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Comments
"Interesting. What causes potscdo you use?"
Mark on Saturday 20 October 2018
"I just use plastic pots, nothing special. For a mature chili pepper they need to be at least 20cm/8in across."
Ben Vanheems on Monday 22 October 2018
"Thanks for a great article - soooo timely and useful as usual! I've successfully overwintered chilli pepper plants for the past few years (kept one particular plant going for 3 years but lost it eventually). Would this also work with sweet pepper plants? This year I've grown two beautiful long green sweet pepper plants (variety unknown as they were saved seed from an allotment neighbour) and wonder if they too can be overwintered?"
Aisling on Wednesday 24 October 2018
"Hi Aisling. Absolutely, yes! Sweet peppers and chilli peppers are essentially the same plant - it's just the latter has much hotter fruits. So please go ahead overwintering your sweet peppers in exactly the same way."
Ben Vanheems on Monday 29 October 2018
"Thanks Ben - I'll give it a go and let you know how I get on next spring.Cheers,Aisling"
Aisling Judge on Wednesday 31 October 2018
"I'm trying to overwinter a chocolate habanero that grew outside in a raised bed this year. It took so long to get going that I don't want to deal with doing it all over again from seedling. I may have to check on it against these instructions. It's under two layers of Reemay but that may not be enough. We've had a mild winter so far.Washington, DC"
Carl W on Thursday 27 December 2018
"Hi Carl. I’d be worried that any very cold snap would get at the plant and kill it. If possible it would be far safer to bring it indoors where there’s no risk of frost damage at all. "
Ben Vanheems on Thursday 27 December 2018
"can i use a "wicking pot - self watering pot " for my capsicum bush or will the soil be too moist "
PHILIP BEINART on Sunday 19 April 2020
"A self-watering pot should be absolutely fine for capsic*ms, as the plant will be drawing on the soil moisture it needs. These sorts of pots will be particularly useful as summer progresses and the heat picks up."
Ben Vanheems on Monday 20 April 2020
"i have planted red bell pepper, green bell pepper, hot pepper last yr and now there are no leaves but i see a couple peppers on my red bell and hot pepper but nothign on my green bell pepper. Will the leaves grow back or do i just need to get me some new ones to plant"
Hazel on Thursday 30 April 2020
"Hi Ben, I said I'd update you on my over wintering success/failures, so here I am - and only a year late! I lost one of the long, sweet peppers over winter 2018-19 but the other cropped well last summer. Sadly, this did not survive a second winter so I'm starting afresh this year. Of the chillies, all bar one survived ( 3 x Peppadew and 1xBiquinho Yellow), gave fantastic crops in 2019 and are looking good for another year again already! Last summer I invested in a self watering system ( Quadgrow pots and reservoirs, attached to waterbutts filled with diluted liquid feed) which kept everything ( incl tomatoes and aubergines) healthy and fruiting all summer, even when I was away for 6 weeks during July/Aug. Thanks for all the wonderful advice!"
Aisling, Cardiff on Thursday 30 April 2020
"Hi Hazel. If the stems themselves are still green and not brittle and dead, then there's still a good chance they will sprout green leaves again. Have you started to gradually increase the amount of water you give them? Perhaps a gentle feed will also help to coax them into life - and you could repot them into fresh potting mix. At this stage, though it may be prudent to sow for some new plants, just in case they don't spring back to life."
Ben Vanheems on Friday 1 May 2020
"Hey Aisling - that's a real result - nice one! So pleased you managed to get another year out of them and a few more seem to be game for a third. Keep up the great work!"
Ben Vanheems on Friday 1 May 2020
"Thanks for the advice. We got a nice shishido pepper plan this year and would love to winterize it."
Lance Baker on Monday 31 August 2020
"You've very welcome Lance. Good luck with overwintering your pepper plant."
Ben Vanheems on Tuesday 1 September 2020
"Great article! For some reason I've never thought of overwintering pepper plants, and I'm going to try it this year under grow lights. I've never had much luck with those I've raised from seed, as they take so long to produce and never get any real size on them before our Minnesota cold kills them off. Overwintering should be just the thing. Thank you!"
Diana Lawrence on Sunday 27 September 2020
"So pleased to hear the article has been of use Diana. Good luck with overwintering your peppers, and here's to a bumper crop next year!"
Ben Vanheems on Monday 28 September 2020
"i forget how old my pepper plant is been bringing it in for yrs in winter an cutting it back looks like a small tree now and grows so many peppers only one i want or need so i guessing it can be done an it flowers an grows peppers in winter but slowly an i live in canada"
p.s. leyland on Friday 27 November 2020
"Wow. Keeping your plant alive for several years is genuinely impressive! "
Ben Vanheems on Monday 30 November 2020
"Hi there Ben,I'm just wondering why they need a lot of light if their leaves often drop off anyway? My cottage is very small and small windows, so I haven't got any space for the plants on the windowsills. Is it more about warmth, would you say? Do you think they would be ok in a downstairs bathroom (bizarrely, the biggest room in the cottage! but gets a bit steamy... would they object?). I bought 6 very productive, but not cheap, grafted sweet pepper plants this summer, which are currently looking very healthy in large terracotta pots in the greenhouse. I'm just wondering if a mini heater in there to keep above freezing, and bubble wrap the pots, would be a feasible option? I'm Somerset, so warmer than some areas."
Judy B on Saturday 2 October 2021
"Once most of the leaves have dropped light isn't so important. They really like it a bit warmer than just above freezing - say 10-15 Celsius, such as you might get in an unheated room. Some suggest overwintering peppers in a garage with a window - just a little light is fine once they're dormant. I worry that a downstairs bathroom might be a bit warm and also that the humidity might encourage pests - but then if it's well ventilated possibly not. You could try overwintering them in the greenhouse as you suggest, but the whipsawing of temperatures - cold nights even with heat, then warm days if it's sunny - could be disruptive. I've never tried overwintering them like this, but it could be worth a try. Perhaps you could box off a separate area in the greenhouse for them to make the most of the mini heater and, if it's super-cold and there's a risk of frost inside the greenhouse, you could always bring them in temporarily. "
Ben Vanheems on Monday 4 October 2021
" Winter mins are around 6c usually, here at 730m in S Spain (Aracena), but the average is 15c+. Is it worth the risk to leave them in the ground?"
David on Friday 8 October 2021
"Thank you both for your replies... I will experiment!"
Judy B on Friday 8 October 2021
"Hi David. Peppers are perennials and will drop their leaves as light levels decrease and it gets cooler. But assuming you can keep plants comfortably above freezing over the winter, they may well overwinter where they are for you. So I would say it's certainly worth a try. However, do watch the weather forecasts carefully and be on hand to cover plants with extra fleece or similar to keep them safe if there is any risk of frost whatsoever."
Ben Vanheems on Monday 11 October 2021
"What kind of peppers are those in the first picture in this article? I bought some from Home Depot a long time ago and it was mislabeled as Carmen peppers. I was very happy with the mistake, because those became one of my favorite peppers, but I wish I knew what they were called."
Bruce on Tuesday 19 October 2021
"From memory Bruce, I think they were a Cayenne chili pepper."
Ben Vanheems on Wednesday 20 October 2021
"Lot of work and hassle when you consider new pepper plants are about 3 bucks in the spring. "
Paul Rowe on Monday 13 December 2021
"Thank you very much for this article. I live in New Hampshire in the States, and it gets well below freezing here in the winter. Killing frosts often hit through April and return as early as late September, so our growing season is pretty short. Last spring I started a Carolina Reaper from seed - it didn't have a chance to bloom before fall came along, so I brought it into the house, with the hopes that I might actually get some Carolina Reaper peppers in 2022. It got hit with aphids back in December, which I successfully fought off and they haven't returned, so I have high hopes for this plant (a decorative pot of ornamental peppers didn't fare as well last winter, and ended up in the compost - maybe too many plants jammed into one pot?). Young Mr. Reaper is currently strong and hale, with lots of healthy foliage! It's fun to see that there are other people like me who treat plants as pets. :)"
Jeannine on Wednesday 23 February 2022
"Hi Jeannine. I do hope your Mr Reaper is doing well still. That's great to hear it survived the winter. As for your other peppers - yes, they do need proper space, and overcrowding would make them struggle and less likely to survive as a result."
Ben Vanheems on Monday 28 March 2022
"My habanero is flowering like crazy but eventually the flowers drop. Started in May and until now at the end of August not one pepper. Tried more water and light, less , more fertilizer, les. Picked off many flowers, used Qtis to pollinate! What else? Bees can be seen on the plant. Foliage is lush and pruned. Shake the plant regularly, mist etc. HELP. SHOULD I HANG IN FOR FALL HARVEST?."
Rosemarie on Saturday 27 August 2022
"I tried overwintering peppers for the first time this year (tomatoes too: they died) trimming them back to about the 3rd node and putting them in the dark, warm-enough basem*nt and checking their water level infrequently. I actually kept them in a plastic greenhouse until January, trying to ripen their last peppers: only worked well with the Jimmy Nardello's. I won't waste the electricity again, just trim them back and put them in the basem*nt before the first frost. I put an 8-lamp 4-foot --4,000 K? Spring spectrum--HO T-5 grow light over the peppers 16 hours a day a month ago (mid March). Some started to re-veg after a couple of weeks; others are just beginning, and some might have died, though all still have some green on their stems. The ones doing the best are Thunderbolt and Giant Marconi. Might be another month before I can put them outside, and I don't have room to re-pot them until then. I'll try to letchya know how it works.Rosemarie, I didn't get any Habanadas (sweet Habaneros, no heat, delicious) last year: I think I overfertilized my plant. Lotsa leaves, no good fruit. I was told I gave it too much nitrogen. We'll see if I can avoid that this year."
Jonno on Friday 14 April 2023
"Sounds like you've successfully overwintered them Jonno - great work!"
Ben Vanheems on Friday 14 April 2023
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