overwintering peppers??

[perkin]

There have been a few threads on the subject of overwintering chilli plants indoors, so I'm wondering if the same can be done for sweet pepper plants. I have a couple in pots which have just had the very last peppers harvested from them. Is it worth trying to keep them in the house until spring or should I just put them on the compost heap and start again from seed in the spring?

[smallblueplanet]

Are you going to try and keep them growing? Last year we overwintered some chillies by cutting them down to about 4-6 inches of stem and standing the pots in the garage (in the dark mainly). By spring some of them where starting to show bits of buds - so I thought I'd be kind and bring them indoors. Bad move that killed them.

Anyway this year we're trying something similar with sweet & chilli peppers, keeping them in pots in the cold porch and seeing if come spring they start to bud...if they do I will acclimitise them to warmer temps slowly and not do like last year!

[Snadger]

My Jalapeno's are about four foot high, bushy and covered with fruits! They are in a cold greenhouse (my kettle full of water for tea was a solid lump today!)

The outer extremities have been frosted but they still seem to be growing ok!

[Alice]

Welcome to the Vine Perkin. I don't find it worthwhile to try and get them through the winter. I've done it but in the spring they were rubbish plants. They come very easily from seed, you can start them very early, and get very good results. I go for a new planting every year.

[smallblueplanet]

Oh Alice they're fab looking peppers! You're such a show-off!

[cupcake]

I'd give them a go! I have 3 chilli plants in the porch and hope that they will sprout before my new plants come into growth!

[Alice]

Do let us know how you get on Cupcake. If you've got the space to spare overwinter you've nothing to loose.

[realfood]

Last year, I potted up two sweet peppers and kept them on a windowsill till I could take them back to the cool greenhouse. They were flowering by March, produced an early crop, and then a late crop.

[perkin]

Thanks all. think I'll give the overwintering a go AND grow new plants in the spring - that way I can compare the 2.

[FoxHillGardener]

I've got a load of sweet pepper plants in the greenhouse looking remarkable perky. I've had success overwintering chillis before, so I thought I'd give the sweet peppers a got too. A bonus if I get an early crop from them, but of course will have to do a new batch next spring as well

Incidentally, I've got some aubergine plants in there too which have got nice new flower buds. Not really expecting much from them but curious to see what happens. I only managed to harvest one aubergine from four plants during the summer, so they've not got much to live up to

[cupcake]

My aubergines weren't worth the effort! Only one mini one from 3 plants! That's the one in my avatar. But I sowed it late so I may give it another go next year.

[smallblueplanet]

Aubs really appreciate starting early, they like lots of light and warmth too, thats a nice looking fruit though cupcake!

[pigletwillie]

With two big tunnels I grow lots of sweet peppers and have tried overwintering a few plants.

The upshot being was that new plants cropped heavier and longer than overwintered ones, although the overwintered ones did fruit a bit earlier. The overwintered plants also succumbed to disease in August just when the new plants were really cropping well. All in all, I felt the time and expense of keeping peppers overwinter was not converted into better or much earlier crops. I for one will be growing new from seed each year but will be interested to see how others do.

[smallblueplanet]

What about stuff like chillies that require long growing seasons such as say habanero's or rocoto piggie?

Here's our few pots 'stacked up' to overwinter in the porch, except the purple jalapeno which still has fruit ripening.

[pigletwillie]

I grow chillies from new as well Manda, I sow my tomato, chilli, sweet pepper and aubergines in Mid to late February. An apache chillie was kept on a windowsill for three years before finally gasping its last. Again it wasnt really worth the effort in the end.

With regard to habanero and rocoto, I only grow my own saved red and yellow long chillies and a very hot, fat bangladeshi chillie now. I have tried quite a few varieties but find, with the exception of a lemon flavoured variety, I cannot taste the difference (other than the heat) between them.

Its sometimes just as productive, probably more so, to go with fresh new plants. Especially when like me, you need thirty odd sweetpeppers, 80 tomato and a dozen chilli plants to provide enough to bottle, freeze and can for use till the next crop comes.