Per from Norway here. Long time chilli grower +- 10 years. I overwinter 5-10 plants every year, some of my plants are 4 years now. I never cut down the foliage in autumn and I always pott the plants upp in a bigger container and never clean the roots. They live passively in my livingroom under a big growlight. The plants are very big, bushy and live in very big containers 15l. I remove any new flowers that grow. I manually remove pests and somtimes use Neem oil and I have 2-3 spiders helping me also. The most important thing I learned is ALWAYS to water from the bottom or else you will lose the plant to root rot. And in my experience the Capsicum annuum verities really benefit from being kept for more years, I get mabye 400-600% more chillies pr plant year 2. (They are really big) My take on why my pest pressure is low is that I never have used non organic fertilizer, so only compost and compost extract.
Thanks for your hard-earned information! I'm curious what part of Norway you're in, how long you have to keep them indoors over the winter, and whether fungus gnats exist there. I've lived in Norway but long before I was into growing peppers...
@@davidniemi6553 I live in the most southern part "Norways Florida" I replant the peppers in my 200m2 glass greenhouse when it is +10c outside. We have the Gnats here, but I just freeze the soil before using it and that takes care of that!!
I really would love to have a greenhouse! Meanwhile, I think you must have a different kind of gnat -- the fungus gnats I have here in the eastern US survive when the soil temperature goes far below freezing.
Great video, thanks! Scratch the cambium layer with your thumbnail. If it's green, it's still alive. If it's brown, it's dead. I tried this method two years in a row, but they either died or languished the entire growing season. This year, I decided to over winter as an indoor plant. I cut them back two weeks prior to pulling them out to allow the foliage to start while still in the ground. Then I potted them up and put them in my grow space. They are doing amazingly well and getting peppers already!
For shrubby, woody plants do the "scratch test" to see if a plant is still alive. Using a finger nail, scratch off a bit of the outer bark. If you see green below, it is still alive..if it is brown throughout, it is dead.
Personally I don’t change the soil before winter, normally you have to do that before you put them out, but it can be a great idea for pest! But I’m using some kind of sticks to catch bug, buzz and others and if I really need I will spray something. I have 4 habanero plants of 4 years, 4 Thai of 3 years, 6 young habanero of 1 year. I made banzai whit 4 of them If your plants look sick, just keep them alive, some of my 4 years habanero was looking very bad just before I put them out for the new season, but after put it outside with some Chili Focus, it became more beautiful then the 3 others. They’re stronger then what we can think!
Hey, I've been overwintering my Lemon Drop for the last year's, also grew them from Seeds, in case it wouldn't make it. The overwintering Plant got a lot bigger and had a lot higher yield, every year. So I would say with Lemon drop, overwintering is worth it.
I grow a few Sundew plants (Drosera Capensis) that I keep in between my overwintered pots, they are great at catching adult fungus gnats. Not the best solution but a fun one!
I am overwintering my Habanero plant using your advice. I cut all of the foliage back and the stalk is still very green and healthy looking. The lows here are getting around 34-36 degrees so I brought it inside. This is my first pepper plant and first overwintering attempt. The peppers were so good, I wanted to keep the plant. Thanks for the extra advice! Great channel!
I overwintered a habenaro plant a few years back because it was such a wonderful plant. The following year the plant was bigger and produced more than ever. Good luck
Can you update us on that biggest pepper plant please? Was it dead? I tried to overwinter my pepper plants and they look the same... brown stems and no green or new growth on them. I don't think they made it 😕 By the way... I love your videos! They're very informative and right to the point! Well done 👏
I noticed where I live in Houston the weather one year was so mild that the pepper plants stayed out in the raised beds and produced twice as much as they did the first year. After our first 5-day freeze this year, I’m thinking over wintering is a grand idea
Your increased yields is the reason I'm experimenting with overwintering plants. I'm in USA's hat (Canada), and we extended our season using a greenhouse to get a solid 6 month growing season; but it still gets cold enough to stop, freeze, and kill off plants. I dug up about a dozen plants, half of them are Jalapenos. Some are potted, some are bare and left in the the dark in our cold-room so we can try to get mature, established plants in the greenhouse in spring. The hope of that is, we'll get the overwintered plants producing sooner, and producing more than the first year plants.
Just another idea on the fungus gnat issue, I had a terrible time with them a couple of years ago. The sand method is a good idea, but I also discovered that by putting my containers in cheap aluminum roasting pans from Dollarama (really anything that holds water will do) and watering into the pans, the soil in the pots will draw up the water and the top of the soil never gets wet. It's the damp soil at the top that the gnats like in order to lay their eggs (that's why the sand also works well.) Just another option and for the last 2-3 years I've had no issues at all in the house with fungus gnats. Just ask my wife, I think she was ready to divorce me after that first year we had the gnat issue LOL!
Haha! thanks for sharing that - bottom watering is a great idea. Also, just watering less often! So many people are over-watering indoor plants and it definitely contributes to a fungus gnat problem.
I'm new to growing peppers. I had one Carolina reaper that was really productive. I followed your advice and it seems like it is working really well. I've got some very small green leaves on it, but no other growth. I also brought 2 jalapeno plants indoors under a grow light. I had some challenges, but they are doing great now. Keep making the great videos.
I water my pepper plants only about once or twice a month during the winter. The smallest most sad banana pepper died but the rest are quite fine, especially my Gong Bao pepper, who even tried to flower (I pick those off of course)
It's eerie sometimes. Got up this morning with the intention of prepping my pepper plants for winter and this video is in my UA-cam feed. Cue the Rod Serling music. Never heard of the channel; I've been growing peppers for many years. In 2007, Bhut Jolokia was rated the hottest (how time flies), and I started some. When I moved from my island home off the south Florida coast four years ago the original plant was a topiary with a trunk big as your calf. I doubt it's still there, not everyone likes the Ghost. I'm up near the Georgia border now where you can count on a freeze. This last season I grew peach ghost, brain strain, moruga scorpion, datil and the original ghost from down south, (I gave the reapers a break this year). I grow on raised benches in 7 gallon black pots and enjoy the discipline of hand watering. I use a Hozon proportioner. Once my plants are established and growing strong, about the middle of July, I clone them all and keep the copies heavily trimmed in 1 gallon pots. These are what I 'winter' over. The 7 gallon containers are a wad of roots that can be cut with a tree saw into a cube, but the 1 gallon pots seem to be a little easier. I've never tried rinsing the roots. I look forward to seeing your other offerings
Hey Pepper Geek, have you got a video on "un-overwintering" your overwintered plant on your channel? What steps need to be taken to get them going again ready for the new season? Thanks
You just need to harden them off same methodology as any other plant being brought outdoors. Nice and slow getting them used to increased light and temperature. They'll start pushing new growth as it warms up and they break dormancy.
@@blueshirtificationI don’t know anything at all about that methodology. Is it absolutely necessary? What happens if you don’t do it? I’ve got nearly 20 plants I want to try over wintering, and it sounds like a load of hassle getting up extra early before work to put them out, then putting them back in again for who knows how long.
@@MortalWombatUK the issue with throwing your plants outside suddenly from inside is the leaves are vulnerable to UV and the wind. The leaves need to redevelop their protective cuticle which they lost from spending so much time indoors.
I must have a green thumb. All my overwintered plants are doing fantastic. I see how to do it once and said lets try it. Even after a freeze. Just dont disturb the main root ball is what im seeing
I over winter the best plant from each variety that I have, which is six plants total. As for the soil prep, I don’t worry about that. Sure a few gnats got released in the house but a firm spanking does the trick. Aphids I knock off with a Q-Tip but usually what’s left after pruning doesn’t have many if any aphids. Two reasons I over winter one of each variety. One, I find 2+ year old plants normally produce better than one year old plants and two, I don’t go through the hassle of separating saved seeds by type, they are all stored in the same container so when I go to reseed I have no clue what type I am planting or even how old that particular seed is. Who knows I might even have some cross breeds in my seed storage. About to find out exactly what I do have this year from the seedlings because they are all looking good and healthy. I am thinking about trying to save an entire bed this winter. Going to make a cheap hoop house and see if it will be enough to get all of them to survive through the winter. Luckily I live in zone 9A so it rarely gets below 35 here which seems like that is the temperature that dooms my peppers. The peppers I left outside without any protection were finally killed off in the first week of January when we hit 35. Although they didn’t stand a chance because the next two nights lows were 28 and 24. I am also going to try using a plastic 2 liter soda bottle on a random plant in another bed and see if that works.
I appreciate this series! Thank you! I hope to see more updates, I too am trying to over winter 2 different geno types that did really well in my garden. First time trying it.
The big reason to overwinter, IMO is for folks in cold climates, it gets you big production in year 2 and beyond. Year 1 is usually a disappointment for me for peppers in zone 4.
Its well worth overwintering if you have space for them, i had my pepper plants for 4 years, the first few years i just about got a few peppers on each plant, the variety was scotch bonnets and Carolina reaper, the last few years the plants turned to monsters with mega production of peppers, probably due to the maturity of the plants.
I overwintered some plants outdoors in a much warmer area zone 10... about 2/3's made it... the rest were brown and dry inside and dead. I even have some green Jalapenos on dec 13th.. But not many.. The plants have definatly slowed down... and some yellow leaves due to the short days.
I wish I could show you my Scorpion Brain Strain plant I had last winter season. It is in a bonsai pot with mint growing all around it. I called her the Peppermint Christmas Tree. It had 9 ripe red fruit Christmas morning. Everyone was amazed and delighted. It is November 23 and she is full of babies again.
I'm pretty certain the frost killed that ghost chili, sadly. Overwintered 24 of my peppers this year. Dug them up before the first frost at night with a shovel, and a shop light, outside lol. Think most of my peppers will become container plants, to exist as perennials going forward. Will allow me to use driveway space as garden. Then I can get a couple peppers over the winter from each plant too. Have been doing this with just some ghost chilies for a long time. Don't have to cut the plant back as much--or dig up the roots. I also leave a couple of leaves on my plants when I cut them back (for over-wintering) just so they have something to photosynthesize with (they'll drop if they can't support it I figure) and to keep an eye on for watering/what-not. A thick layer of vermiculite on the top and bottom of the container is a good way to also stop fungus gnats. Has to be like 2+ solid inches. People forget they'll go through the bottom holes of a pot just as easily as the top.
I followed the advice on your last video to over winter my cayennes, jalapenos (it's already literally a big tree, so I want to see how large it can get!) Serranos, Anaheims, red hot cherry peppers, and ghost peppers. They are all looking good, staying warm in my basement with green stems. Fingers crossed! I will also be starting many seedlings from seeds I harvested from peppers others gave me or ones I got from pepper Festivals and grocery stores.
I overwintered a bell in Sacramento California and left it outside. Covering with frost cloth when needed. I decided after two years it was time to let it go. It was a no name green bell…. But it had that brown trunk and did fine. I think I will get a California Wonder Bell this year
Pepper Geek; How about doing the "finger nail test" to see if plant is still alive? Just carefully scratch off a very small piece of skin from a branch; if green underneath, plant is still alive. Very fast.
Thanks for the tip -- I have two pepper plants that need this sort of test. So far I've just checked whether the branches seemed dry and brittle -- they are not -- but no green leaves like the other plants I overwintered.
Hmm, that did not turn out like I expected. All my stems are green on the outside and off-white underneath, but moist, including the ones that have leaves.
Pepper leaves taste good in Chicken stews and the likes. We do it here in the Philippines. I kinda feel bad whenever I see pepper videos throw away the leaves. You should try eating it.
I have 3 thai dragon chillies in my apartment, I love them, have been eating from them for 2 years and still going strong, just repotted them in bigger pots as I'm trying to get them to grow as big as possible, with grow lights
usually, a good indicator if a plant has died, is that the stem usually shrinks in diameter and gets these wrinkles on them. This is especially noticeable on soft bodied stalks like rex begonias since soft stalks turn brown, but it is also pretty noticeable with woody stalks like Aralias, Peppers, Coleus, etc... because they get these uneven grooves (like your fingers when they get "pruny" in the water) because the stalk dries out and shrinks.
@Oneness2023 unfortunately I can't ever get them to bounce back once they start that. My best suggestion would be to cut off some fresh green sections, dip them in rooting powder, and plant them in a small pot & try to restart.
A good way to know if it's alive or dead- just prune a small tip off the plant, and if it's green on the inside, it's still alive. If it's solid brown in the stem's center, it's likely dead
I really appreciate you making this helpful video! I'll use some of these tips for this winter. By the way, I'm also living in New England. Such beautiful sights to see here in Maine.
I started with 10 plants indoors and now I have only 3 left- I think I overwatered some and others were killed by frost before they came in. I washed the roots but still got aphids & gnats. Steep learning curve but i am excited to get the three survivors back outside!
This is lengthy but its definitely worth the read for anybody because its an effective strategy to mitigate fingus gnats in indoor plants. A hydrogen peroxide/neem oil soil drench should kill off any fungus gnats and the neem oil _should_ kill any eggs that haven't hatched yet. Do this once every other week and let soil fully dry in between waterings. Just be aware it may sterilize ur soil so be sure to add any beneficial bacteria, fungi and mycelium back into the soil sometimes this is necessary to effectively kill fungis gnats. Remember that soil dries alot slower in doors, i usually wait almost until the plant is showing signs of needing water; dropping leaves or loss of vigor. Also lifting the pot is another way of testing soil moisture, a dry pot will feel noticeably lighter than a wet one. Use a fast draining soil mix to help dry out ur pots, or add rocks, broken clay pots, vermiculite etc. To the bottom of the pot before adding the soil. Use sand as a top soil to prevent a re-infestation if you'd like. I hope any or all of this helps you out. It can be challenging to grow a garden and surprisingly more difficult indoors, but its not impossible by any means and id go as far as to say it actually is quite simple but we tend to overcomplicate things! Just know youll be gardening like a pro in no time! Especially if ur taking on indoor growing, you have my word! Oh! One more thing make sure you use cold pressed neem oil it contains all the necessary compounds to efficiently kill insects. Happy gardening!
Calvin looking great in that beard...Let it grow in dude. My grampa always said that eating spicy food will put some hair on your chest...does it work for beards too? Mines a bit shabby and I haven't seen much difference from consuming spicy in copious amounts.
A friend of mine tried to over winter them in her green house and I think a few frosts got to them, I don’t think they will come back but I hope they do! I was tempted to over winter some of mine but I didn’t in the end… perhaps this year!
My reaper has been under a frost guard outside in 34° F and hasn't only survived but thrived. I still have flowers blooming and the plant has grown an inch in about a month. I water less frequently and during the day only. I almost chopped it down but it is kicking the winters butt.
@@PepperGeek I bought a white dome cover which sits flush to the ground. The material seems like a light fabric. Light definitely passes through. I wont get much colder than 30° F here but man this thing is rocking. I told my wife to say goodbye but to our surprise we thought it might produce!
That matches some of my experience. With the first frosts I take various measures like covering with plastic and bringing inside for plants I care about, and leave the rest as an experiment. I've had pretty good luck with peppers surviving down to about 30F without help, though it is a roll of the dice. I've only seen damage above freezing on certain unusually sensitive cultivars. In-ground plants fare better than those in pots, but once you get down to 27F all varieties I've tried will be dead unless covered, and by 22F or so all will be dead even if covered with plastic.
Ok... this is the first time I have tried overwintering any of my peppers. I had 6 that I kept indoors and 10 that I left on my back deck (I am zone 8b so don't really get cold). The ones kept indoors are doing fine. The outdoors ones...not so much (except for my 4 Aji Rico plants that look like they've not even noticed the cold. For most of the winter the ones outside seemed to be doing okay. But as time has worn on the stems have blackened and my hopes for them has waned. The only other plant that was left outdoors that still has some green is my Clile de Arbol. I did have to pull these plants indoors for 3 days when our temperatures plummeted to -5C. I just really hope the Aji Ricos do well as they seem to be be doing....very mild heat and great flavor.
Great video. One comment about the choice to continually but off new leaf growth: I have never seen new growth from the same armpit (the intersection between stem and leaf where new growth can come from) twice - this mean that if you cut of the new growth from an armpit, you're closing one of the few doors left available on your heavily trimmed down plant. I've experienced plants giving up because of that exact issue where there are no more open doors/armpits to grow from.. If the plant does not give up and still have some energy to start new growth, the only option for the plant is to grow you a new plant from the base, just above the roots. .. I could be wrong, but this is what I've observed among my own overwintered plants and indoor tiny fruit trees. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this observation @pepper geeks
I think I cut too close to the Y junction when I pruned. First try at over wintering jalapeños, habanero and sweet capsicum. Ive got some die back so should have left a longer tail I think. We shall see.
Thank you so much for this video ! I noticed my ghost pepper is turning hard and looks almost black /dark brown stems . While my habanero and Thai pepper is lightly green /brown . Not sure they will make it moved ghost pepper to my room where it’s way warmer … going to wait a few weeks to see if any buds pop up
My Jalapenos went dormant like they were supposed to, but my Habanero is trying to produce flowers lol. That plant was super prolific this summer, so I hope it will go dormant soon to be ready for next year.
I had 2 of mine die. The cold ended up getting mine. I shouldn't have tried if I was wearing a winter jacket and needed a stocking cap and warm gloves when cleaning the roots off. 😆 And also trimmed the roots to put into a bonsai pot. It would have worked if I planed on it better. In my experience overwintering produces way more pods the next season but I grew it in a tent with optimal conditions starting to harvest in April. I already have open flowers.
Please talk specifically about indoor pests and how to handle them. My warm Southern winters (it was 77 F here yesterday) don't always kill them off in nature, but we do get a few hard freezes. I usually start out fine but get some crafty aphids who sneak into my basement grow room (50-60F) around late January/early February. I also get the occasional ladybug and lizard to help, but they're not that hungry. It's impractical to sterilize every piece of plant material that enters, so do I have any options besides insecticidal soap and neem oil weekly? I overwinter lots of other plants, but the hot peppers (peri peri, jalapeno, and habanero) seem to be particularly susceptible to aphids indoors.
I live in an area with a warm winter, and I had the same problem too... for the plants I'm able to dormant, I use a spray solution called "Plant Therapy" and used horticultural sand as mulch to suffocate any fungal nats hiding in the soil too My housemates cannot handle the smell from the neem oil. Since Lost Coast Plant Therapy is make out of peppermint and soy oil, the room smells a little minty when you apply the spray... you can also rotate this spray with neem or soap to keep the aphids guessing what's next (if there are any aphids left) Sorry if this sound like an ad.... this spray helped me with my battle against pests...
I’m using some pest control that you have to use 3 times every 5 days, that work perfectly because that kill first the adults then the teens and finally the eggs.
You could buy a few more predator bugs like preying mantis or ladybugs online, I've heard of people doing this outdoors but idk if you really want more bugs indoors. They wont live forever though.
I am trying to overwinter about 15 pepper plants. I did so in a bit of a rush due to an early frost, which is probably a bad idea. I also did not thoroughly disinfect the roots, and predictably had problems with fungus gnats, though since then dumping off the top 1" of soil and replacing it with sand has had promising results. I am also using yellow fungus gnat traps, more as an indicator than a real remedy. All but 2 of my overwintered peppers have grown a few green leaves which seem like a good indicator of health -- I am keeping them in a basement room aroung 65F, it is what I have. I suspect those two are dead, though their stems are not dried out or brittle yet, and there is no obvious reason they should be dead and the other dozen+ should be alive. A related situation -- I tried bringing a few pepper plants indoors that had been outside in pots. While the plants all had an easy time of it -- fungus gnats and aphids galore. I really don't recommend this approach for the full winter even though it seems so easy in the short run and even though I was able to keep these plants in a separate room. And, I am trying germination tests and will start new seedlings in another month, so I don't want lingering fungus gnats anywhere in the house, even in areas many rooms away that you'd think the fungus gnats might not reach. I don't buy that they are "weak flyers" -- at least not the species I have here.
I just re-surveyed my overwintered plants. I'm pretty sure at least 4 are totally dead (including a couple that once had green leaves), 4 are obviously alive, and the rest are harder to tell. No obvious rhyme or reason for which lived and died, though I did them all in a rush so I'm sure I could have done a better job given more time and planning.
I grew two Carolina reapers 2021 after watching your videos and harvested 1649 peppers from the two plants. I am over wintering and anxious to see how they perform next year. What is the most peppers produced by one pepper plant you have heard of? Enjoy your videos and appreciate your help.
You're very lucky to be able to have cold weather to make the plants dormant... I live in a place where there is only 2 seasons... "hot summer" and "warm summer" I tried overwintering my chilli plants for the past 2 years... no success :/ The irony!
Hm, maybe there is no need to overwinter where you are! If outdoor temps don't drop into freezing temps, the plants can likely just survive through your "winter"
Fist time trying to overwinter peppers, I have a couple giant jalapenos and a couple of Cali Bells. They leafed out when I first brought them in, I think it was too warm in my living room as we have a wood stove. So I've moved them to a cooler room and I have a shop light on them for a few hours a day. When and HOW should I plan to wake them up? How many weeks before the last frost?
I’m doing an experiment. It could be a failure but I’m trying nonetheless. I’m leaving the plants outside. I’m in Texas. It’s gonna be 12 degrees next week. I did remove leaves and pruned them down as suggested. Covered the roots in leaves, gave them some nutrients, covered the row with a green tent structure. I wonder if there’s any chance at all they’ll come back in the spring???
I heard on this and other channels not to expect all your plants to survive the overwinter process. What is the actual cause of the failures? i.e. trimming off too much, not getting good soil contact when replanting after washing off the roots?
I don't know if peppers are in any way like Coleus but my Coleus ran out of buds to keep growing from pruning back to much I ended up with a plant that had 4 leaves and wouldn't grow anymore branches or leaves but it was still growing just not getting bigger I finally just let it die something to keep in mind.
That is what we used for ours this past winter. They _were_ south-facing so that did help get some actual sunlight on them for a couple hours, so keep that in mind
a question for @pepper geek and commentators on this video. What if I put a plastic bag and keep moisture inside for the winter, avoid infestation and keep eventual parasites brought from ouside from spreading? I even heard that spraying with oxygen peroxide and change the soil with new sterile potting soil could even help. Thanks
I have some die back since I brought mine indoors, where I pruned to a Y junction. I think I should have left a longer piece above the node where I pruned. Seems this is effecting a plain sweet pepper more than jalapeños and habaneros. Im worried that the die back will limit the eventual new growth at the node.
Lady bugs will kill aphids and many more pests. I love em!!! They are kinda neat to watch them scour my over wintered plants. Kinda like little minion aphid killers!!! I went from being infested to aphid free!!!! will it ever get cold in the south????
Hello. I have a question about light. Is it really necessary to provide any light at all? I mean... The ghost pepper for example, it doesn't have any green parts at all, hence no chlorophyll. So why would it need any light? Thanks for the help. :)
I overwintered two plants in my greenhouse (habanero and tabasco). The greenhouse keeps the air temp warmer than 45 degrees most nights (heater assisted) and consistently in the 80+ degree range during the day. My plants are doing so well that they are about to start budding again. Should i let them flower or should i pick the flowers off to promote more growth? I trimmed them back pretty harshly last fall so there is definitely a lot more size that they can grow into. Thanks for your help.
I would probably try to promote more foliar growth at this stage. If they are in large pots and have room to grow much larger, try to get them to reach that mature size before fruiting. Either way, you should be on your way to an early harvest this year!
@PepperGeek This is my first attempt at over-wintering and I followed your instructions for bringing them inside. Only 2 plants are trying to put out leaves and I am removing them since it is months before I will be able to put them out again. (Zone 4, late November.) Any suggestion for when I should let the plant leaf out if I can't put them out until at least April in the greenhouse? That is over 5 months away. The 2 plants that look the best are both taken from outdoors, whereas all my others were in my greenhouse. All the greenhouse ones appear dead. I saw another video that said that stressed plants survive better. I wonder if that is a factor. My greenhouse plants got babied too much?
@@PepperGeek Cool. That's what I figured. Thank you so much. Could you also tell me how long (on average) it takes from seed to harvest on the super spicies? I've got leviathan scorpion, peach ghost, and Amarillo Reapers that have sprouted and wondering how long before I'll be in pepper heaven
I'm assuming you've used the insecticidal soap to drench the soil for overwinter prep previously with success? Because just listening to this video, it sounds like that could be an additional variable in the brown/less healthy/maybe dead state of the plant in the back.
If you're bringing it inside, you'll have to do something about the insects first. There are food-grade insecticides like insecticidal soaps, but usually we just pick off the fruits before prepping to overwinter.
Peppers are not frost hardy, so freezing temps will kill the plants. If you live in a tropical climate, then by all means, leave them out and keep growing them through the 'winter!'
I have never over wintered plants and I'm afraid that mine might be dead, I haven't noticed any leaf growth in over a month. If they are dead o well but I hope not
Ive got a few bushes ive left indoors for winter, but i noticed that some of the sticks i left while pruning got black and look like ther are rotting ? I dont know how to describe it, they are like drying, getting black and looks like its either rotting or drying. Should i just cut them off now ? Or its already lost and i should start sowing new plants just to be sure ?
overwintering a fatalli pepper in my basement tent, pruned and swapped soil mid November. it gets 7hr of led light and it is doing really well. I dont think it ever went dormancy however and I am now seeing some pods starting. should I trim back again and lower the light hours? temps are around 65F.
If things are looking good, you could keep it going with the LEDs and see what happens. No harm in keeping the plant growing as long as you have the space and keep it watered
I am not sure if you read comments on old videos but I over wintered my plants for the first time and they all still have some green in the stem but are mostly brown. I am hopeful that they will recover but my plant’s stems hollowed out over winter somewhat. They are in the warmer weather now and getting regular water and I noticed some white fibers growing inside the stem that look kind of like paper. Do you think that the peppers are trying to regenerate the old stems by chance? I’ll find out eventually either way but the suspense is killing me lol
I'm in Dallas, TX, and it's December 26th, with temperatures in the 60s and 70s at the moment. I have raised beds with twelve varieties of peppers, all of which I've trimmed following the steps in your earlier video. Each bed is "hooped". If I wrap and secure the beds with translucent plastic so they get natural warmth from the sun (and assuming we don't have a killer February like we did ten months ago), will my peppers overwinter in place successfully?
It sounds like you should be okay in that climate, especially with a covering. I would keep an eye on temperatures on the coldest nights and I would also put some thick mulch down to protect the roots from freezing weather
I did this. My jalapeno plant survived all year. I planted it back out side with fresh soil. Its been 2 weeks and still no signs of new leafs or any sort of progress.. Does it just need more time?? My plant is still very green and healthy looking. I think its stunted. Help 😢
Per from Norway here. Long time chilli grower +- 10 years. I overwinter 5-10 plants every year, some of my plants are 4 years now. I never cut down the foliage in autumn and I always pott the plants upp in a bigger container and never clean the roots. They live passively in my livingroom under a big growlight. The plants are very big, bushy and live in very big containers 15l. I remove any new flowers that grow. I manually remove pests and somtimes use Neem oil and I have 2-3 spiders helping me also. The most important thing I learned is ALWAYS to water from the bottom or else you will lose the plant to root rot. And in my experience the Capsicum annuum verities really benefit from being kept for more years, I get mabye 400-600% more chillies pr plant year 2. (They are really big) My take on why my pest pressure is low is that I never have used non organic fertilizer, so only compost and compost extract.
Thanks for your hard-earned information! I'm curious what part of Norway you're in, how long you have to keep them indoors over the winter, and whether fungus gnats exist there. I've lived in Norway but long before I was into growing peppers...
@@davidniemi6553 I live in the most southern part "Norways Florida" I replant the peppers in my 200m2 glass greenhouse when it is +10c outside. We have the Gnats here, but I just freeze the soil before using it and that takes care of that!!
I really would love to have a greenhouse! Meanwhile, I think you must have a different kind of gnat -- the fungus gnats I have here in the eastern US survive when the soil temperature goes far below freezing.
@@davidniemi6553 Well we have - 15c temps over some months here so my compost soil is quite dead when I use it.
That’s awesome! Chills are trees so I bet they are massive
Great video, thanks! Scratch the cambium layer with your thumbnail. If it's green, it's still alive. If it's brown, it's dead. I tried this method two years in a row, but they either died or languished the entire growing season. This year, I decided to over winter as an indoor plant. I cut them back two weeks prior to pulling them out to allow the foliage to start while still in the ground. Then I potted them up and put them in my grow space. They are doing amazingly well and getting peppers already!
Yup, this guy was a goner 😞
For shrubby, woody plants do the "scratch test" to see if a plant is still alive. Using a finger nail, scratch off a bit of the outer bark. If you see green below, it is still alive..if it is brown throughout, it is dead.
Personally I don’t change the soil before winter, normally you have to do that before you put them out, but it can be a great idea for pest! But I’m using some kind of sticks to catch bug, buzz and others and if I really need I will spray something.
I have 4 habanero plants of 4 years, 4 Thai of 3 years, 6 young habanero of 1 year.
I made banzai whit 4 of them
If your plants look sick, just keep them alive, some of my 4 years habanero was looking very bad just before I put them out for the new season, but after put it outside with some Chili Focus, it became more beautiful then the 3 others.
They’re stronger then what we can think!
Hey, I've been overwintering my Lemon Drop for the last year's, also grew them from Seeds, in case it wouldn't make it. The overwintering Plant got a lot bigger and had a lot higher yield, every year. So I would say with Lemon drop, overwintering is worth it.
Very cool, thanks for sharing your results
That's so good to hear, I'm just winterizing my Lemon Drop plants this week!
I grow a few Sundew plants (Drosera Capensis) that I keep in between my overwintered pots, they are great at catching adult fungus gnats. Not the best solution but a fun one!
That is a fun way to try to control bugs 😁
I am overwintering my Habanero plant using your advice. I cut all of the foliage back and the stalk is still very green and healthy looking. The lows here are getting around 34-36 degrees so I brought it inside. This is my first pepper plant and first overwintering attempt. The peppers were so good, I wanted to keep the plant. Thanks for the extra advice! Great channel!
That is great, hope your plant makes it through to next year. Cheers!
I overwintered a habenaro plant a few years back because it was such a wonderful plant. The following year the plant was bigger and produced more than ever. Good luck
Can you update us on that biggest pepper plant please? Was it dead?
I tried to overwinter my pepper plants and they look the same... brown stems and no green or new growth on them. I don't think they made it 😕
By the way... I love your videos! They're very informative and right to the point! Well done 👏
Great questions, great answers... thanks! :) I'll be trying to overwinter a Carmine sweet pepper plant here in zone 6b, MI.
I noticed where I live in Houston the weather one year was so mild that the pepper plants stayed out in the raised beds and produced twice as much as they did the first year. After our first 5-day freeze this year, I’m thinking over wintering is a grand idea
Your increased yields is the reason I'm experimenting with overwintering plants. I'm in USA's hat (Canada), and we extended our season using a greenhouse to get a solid 6 month growing season; but it still gets cold enough to stop, freeze, and kill off plants. I dug up about a dozen plants, half of them are Jalapenos. Some are potted, some are bare and left in the the dark in our cold-room so we can try to get mature, established plants in the greenhouse in spring. The hope of that is, we'll get the overwintered plants producing sooner, and producing more than the first year plants.
Just another idea on the fungus gnat issue, I had a terrible time with them a couple of years ago. The sand method is a good idea, but I also discovered that by putting my containers in cheap aluminum roasting pans from Dollarama (really anything that holds water will do) and watering into the pans, the soil in the pots will draw up the water and the top of the soil never gets wet. It's the damp soil at the top that the gnats like in order to lay their eggs (that's why the sand also works well.) Just another option and for the last 2-3 years I've had no issues at all in the house with fungus gnats. Just ask my wife, I think she was ready to divorce me after that first year we had the gnat issue LOL!
Haha! thanks for sharing that - bottom watering is a great idea. Also, just watering less often! So many people are over-watering indoor plants and it definitely contributes to a fungus gnat problem.
I over wintered all my plants this year with the info from your last video, this is an awesome refresher!!!
I'm new to growing peppers. I had one Carolina reaper that was really productive. I followed your advice and it seems like it is working really well. I've got some very small green leaves on it, but no other growth. I also brought 2 jalapeno plants indoors under a grow light. I had some challenges, but they are doing great now. Keep making the great videos.
I water my pepper plants only about once or twice a month during the winter. The smallest most sad banana pepper died but the rest are quite fine, especially my Gong Bao pepper, who even tried to flower (I pick those off of course)
I'm in califorina and my peppers are flowering right now. Some have a few growing peppers
It's eerie sometimes. Got up this morning with the intention of prepping my pepper plants for winter and this video is in my UA-cam feed. Cue the Rod Serling music. Never heard of the channel; I've been growing peppers for many years. In 2007, Bhut Jolokia was rated the hottest (how time flies), and I started some. When I moved from my island home off the south Florida coast four years ago the original plant was a topiary with a trunk big as your calf. I doubt it's still there, not everyone likes the Ghost. I'm up near the Georgia border now where you can count on a freeze. This last season I grew peach ghost, brain strain, moruga scorpion, datil and the original ghost from down south, (I gave the reapers a break this year). I grow on raised benches in 7 gallon black pots and enjoy the discipline of hand watering. I use a Hozon proportioner.
Once my plants are established and growing strong, about the middle of July, I clone them all and keep the copies heavily trimmed in 1 gallon pots. These are what I 'winter' over. The 7 gallon containers are a wad of roots that can be cut with a tree saw into a cube, but the 1 gallon pots seem to be a little easier. I've never tried rinsing the roots.
I look forward to seeing your other offerings
Hey Pepper Geek, have you got a video on "un-overwintering" your overwintered plant on your channel? What steps need to be taken to get them going again ready for the new season?
Thanks
You just need to harden them off same methodology as any other plant being brought outdoors. Nice and slow getting them used to increased light and temperature. They'll start pushing new growth as it warms up and they break dormancy.
@@blueshirtificationbut what about watering... I don't want to drown a dormant plant.. I think I killed one that way.
I have been trying to figure out how un-overwinter mine as well! Not a lot of videos on that.
@@blueshirtificationI don’t know anything at all about that methodology.
Is it absolutely necessary?
What happens if you don’t do it?
I’ve got nearly 20 plants I want to try over wintering, and it sounds like a load of hassle getting up extra early before work to put them out, then putting them back in again for who knows how long.
@@MortalWombatUK the issue with throwing your plants outside suddenly from inside is the leaves are vulnerable to UV and the wind. The leaves need to redevelop their protective cuticle which they lost from spending so much time indoors.
Great video! It's nice to see accurate and helpful information presented so well.
Thanks Scott! Love your channel :)
I must have a green thumb. All my overwintered plants are doing fantastic. I see how to do it once and said lets try it. Even after a freeze. Just dont disturb the main root ball is what im seeing
I over winter the best plant from each variety that I have, which is six plants total. As for the soil prep, I don’t worry about that. Sure a few gnats got released in the house but a firm spanking does the trick. Aphids I knock off with a Q-Tip but usually what’s left after pruning doesn’t have many if any aphids.
Two reasons I over winter one of each variety. One, I find 2+ year old plants normally produce better than one year old plants and two, I don’t go through the hassle of separating saved seeds by type, they are all stored in the same container so when I go to reseed I have no clue what type I am planting or even how old that particular seed is. Who knows I might even have some cross breeds in my seed storage. About to find out exactly what I do have this year from the seedlings because they are all looking good and healthy.
I am thinking about trying to save an entire bed this winter. Going to make a cheap hoop house and see if it will be enough to get all of them to survive through the winter. Luckily I live in zone 9A so it rarely gets below 35 here which seems like that is the temperature that dooms my peppers. The peppers I left outside without any protection were finally killed off in the first week of January when we hit 35. Although they didn’t stand a chance because the next two nights lows were 28 and 24. I am also going to try using a plastic 2 liter soda bottle on a random plant in another bed and see if that works.
I appreciate this series! Thank you! I hope to see more updates, I too am trying to over winter 2 different geno types that did really well in my garden. First time trying it.
The big reason to overwinter, IMO is for folks in cold climates, it gets you big production in year 2 and beyond. Year 1 is usually a disappointment for me for peppers in zone 4.
I had one that looked like a stump and it grew back and produced more than my younger ones from the store.
Its well worth overwintering if you have space for them, i had my pepper plants for 4 years, the first few years i just about got a few peppers on each plant, the variety was scotch bonnets and Carolina reaper, the last few years the plants turned to monsters with mega production of peppers, probably due to the maturity of the plants.
I overwintered some plants outdoors in a much warmer area zone 10... about 2/3's made it... the rest were brown and dry inside and dead. I even have some green Jalapenos on dec 13th.. But not many.. The plants have definatly slowed down... and some yellow leaves due to the short days.
Love the video… over wintering 7 this year first time. Thanks for all the info.
I wish I could show you my Scorpion Brain Strain plant I had last winter season. It is in a bonsai pot with mint growing all around it. I called her the Peppermint Christmas Tree. It had 9 ripe red fruit Christmas morning. Everyone was amazed and delighted. It is November 23 and she is full of babies again.
I'm pretty certain the frost killed that ghost chili, sadly. Overwintered 24 of my peppers this year. Dug them up before the first frost at night with a shovel, and a shop light, outside lol. Think most of my peppers will become container plants, to exist as perennials going forward. Will allow me to use driveway space as garden. Then I can get a couple peppers over the winter from each plant too. Have been doing this with just some ghost chilies for a long time. Don't have to cut the plant back as much--or dig up the roots. I also leave a couple of leaves on my plants when I cut them back (for over-wintering) just so they have something to photosynthesize with (they'll drop if they can't support it I figure) and to keep an eye on for watering/what-not. A thick layer of vermiculite on the top and bottom of the container is a good way to also stop fungus gnats. Has to be like 2+ solid inches. People forget they'll go through the bottom holes of a pot just as easily as the top.
I followed the advice on your last video to over winter my cayennes, jalapenos (it's already literally a big tree, so I want to see how large it can get!) Serranos, Anaheims, red hot cherry peppers, and ghost peppers. They are all looking good, staying warm in my basement with green stems. Fingers crossed! I will also be starting many seedlings from seeds I harvested from peppers others gave me or ones I got from pepper Festivals and grocery stores.
Thanks for the video, I'll be looking forward to see what happens.
First... Got mine over wintering with your advice
I did not know you could propagate peppers. Wow! Thanks pepper geek!
I overwintered my pepper plants they were much more productive then the ones from seedlings.
Super informative!!!! Wish I seen this video before the ones first suggested!
I overwintered a bell in Sacramento California and left it outside. Covering with frost cloth when needed. I decided after two years it was time to let it go. It was a no name green bell…. But it had that brown trunk and did fine. I think I will get a California Wonder Bell this year
Pepper Geek; How about doing the "finger nail test" to see if plant is still alive? Just carefully
scratch off a very small piece of skin from a branch; if green underneath, plant is still alive. Very fast.
Thanks for the tip -- I have two pepper plants that need this sort of test. So far I've just checked whether the branches seemed dry and brittle -- they are not -- but no green leaves like the other plants I overwintered.
Hmm, that did not turn out like I expected. All my stems are green on the outside and off-white underneath, but moist, including the ones that have leaves.
Pepper leaves taste good in Chicken stews and the likes. We do it here in the Philippines. I kinda feel bad whenever I see pepper videos throw away the leaves. You should try eating it.
I have 3 thai dragon chillies in my apartment, I love them, have been eating from them for 2 years and still going strong, just repotted them in bigger pots as I'm trying to get them to grow as big as possible, with grow lights
usually, a good indicator if a plant has died, is that the stem usually shrinks in diameter and gets these wrinkles on them. This is especially noticeable on soft bodied stalks like rex begonias since soft stalks turn brown, but it is also pretty noticeable with woody stalks like Aralias, Peppers, Coleus, etc... because they get these uneven grooves (like your fingers when they get "pruny" in the water) because the stalk dries out and shrinks.
Anyway to keep it alive mine look like it about to
@Oneness2023 unfortunately I can't ever get them to bounce back once they start that. My best suggestion would be to cut off some fresh green sections, dip them in rooting powder, and plant them in a small pot & try to restart.
Do u have a playlist on overwintering peppers?
A good way to know if it's alive or dead- just prune a small tip off the plant, and if it's green on the inside, it's still alive. If it's solid brown in the stem's center, it's likely dead
I really appreciate you making this helpful video! I'll use some of these tips for this winter. By the way, I'm also living in New England. Such beautiful sights to see here in Maine.
Thanks, our pleasure. Maine _is_ beautiful, we visited Acadia a while back, gorgeous.
I started with 10 plants indoors and now I have only 3 left- I think I overwatered some and others were killed by frost before they came in. I washed the roots but still got aphids & gnats. Steep learning curve but i am excited to get the three survivors back outside!
This is lengthy but its definitely worth the read for anybody because its an effective strategy to mitigate fingus gnats in indoor plants.
A hydrogen peroxide/neem oil soil drench should kill off any fungus gnats and the neem oil _should_ kill any eggs that haven't hatched yet. Do this once every other week and let soil fully dry in between waterings. Just be aware it may sterilize ur soil so be sure to add any beneficial bacteria, fungi and mycelium back into the soil sometimes this is necessary to effectively kill fungis gnats.
Remember that soil dries alot slower in doors, i usually wait almost until the plant is showing signs of needing water; dropping leaves or loss of vigor. Also lifting the pot is another way of testing soil moisture, a dry pot will feel noticeably lighter than a wet one. Use a fast draining soil mix to help dry out ur pots, or add rocks, broken clay pots, vermiculite etc. To the bottom of the pot before adding the soil. Use sand as a top soil to prevent a re-infestation if you'd like.
I hope any or all of this helps you out. It can be challenging to grow a garden and surprisingly more difficult indoors, but its not impossible by any means and id go as far as to say it actually is quite simple but we tend to overcomplicate things! Just know youll be gardening like a pro in no time! Especially if ur taking on indoor growing, you have my word! Oh! One more thing make sure you use cold pressed neem oil it contains all the necessary compounds to efficiently kill insects.
Happy gardening!
Calvin looking great in that beard...Let it grow in dude. My grampa always said that eating spicy food will put some hair on your chest...does it work for beards too? Mines a bit shabby and I haven't seen much difference from consuming spicy in copious amounts.
😂 not sure if it is the spicy food or what, but thanks!
Awesome thanks so much for sharing your information and advice
A friend of mine tried to over winter them in her green house and I think a few frosts got to them, I don’t think they will come back but I hope they do! I was tempted to over winter some of mine but I didn’t in the end… perhaps this year!
My reaper has been under a frost guard outside in 34° F and hasn't only survived but thrived. I still have flowers blooming and the plant has grown an inch in about a month. I water less frequently and during the day only. I almost chopped it down but it is kicking the winters butt.
That is awesome! What did you use to cover it?
@@PepperGeek I bought a white dome cover which sits flush to the ground. The material seems like a light fabric. Light definitely passes through. I wont get much colder than 30° F here but man this thing is rocking. I told my wife to say goodbye but to our surprise we thought it might produce!
That matches some of my experience. With the first frosts I take various measures like covering with plastic and bringing inside for plants I care about, and leave the rest as an experiment. I've had pretty good luck with peppers surviving down to about 30F without help, though it is a roll of the dice. I've only seen damage above freezing on certain unusually sensitive cultivars. In-ground plants fare better than those in pots, but once you get down to 27F all varieties I've tried will be dead unless covered, and by 22F or so all will be dead even if covered with plastic.
@@davidniemi6553 good info. Mine are potted and covered loosely
MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎅 🎄
Ok... this is the first time I have tried overwintering any of my peppers. I had 6 that I kept indoors and 10 that I left on my back deck (I am zone 8b so don't really get cold). The ones kept indoors are doing fine. The outdoors ones...not so much (except for my 4 Aji Rico plants that look like they've not even noticed the cold.
For most of the winter the ones outside seemed to be doing okay. But as time has worn on the stems have blackened and my hopes for them has waned. The only other plant that was left outdoors that still has some green is my Clile de Arbol.
I did have to pull these plants indoors for 3 days when our temperatures plummeted to -5C.
I just really hope the Aji Ricos do well as they seem to be be doing....very mild heat and great flavor.
Great video. One comment about the choice to continually but off new leaf growth: I have never seen new growth from the same armpit (the intersection between stem and leaf where new growth can come from) twice - this mean that if you cut of the new growth from an armpit, you're closing one of the few doors left available on your heavily trimmed down plant. I've experienced plants giving up because of that exact issue where there are no more open doors/armpits to grow from.. If the plant does not give up and still have some energy to start new growth, the only option for the plant is to grow you a new plant from the base, just above the roots. .. I could be wrong, but this is what I've observed among my own overwintered plants and indoor tiny fruit trees. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this observation @pepper geeks
I think I cut too close to the Y junction when I pruned. First try at over wintering jalapeños, habanero and sweet capsicum. Ive got some die back so should have left a longer tail I think. We shall see.
My one overwintered pepper that survived last year only grew from the base. I think you're on to something.
Some of my plants are dying due to heavy rain in Australia. Gunna be a bad growing season but here's hoping still got 4 months to go.
Thank you so much for this video ! I noticed my ghost pepper is turning hard and looks almost black /dark brown stems . While my habanero and Thai pepper is lightly green /brown . Not sure they will make it moved ghost pepper to my room where it’s way warmer … going to wait a few weeks to see if any buds pop up
Great video. Indexed. Quality editing. To the point. There so many advantages to doing this.
Thank you for the tips btw. This is an interesting experiment.
My Jalapenos went dormant like they were supposed to, but my Habanero is trying to produce flowers lol. That plant was super prolific this summer, so I hope it will go dormant soon to be ready for next year.
Same !
I had 2 of mine die. The cold ended up getting mine. I shouldn't have tried if I was wearing a winter jacket and needed a stocking cap and warm gloves when cleaning the roots off. 😆 And also trimmed the roots to put into a bonsai pot. It would have worked if I planed on it better. In my experience overwintering produces way more pods the next season but I grew it in a tent with optimal conditions starting to harvest in April. I already have open flowers.
Please talk specifically about indoor pests and how to handle them. My warm Southern winters (it was 77 F here yesterday) don't always kill them off in nature, but we do get a few hard freezes. I usually start out fine but get some crafty aphids who sneak into my basement grow room (50-60F) around late January/early February. I also get the occasional ladybug and lizard to help, but they're not that hungry. It's impractical to sterilize every piece of plant material that enters, so do I have any options besides insecticidal soap and neem oil weekly? I overwinter lots of other plants, but the hot peppers (peri peri, jalapeno, and habanero) seem to be particularly susceptible to aphids indoors.
I live in an area with a warm winter, and I had the same problem too...
for the plants I'm able to dormant, I use a spray solution called "Plant Therapy" and used horticultural sand as mulch to suffocate any fungal nats hiding in the soil too
My housemates cannot handle the smell from the neem oil. Since Lost Coast Plant Therapy is make out of peppermint and soy oil, the room smells a little minty when you apply the spray... you can also rotate this spray with neem or soap to keep the aphids guessing what's next (if there are any aphids left)
Sorry if this sound like an ad.... this spray helped me with my battle against pests...
I’m using some pest control that you have to use 3 times every 5 days, that work perfectly because that kill first the adults then the teens and finally the eggs.
You could buy a few more predator bugs like preying mantis or ladybugs online, I've heard of people doing this outdoors but idk if you really want more bugs indoors. They wont live forever though.
I have a jhost pepper just like yours and it looks like yours does. I am keepin it in the hopes that this pepper just looks different.
I overwintered last year but they died. I didnt this year but have brown bugs on the plant. Roll the dice and keep your fingers crossed 👍
Sprinkling cinnamon on the soil helps keep the gnats away
I am trying to overwinter about 15 pepper plants. I did so in a bit of a rush due to an early frost, which is probably a bad idea. I also did not thoroughly disinfect the roots, and predictably had problems with fungus gnats, though since then dumping off the top 1" of soil and replacing it with sand has had promising results. I am also using yellow fungus gnat traps, more as an indicator than a real remedy.
All but 2 of my overwintered peppers have grown a few green leaves which seem like a good indicator of health -- I am keeping them in a basement room aroung 65F, it is what I have. I suspect those two are dead, though their stems are not dried out or brittle yet, and there is no obvious reason they should be dead and the other dozen+ should be alive.
A related situation -- I tried bringing a few pepper plants indoors that had been outside in pots. While the plants all had an easy time of it -- fungus gnats and aphids galore. I really don't recommend this approach for the full winter even though it seems so easy in the short run and even though I was able to keep these plants in a separate room. And, I am trying germination tests and will start new seedlings in another month, so I don't want lingering fungus gnats anywhere in the house, even in areas many rooms away that you'd think the fungus gnats might not reach. I don't buy that they are "weak flyers" -- at least not the species I have here.
I just re-surveyed my overwintered plants. I'm pretty sure at least 4 are totally dead (including a couple that once had green leaves), 4 are obviously alive, and the rest are harder to tell. No obvious rhyme or reason for which lived and died, though I did them all in a rush so I'm sure I could have done a better job given more time and planning.
Tried overwintering 10 plants all dead now. Oh well back to seeds again x.x
I grew two Carolina reapers 2021 after watching your videos and harvested 1649 peppers from the two plants. I am over wintering and anxious to see how they perform next year.
What is the most peppers produced by one pepper plant you have heard of?
Enjoy your videos and appreciate your help.
What soil do you use?
You're very lucky to be able to have cold weather to make the plants dormant... I live in a place where there is only 2 seasons... "hot summer" and "warm summer"
I tried overwintering my chilli plants for the past 2 years... no success :/
The irony!
Hm, maybe there is no need to overwinter where you are! If outdoor temps don't drop into freezing temps, the plants can likely just survive through your "winter"
Fist time trying to overwinter peppers, I have a couple giant jalapenos and a couple of Cali Bells. They leafed out when I first brought them in, I think it was too warm in my living room as we have a wood stove. So I've moved them to a cooler room and I have a shop light on them for a few hours a day. When and HOW should I plan to wake them up? How many weeks before the last frost?
You can release lady bugs indoors to eliminate aphids I have done it. The lady bugs just die out when they cant find food.
I’m doing an experiment. It could be a failure but I’m trying nonetheless. I’m leaving the plants outside. I’m in Texas. It’s gonna be 12 degrees next week. I did remove leaves and pruned them down as suggested. Covered the roots in leaves, gave them some nutrients, covered the row with a green tent structure. I wonder if there’s any chance at all they’ll come back in the spring???
I heard on this and other channels not to expect all your plants to survive the overwinter process. What is the actual cause of the failures? i.e. trimming off too much, not getting good soil contact when replanting after washing off the roots?
I don't know if peppers are in any way like Coleus but my Coleus ran out of buds to keep growing from pruning back to much I ended up with a plant that had 4 leaves and wouldn't grow anymore branches or leaves but it was still growing just not getting bigger I finally just let it die something to keep in mind.
Would light from a couple small basement windows be enough for overwintering?
That is what we used for ours this past winter. They _were_ south-facing so that did help get some actual sunlight on them for a couple hours, so keep that in mind
Do over wintering plants need light?
a question for @pepper geek and commentators on this video. What if I put a plastic bag and keep moisture inside for the winter, avoid infestation and keep eventual parasites brought from ouside from spreading? I even heard that spraying with oxygen peroxide and change the soil with new sterile potting soil could even help. Thanks
My pepper plant is indoors now but it has tiny peppers and some flowers. I'm unsure what to do here it's early November.
Can I just prune it back and keep it alive under a light all winter?
I have some die back since I brought mine indoors, where I pruned to a Y junction. I think I should have left a longer piece above the node where I pruned. Seems this is effecting a plain sweet pepper more than jalapeños and habaneros. Im worried that the die back will limit the eventual new growth at the node.
What about peppers grown indoors using hydroponics? Should I change hydroponics liquid regularly and prune?
Lady bugs will kill aphids and many more pests. I love em!!! They are kinda neat to watch them scour my over wintered plants. Kinda like little minion aphid killers!!! I went from being infested to aphid free!!!! will it ever get cold in the south????
Hello. I have a question about light. Is it really necessary to provide any light at all? I mean... The ghost pepper for example, it doesn't have any green parts at all, hence no chlorophyll. So why would it need any light? Thanks for the help. :)
Pepper nerds!!!!
How do I stop or prevent Edema in my over winter plants.
It shouldn’t be anything to worry about, but if you want you can try to give them some fresh air and a light breeze to improve airflow
Can you just dig up, use the outside soil and then cover the bottom pot with screen?
I overwintered two plants in my greenhouse (habanero and tabasco). The greenhouse keeps the air temp warmer than 45 degrees most nights (heater assisted) and consistently in the 80+ degree range during the day. My plants are doing so well that they are about to start budding again. Should i let them flower or should i pick the flowers off to promote more growth? I trimmed them back pretty harshly last fall so there is definitely a lot more size that they can grow into. Thanks for your help.
I would probably try to promote more foliar growth at this stage. If they are in large pots and have room to grow much larger, try to get them to reach that mature size before fruiting. Either way, you should be on your way to an early harvest this year!
@@PepperGeek Thanks!
what do i do when the plants are to big
Sounds like a good problem to have...for overwintering, you can always prune them back to the desired size.
@PepperGeek
This is my first attempt at over-wintering and I followed your instructions for bringing them inside.
Only 2 plants are trying to put out leaves and I am removing them since it is months before I will be able to put them out again. (Zone 4, late November.) Any suggestion for when I should let the plant leaf out if I can't put them out until at least April in the greenhouse? That is over 5 months away.
The 2 plants that look the best are both taken from outdoors, whereas all my others were in my greenhouse. All the greenhouse ones appear dead. I saw another video that said that stressed plants survive better. I wonder if that is a factor. My greenhouse plants got babied too much?
Question: I notice you have them in small pots, do the roots not grow that much? I want to try this and these pot sizes would be wonderful.
Do the larger pots you use for adult plants need drainage holes or no?
Yes all the pots we use have drainage. The fabric pots just drain through the fabric, but plastic pots need open holes
@@PepperGeek Cool. That's what I figured. Thank you so much.
Could you also tell me how long (on average) it takes from seed to harvest on the super spicies?
I've got leviathan scorpion, peach ghost, and Amarillo Reapers that have sprouted and wondering how long before I'll be in pepper heaven
I attempted overwintering and lost all my peppers. They lasted until the last few months before spring.
I'm assuming you've used the insecticidal soap to drench the soil for overwinter prep previously with success? Because just listening to this video, it sounds like that could be an additional variable in the brown/less healthy/maybe dead state of the plant in the back.
What is the minimum temperature they will survive in?
I got grow lights, and live in michigan. Can i pull my reaper pepper indoors not overwinter and just put under lights for growth all winter?
My plants still have unripe fruit on them, do I pick all of it and prep for winter or just let it ride?
If you're bringing it inside, you'll have to do something about the insects first. There are food-grade insecticides like insecticidal soaps, but usually we just pick off the fruits before prepping to overwinter.
Question:. Why can't you just leave the plant outside over the winter? Won't it just go into hibernation in the winter months?
Peppers are not frost hardy, so freezing temps will kill the plants. If you live in a tropical climate, then by all means, leave them out and keep growing them through the 'winter!'
I have never over wintered plants and I'm afraid that mine might be dead, I haven't noticed any leaf growth in over a month. If they are dead o well but I hope not
I have the same issue. I wish there was a way of telling if we should just toss them out or if there is something we can do to revive them.
Ive got a few bushes ive left indoors for winter, but i noticed that some of the sticks i left while pruning got black and look like ther are rotting ? I dont know how to describe it, they are like drying, getting black and looks like its either rotting or drying. Should i just cut them off now ? Or its already lost and i should start sowing new plants just to be sure ?
Just curious, could this possibly apply to cannabis plants as well?
overwintering a fatalli pepper in my basement tent, pruned and swapped soil mid November. it gets 7hr of led light and it is doing really well. I dont think it ever went dormancy however and I am now seeing some pods starting. should I trim back again and lower the light hours? temps are around 65F.
If things are looking good, you could keep it going with the LEDs and see what happens. No harm in keeping the plant growing as long as you have the space and keep it watered
I am not sure if you read comments on old videos but I over wintered my plants for the first time and they all still have some green in the stem but are mostly brown. I am hopeful that they will recover but my plant’s stems hollowed out over winter somewhat. They are in the warmer weather now and getting regular water and I noticed some white fibers growing inside the stem that look kind of like paper.
Do you think that the peppers are trying to regenerate the old stems by chance?
I’ll find out eventually either way but the suspense is killing me lol
Curious if you had an update regarding this, and whether you learned anything beyond the video's content through your experience.
I'm in Dallas, TX, and it's December 26th, with temperatures in the 60s and 70s at the moment. I have raised beds with twelve varieties of peppers, all of which I've trimmed following the steps in your earlier video. Each bed is "hooped". If I wrap and secure the beds with translucent plastic so they get natural warmth from the sun (and assuming we don't have a killer February like we did ten months ago), will my peppers overwinter in place successfully?
It sounds like you should be okay in that climate, especially with a covering. I would keep an eye on temperatures on the coldest nights and I would also put some thick mulch down to protect the roots from freezing weather
I did this. My jalapeno plant survived all year. I planted it back out side with fresh soil. Its been 2 weeks and still no signs of new leafs or any sort of progress.. Does it just need more time?? My plant is still very green and healthy looking. I think its stunted. Help 😢
It could just need some time to integrate roots into the new soil. A few weeks of slow/no growth is normal after transplant - give it time!
@@PepperGeek copy that! Thank you.
Hi l have pepper plants that are 3to4 feet high, don't know what to do with these. They are sitting in my kitchen.
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