Overwintered chili plant - what to do?

[bario1]

Hi,

I have overwintered my Jamaican Hot chili plant on a windowsill indoors. Since bringing it in in September it nothing's really happened except all the green fruit on it has ripened to yellow. I was going to wait for them to turn red, but they are starting to go soft now...
Should I harvest the fruit and prune it back in order to encourage new growth as the new season approaches? Or is it fine just left to it's own devices?

I've never grown chillies before, never mind overwintered them, so any advice would be appreciated to get the best out of this plant in it's second year.

Thanks.

[SkyChild]

Watching with interest here as advice to me was that to overwinter chillies you should take them in and harvest the last crop immediately, then prune back hard so they have hardly any leaves and then water very sparingly over winter and keep cool. It looks pretty much dead, no signs at all of life, so I was probably mis-informed.

Sorry this won't help you much, but if someone can give you some advice and yours survives then I'll be doing that next year!

[FlawlessVictory]

I have always been told to cut them back. Only one of my chilli's survived this year the Super Chilli F1. I've attached a picture to show what I've done to it. Sorry about the poor quality! Basically a stump with new growth on it. I will repot in fresh compost once the weather picks up!

[Scarlet]

Well done - got any pics? I don't cut mine back if the leaves don't drop and the chilli plant itself is a good shape although I do harvest the chillies. I would take the chillies off. Ive just got two lemon drops and a scotch bomnnet, the lemon drops are just starting to produce some new leaves but I'm not holding my breath for the SB.
I wouldn't prune yet - have you got any straggly shoots, any dying tips etc? What size pot is it in? If its in a small pot I'd be tempted to pot on in March.
The second year for a chilli plant is usually the best year (IMO)

[Scarlet]

This was a habanero I overwintered last year, i didnt prune it. I didnt keep it this year..it got too big.

[bario1]

Here is the plant today.

[chilli_grower]

very nice looking plant there....

[bario1]

Thanks Chilli Grower, what would you do with it? Where does the new growth start?

[bario1]

Having done some goggling I'm now wondering if this is actually a 'Jamaican Hot Yellow' and the fruits are fully ripe? The seed was given to me by a friend and they just said 'Jamaican Hot'.

[SkyChild]

It sounds like it might be, if they are going squishy.
Looks like the trick is NOT to give your chillies a serious haircut
Oh well, here's to next year *sowing chilli seeds*

[chilli_grower]

I have no idea what variety that is.

But me, I would pull every chilli off it, and then just leave it grow naturally.

Spring will soon be here, and by the looks of your plant, it should have no problem making it through the rest of winter.

I have an overwintered fairy light plant, this will be its 4th summer! All winter it has produced fruit (allbeit only a few). I just left it alone, and only trimmed off foliage/branches as and when they were obviously dying off.