this successfully?
Thanks

I would sequester them from the other plants, hose them off with a shower of water, remove any lower foliage then repot the plant with new soil/mix. Soap spray any new note infestations. You can prune a bit but don't cut it down to a small stump and don't put it where it's cold unless you want to hasten it's demise. I usually cut mine back to about 8" 10" and water only once a week. They should probably be in the house proper.

http://www.thechileman.org/guide_overwinter.php I don't even know why he wrote this as his success has been limited.

Better: http://www.hotpepperseeds.com/OverWinteringPeppers.asp

TN_GARDENER 11/19/2013, 2:57 pm

Turan wrote:The garage will freeze solid in the next month but the mud room is both unheated but does not freeze. So I thought to put them in there.

Thanks

An incandescent light bulb might put off enough heat to keep your plants from freezing in the garage...especially if you drape a cloth over them to hold in the heat. I've also been known to use Christmas tree lights to create a little heat.

**camprn** 11/19/2013, 5:34 pm

A minimum of 55F is what I would suggest.
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/pepper/overwintering-peppers.htm

audrey.jeanne.roberts 11/19/2013, 6:41 pm

My peppers are going gangbusters right now. They're mini-bell peppers and are loaded with fruit. My hot chili peppers likewise. I have them in my greenhouse and they're loving it.

I know I need to prune them back, but there's so much fruit I don't want to do it just yet, LOL! In my case, the mini-bells are volunteers and they come up quite easily from my compost so if they die it's not a big deal. But I really do want to keep my hot peppers to go with my fresh tomatoes through the winter for fresh salsa Cool

.

**camprn** 11/19/2013, 7:17 pm

audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote:My peppers are going gangbusters right now. They're mini-bell peppers and are loaded with fruit. My hot chili peppers likewise. I have them in my greenhouse and they're loving it.

I know I need to prune them back, but there's so much fruit I don't want to do it just yet, LOL! In my case, the mini-bells are volunteers and they come up quite easily from my compost so if they die it's not a big deal. But I really do want to keep my hot peppers to go with my fresh tomatoes through the winter for fresh salsa .

It sounds like you still have weeks of gardening ahead of you, Those of us in more northern inland climes are already dealing with frozen ground. I am jealous of your pepper bounty.
I brought in two pepper pants to over winter. My 4 year old serrano and a one year old friggitello, the pepperoncini pepper.

**sanderson** 11/19/2013, 8:02 pm

I have one pot of each of green, red and yellow bells with flowers and or fruit. Also pablamo, green and red chilis with flowers and/or fruit. I hope to grow them through the winter in the new green house I'm still working on. With all my failures this year, I feel like these peppers are rewarding me so I will keep my spirits up. Very Happy

**camprn** 11/19/2013, 8:19 pm

sanderson wrote:I have one pot of each of green, red and yellow bells with flowers and or fruit. Also pablamo, green and red chilis with flowers and/or fruit. I hope to grow them through the winter in the new green house I'm still working on. With all my failures this year, I feel like these peppers are rewarding me so I will keep my spirits up.

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
--Theodore Roosevelt

audrey.jeanne.roberts 11/19/2013, 8:53 pm

So far we've been warmer and drier than normal this winter. We still don't see any freezes projected at this point (though that can change on a dime!) It's especially nice since last year we had a very early hard freeze and our season came to a VERY sudden stop :-)

**Turan** 11/20/2013, 2:03 pm

Excellent links. Thanks you all muchly.

The garage freezes way too much as does the greenhouse.

The plan is to get the fruit off, once more through the shower and spray regimen and then into the basement where the temperature is stable but coolish with some natural light. They can go dormant, the aphids will be too far from other plants, and I will prune when they are dormant. Going dormant should slow the aphids as well, they love new growth on plants out of balance. I should not of fertilized the plants when I brought them inside. I upset their balance that way asking them to grow in what is a too dim and cool situation for peppers.

Thanks again

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