Chillies - what are you growing/overwintering?

[jacks10]

I started to sow, I think it was may day, well that weekend.

[Small pumpkin]

Today the gardening year is officially over for me
All my chilli's harvested and plants cut down. I'm getting soft in my old age, because I'm attempting to over winter 4! even though I've said all year that I'm NOT over wintering any.
filus blue, chocolate Habanero are both now in the spare bed room.
Simon ( Dorset Naga ) and tree chilli still in the tunnel. Simon has fleece over his compost and a little cloche over him. tree chilli after some research can cope with some quite low temperatures. They will both be in a mini greenhouse in the tunnel within the next couple of days. to be fair Simon is a long shot......but it's Simon


here he is my boy! Not looking great, bit cold I think. but it gives a better idea of size now some of the other chilli's have been moved from around him.


Here is Trevor (not the fat furry one.....That's Bob)

[Small pumpkin]

I started to sow, I think it was may day, well that weekend.

What varieties did you sow then? how they doing now?

[Ms-T]

Fingers cross for the over wintering.Really hope Simon makes it.

[Scarlet]

He's huge SP ..(Simon, not Bob ) what size bucket is he in and how big was he when you got the plug plant/and when?

[Small pumpkin]

He's huge SP ..(Simon, not Bob ) what size bucket is he in and how big was he when you got the plug plant/and when?

He's in 160lt (roughly), which is the reason he's not in the house.



Trevor and Simon are in the little white paper bag, brought on 11th March at the EGS.

[burnie]

I've never grown chillies before, my wife didn't used to like them, but now makes some great soups, curries and pizzas using them, so I've bought some seed. Just got two varieties to start with, Suttons Jalapeno and Sutton Peruvian Lemon Drop(out of curiosity). My intention is to start them in a propagator in the conservatory in February and then grow them in pots in the greenhouse, I didn't realise they are not annuals, need to get some advice on this for over wintering. Do you re pot them after fruiting?

[Small pumpkin]

Hi burnie
Welcome to the slippery slope that is chilli growing
Two excellent varieties to start with and both over winter well. When it gets to about this time next year cut your chilli's back bring them into the house a spare room is perfect, cut back on watering a lot and don't feed. The following spring is when you re pot and start pampering again. This is a very basic explanation. Someone that has much more success than me at over wintering chilli will be along soon to explain

[Scarlet]

Burnie, lemon drop is my favourite! Gorgeous looking plant when full of fruit and as SP says a great choice for overwintering. When growing chillies we've found the sooner they get into a big pot the bigger they grow, most of mine are grown in black flower buckets although some will be in much bigger pots if I have them. I don't repot after fruiting although some people trim the roots of the plant and give the plant a similar hair cut on top when bringing indoors for the winter, usually because they can grow huge if given plenty of space. My overwintering can be hit and miss, I often just bring indoors (usually the smaller pots, due to space) and reduce watering, maybe trim the big straggly branches back, come Sping I'll trim out dead branches or any that have died back and pot on into a bigger pot.

[Tripmeup]

Hi burnie
Welcome to the slippery slope that is chilli growing
Two excellent varieties to start with and both over winter well. When it gets to about this time next year cut your chilli's back bring them into the house a spare room is perfect, cut back on watering a lot and don't feed. The following spring is when you re pot and start pampering again. This is a very basic explanation. Someone that has much more success than me at over wintering chilli will be along soon to explain

Burnie, lemon drop is my favourite! Gorgeous looking plant when full of fruit and as SP says a great choice for overwintering. When growing chillies we've found the sooner they get into a big pot the bigger they grow, most of mine are grown in black flower buckets although some will be in much bigger pots if I have them. I don't repot after fruiting although some people trim the roots of the plant and give the plant a similar hair cut on top when bringing indoors for the winter, usually because they can grow huge if given plenty of space. My overwintering can be hit and miss, I often just bring indoors (usually the smaller pots, due to space) and reduce watering, maybe trim the big straggly branches back, come Sping I'll trim out dead branches or any that have died back and pot on into a bigger pot.

what they said, but don't expect or be too disappointed if they don't overwinter (especially the jalapeno) as they can be hit and miss...

Jalapeno are so easy to germinate, so quick to grow and fruit that I have never previously bothered trying them tbh

[jacks10]

What varieties did you sow then? how they doing now?

It was a miracle grow pod I think it was jalepnos.
I picked them to early and some of ripen and in freezer. The others are in a brown bag in a dark place with a banana.

Hopefully I shall have about 20 nice red chillis soon not a lot I know but it's been a learning curve this year!

[Scarlet]

Hopefully I shall have about 20 nice red chillis soon not a lot I know but it's been a learning curve this year!

I'm sure you'll have plenty on the go come end jan/beginning feb ...

[Mitzi]

Hi, I'm new; hope it's OK to just post here?

This spring I sowed some cayenne pepper seeds, and then I picked up a couple of little chilli plants at the garden centre (I'd gone for tomatoes.) Stuck them all on a south-facing windowsill and darn it, now I'm hooked! Still a newbie, though, so looking for advice.

I don't have any intention of overwintering the cayennes (although they're still producing so I'm not throwing them out yet.) I am going to try the others, though. I have a Gusto Purple (annuum,) a habanero Paper Lantern, a plant which was labelled as a scotch bonnet but is probably an ordinary red habanero (no bonnet shape at all) and an unlabelled bushy thai-type one which I bought from Sainsbury's.

I know that I should throw out this last one, because the underside of the leaves have a sort of powdery mouldy kind of thing. But it has been absolutely prolific all year with crop after crop, and the chillies are just the right heat level for me to use in regular cooking. I've saved seeds but I suspect it may be an F1 hybrid so they probably won't come true. If I cut off all the leaves and dunk it in some sort of fungicide (recommendations?) both now and in spring, do you think I can save it?

With all the plants, I stopped feeding ages ago, and I've drastically reduced the watering. I'm still trying to ripen some fruits so I've put the radiator on for them, but that room is normally unheated in winter. I've cut back the non-fruit-bearing branches and will cut back the rest after harvesting. Fingers crossed!

[Small pumpkin]

Welcome to the vine Mitzi.

The seeds you've saved probably won't come true if you sow them next year because you haven't isolated the flowers. Unfortunately chillies are very promiscuous and there is a very high chance they will of all cross breed with each other. But everything else you're doing sounds good. Someone will be along soon to help with fungicide. I wouldn't have a clue.

[JusPotterinTim]

Yes, I think it was around a March sowing, so pretty late for chillies. They are really slow to get going, though I think they are worth the wait Jack had some too, wonder how he got on?

Tim, did you cut all your overwintering chillies down that much last year? How many survived?

No I've not hacked down quite this much before, last year I threw away a few plants at the end of the season and started from seed in December. I started afresh as I wasn't happy with the tiny cherry chillies of the Satan's Kiss, Cherry Bomb is much bigger (no match for manzanos though!), and my Apache was a runt (bad EBay seed I think).

However, I have read advice for overwintering chillies to hack them right down to a stump once the leaves have shed, this applies when light levels drop massively with no grow lights, and without letting the cold get to to them (<6C is when the damage occurs I think). In the stump form they can allegedly survive winter and will put on new growth over spring, if kept indoors in a cool spot, I don't think annums are meant to be the best for coming back though.

However for mine it is like summer again, it's 20C-30C in their grow zone, with a light level and exposure time each day enough to keep them growing moderately. They seem to be doing better than that, with dozens of new leaves on all of them now, I think even though the light isn't perfect, the fairly stable temperature is helping them get the most out of it. I could put the lights on for longer and get more growth, but they're growing fast already and I don't want to spend more on electricity out of principle really, unless I have to.

So in conclusion yes, I am absolutely confident they will thrive after being hacked down, and if you do this to a plant grown naturally in autumn, come the next spring with enough light and warmth, it too should take off with growth if all goes well - some varieties cope better than other I think. Ideally you would keep a few large leaves on as these harvest energy for the plant to use for new growth. If you were worried about hacking down too much you could prune lightly in autumn, and then when new growth starts in spring give it a good hack down, leaving a few mature leaves in place, so you at least know the plant is actively putting on new growth at the time and can sustain itself in it's miniature form.