I thought it would be nice to have a topic just devoted to overwintering chili pepper plants. There are lots of descriptions on the internet, although some lack follow through. I posted the first part last month, so this much is a recap. I tried two things this year. For both, I dug up the pepper plants when the weather started to cool down. I carefully dug up the pepper plant, as much intact root as I could. This is a Cayenne pepper plant. I dug these up on Oct 27. Then I hosed off all of the soil. That is an attempt to remove insects, their larvae and eggs. Then prune the roots, so they fit easily in the plant container. Most pepper enthusiasts also prune the top fairly severely, and cut off the leaves. The the processed, pruned, pepper plant is planted into a clean container, with a good all purpose potting soil. This one is a different pepper plant, which I did not prune back because I wanted to see if I could ripen the Thai peppers. Not pruning them is my other experiment. I did hose off the soil, for all of them. Now the pruned plants are kept in a sunny but cool room, 50s F. The nonpruned ones are in my sunroom, which is 60s F to 70s F. I'll try to update through the winter and beyond. First update, at about three weeks - there were some tiny white creatures on the soil surface for one plant, a Tabasco pepper plant. I sprayed the soil with an herbal plant spray, then some neem spray, and isolated the plant. Second update, Nov 19. A small Early Jalapeño Pepper plant has aphids, This plant was small, so I had left the leaves on it. I don't want to use pesticides, so I cut off all of the leaves now and sprayed with an herbal plant spray. The Thai pepper plants still look good, even though I left on all of the leaves. The peppers continue to ripen. These are in my sunroom. They have no aphids or other pests so far. That's a Tabasco Pepper behind the taller Thai Pepper plants. It's looking OK too. There is still a long winter ahead. It will be interesting to see what happens.
This is a superb “how to” thread. I wish I could participate but last year I had dried so many peppers, that it will be another two years before I grow peppers again. It does not stop me from learning though. My hold over back then did not work well. Mate, thanks loads for this useful and well-written thread.
Good information Daniel, i grow my chillies in the conservatory never been outside. I try to over winter them but they still get aphids but i don't do anything except cut them down a bit.
Update. Just over a month so far. No further aphids, gnats, or other insects. They should be dormant, although there is a little growth on some. They were dry so I gave each plant a cup of water, not enough to run through the bottom holes. Tabasco. I didn't remove leaves from this one. Cayenne. I didn't remove the leaves from this Thai Dragon Pepper. Early Jalapeño.
I'm curious what the room temperature is in your sun room for their dormancy Daniel. And how many hours of sunlight?
These are in an unheated spare bedroom, South window. Temperature is in the 50s F most of the time. I think today there were 9 hours of sunlight.
Update. Now almost two months. Not much change. Most are just sitting there. A Tabasco has some growth, but not much. That Tabasco. (I dont know why it's sideways) I usually start chili pepper seeds in January, so we only have a month or two remaining before I can move these to more light and warmer spot and start them growing again.
Looking very good, Daniel. Looking very good indeed. Too bad about those aphids, but maybe now you have the upper hand. It was a good lesson to carry out plant procedures, great or small. Chapeau.
This is quite the accomplishment. I'll be very interested to see them in the spring and summer as well. How many years do you think a chili plant can be carried over Daniel?
OK, here we are, Jan 31. All but one seem OK. Left to right, Serrano, Tabasco, Tabasco, Jalapeno, Thai. Foreground Left to right, Banana, Cayenne (probably hybrid), Thai. The banana pepper is looking almost dead. All of the others seem more or less OK. I decided to spray with an organic soap spray, because some an aphid or two will appear. It hasn't been much of a problem. I may move the smallest two, to the seedlings lights soon. The sunroom is a bit cool but I think if it is good enough for pepper seedlings, it might be good enough for pepper plants. The plant lights are high enough for the smaller plants.
