Small chilli plants in pots question.

[gardening_gal]

I have 6 seriously healthy good looking chilli plants. Yay!

They are in pots and are around 18-24 inches high. They have some chilli peppers on them now and also still have lots of flowers. They've lived in the polytunnel on shelves since they first germinated from seed and they seem very happy.

We will need to move next year, possibly early in the year, so I need to wind down my growing and pack away my tunnel at some point soon. Most of my stuff will naturally die off (toms/cucs/courgettes and the like) but I'd really like to keep my chilli plants alive.

Is it possible to turn them into house plants instead and keep them alive inside?

Will they adapt?

Is there anything I should do particularly to help them adapt?

Will they still produce?

This is a fairly dark house inside, there's not a lot of natural light and there's only small thin windowsills. Would they need a lot of light? Would I be best to try to sit them at a window? (Just imagining the conversation now - 'yes pet, I know it's not pretty but the garage shelving really does need to be in here'.)

It's also quite a cold house (old stone, not well insulated). Will they handle low temps at night without me needing to cosy them up somehow?

[bario1]

Hi Gardening Gal, you could have a read through this thread....

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...one_67644.html

Sorry, not sure how to attach hyperlinks on here.

Edit: It worked!

[ButternutSquash]

Chillis can thrive on a windowsill, as long as the window is a reasonable size (not a small one), and it faces east, west or south. Oddly enough south is worst, as the sun often gets too high. I grew chillis indoors for 15 years or so. One plant is ~10 years old!

They will also survive outdoors until the frosts hit, and that kills many species, including Capsicum annuum. If you do move them outdoors, you would do well to harden them off e.g. leave them outdoors in the day only, in a sheltered spot. Chillis in a polytunnel might well have rather soft leaves and stems that might be damaged by simply putting them outside. Using a coldframe would be even better.

[sparrow100]

It really depends on what kind of chillies they are. The larger peppers (eg jalapenos) are unlikely to survive. The Aji ones (eg lemon drop) get through winter and give a great early crop, but get to look quite scraggy before then. My habaneros sailed through winter. All my annums (jalapeno & chenzo F1) decided it was All Too Difficult and died, but I know people get cayennes through with no problems. (I had 13 chillies I tried to overwinter last year, 4 came through).

Mine go on a south-facing windowsill as from October-March the sun is low enough to shine in. I don't hack them about, but take off a few of the branches as the older leaves drop. They need to be cosied away from cold draughts at night, have access to sunshine in the day and mine certainly needed an upside-down cold shower every 2-3 weeks to get rid of the aphid population they brought inside with them.

Am trying it with the 2 habs, one lemon drop and 4 rocoto chillies this year. Haven't told OH yet...

[gardening_gal]

Thanks everyone.

It really depends on what kind of chillies they are.

I can't find the seed packet to check but I'm almost certain they were 'Super Chilli F1's'.

[Fleurisa]

Superchilli is a nice compact type plant, I've over wintered that one successfully on a windowsill.