Are peppers pre-annual?

[New_Potato]

Hi all, just a quick question: are peppers pre-annual? I sowed my pepper seeds on the 18th April and they are just tiny seedlings now. I potted them up today and I'm feeling increasingly doubtful that I'll be getting any peppers this year.

Will they keep growing throughout the year? They have been kept in an unheated greenhouse.

Many thanks for any help.

[zazen999]

Do you mean perennial?

Some are, and can be overwintered, and will grow again the in the spring. Such as my Rocoto. Some will only overwinter if kept very warm, and some will die off once their crops are over in the autumn.

I have sown peppers in December, Jan, Feb, March, April and a few in May. They are all different sizes, as you would expect - but I intend to try and get winter chillis/peppers by keeping them indoors over winter and in the greenhouse for the autumn.

To get plants that are starting to flower now, they would have to have been sown in Dec/Jan or sown later and kept under grow lights.

[chrissie the chippy]

not sure if it is any help, but my other half had the same problem a few years ago. We kept the only one that survived indoors and had a great crop off it last year (a year later) and we would have had another great crop (judging by all the flowers on it) if he hadn't killed it!! It had a bit of a shock going from our bedroom window to the greenhouse, in that heat a few days back! Not sure what type they were.... they were small and hot

I'll definately be sowing our next lot in Dec

[Alison]

I always sow mine in about Feb and already have small peppers forming on most of them. I get the to germinate using a heated propogator and then grow then on on a sunny window ledge and then into my conservatory. Most are now in the cold greenhouse. A couple of plants were sown at the end of Jan and they already have useable sized green peppers.

You can keep them over winter but often the plants are rather large and too big to be bothered with as they need to be kept rather warmer than frost free and I'm not willing to heat my greenhouse to that degree. Also, they often start to suffer from green fly problems if kept in the house for too long. Your best bet is to grow short season types that fruit early, especially for sweet peppers. I find that Lipstick and Gypsy are particularly succesful and this year I am also trying Orange Bell for the first time.

[tamsin]

It's probably been a bit cold if you kept them outside. The seeds I sowed mid Feb to early March are all flowering/fruiting now but they were in the warm until a week or two ago. I imagine that now the weather is warming up yours will put on a burst of growth.

[Two_Sheds]

You can keep them over winter but often the plants are rather large and too big to be bothered with .... they often start to suffer from green fly problems if kept in the house for too long.

I over-wintered a Cayenne on my kitchen windowsill in a 5" pot. I cut all the foliage back to a pair of leaves so size wasn't an issue.
There was also less leaf for greenfly to infest. They were still a bother, I was squishing every day in April.

It was worth it though ... it already has 3 thumb-size fruits on it.

[Snadger]

I grew my jalapeno's in a raised bed in the greenhouse. End of season I cut them down and left roots and short stem in situ as an experiment. I had no heat in greenhouse over winter and they all perished. Heated greenhouse or windowsill, yes, cold greenhouse or outdoors, no!

[Incy]

I had a greenfly infestation on my chillies and peppers indoors a couple of years ago. Took them all outside and gave them a good wash with the hose before bringing them back inside. Seemed to work as I had no further problems.

[Dottie]

I tried a couple of pepper plants last year on the allotment, but they didn't grow very well and I had no peppers. As it hadn't been a very sunny season I decided to pot one up and it lived indoors on the windowsill.

I've had several little peppers from it already and it has loads more flowers and a few peppers, no greenfly problems so far. It will be back on the plot hopefully by the end of next week, it's having an extended hardening off period, as it can be quite cold in the evenings at the mo.

This year I have also got 2 other pepper plants and 2 chilli plants, which will also be going on the plot. I shall see if a warmer summer will produce any fruits this year, but not too worried as I now know that over wintering them indoors produces early crops the following season and larger established plants.

The old guys on the the allotment didn't believe you could carry the plants over each year, but research on the internet and specialist growers said different. I just thought I'd give it a try and if the plant died then so be it, but I'm very confident that this year I will get a good crop off last year's plant and I'll just wait and see if I get anything from this year's plants.

[COMPOST CORNER]

isn't a pre-annual a disc world plant that grows before the seed has been planted?

[Alison]

isn't a pre-annual a disc world plant that grows before the seed has been planted?

If it's not then it really should be

[Edwardo82]

My Fruit & Spice and Salad Pepers were sown on the 20 March in the house inside a propagator, they are all about 9 to 11 inches tall now and have interesting growth starting to appear, which I am hoping will be flowers. I also have thought about over wintering a few to see how it works, no harm in giving it a go I guess.