Overwintering Pepper Plants: How To Dig, Pot, Fertilize And Prune Them
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ต.ค. 2020
- Pepper plants are a staple in most vegetable gardens, but peppers are tender plants that cannot survive frost. Fear not: just because your growing season ends doesn't mean you can't still grow peppers. Pepper plants can be easily dug from the garden, placed in a container and brought inside for overwintering. In fact, if you have a sunny south-facing window, a pepper plant can continue to grow and produce fresh peppers all year long.
Overwintering pepper plants is a simple process. This video will teach you how to dig up the plants, move them into containers, teach you how to fertilize peppers, and show you how to prune pepper plants so you'll be overwintering peppers and growing peppers this winter! This video will make over wintering peppers and pruning peppers easy.
If you have any questions about how to grow peppers, how to overwinter peppers, pruning peppers plants, fertilizing peppers, any of the things I am growing in my garden, are looking for any garden tips and tricks, or have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, please ask in the Comments below!
*********************************************************
VISIT MY AMAZON STOREFRONT FOR PRODUCTS I USE MOST OFTEN IN MY GARDEN*
www.amazon.com/shop/themillen...
*********************************************************
VISIT MY MERCHANDISE STORE
shop.spreadshirt.com/themille...
*********************************************************
EQUIPMENT I MOST OFTEN USE IN MY GARDEN (INDIVIDUAL LINKS)*:
Miracle-Gro Soluble All Purpose Plant Food amzn.to/3qNPkXk
Miracle-Gro Soluble Bloom Booster Plant Food amzn.to/2GKYG0j
Miracle-Gro Soluble Tomato Plant Food amzn.to/2GDgJ8n
Jack's Fertilizer, 20-20-20, 25 lb. amzn.to/3AuNUFK
Southern Ag Liquid Copper Fungicide amzn.to/2HTCKRd
Southern Ag Natural Pyrethrin Concentrate amzn.to/2UHSNGE
Monterey Organic Spinosad Concentrate amzn.to/3qOU8f5
Safer Brand Caterpillar Killer (BT Concentrate) amzn.to/2SMXL8D
Cordless ULV Fogger Machine amzn.to/36e96Sl
Weed Barrier with UV Resistance amzn.to/3yp3MaJ
Organza Bags (Fig-size) amzn.to/3AyaMUz
Organza Bags (Tomato-size) amzn.to/36fy4Re
Injection Molded Nursery Pots amzn.to/3AucVAB
Heavy Duty Plant Grow Bags amzn.to/2UqvsgC
6.5 Inch Hand Pruner Pruning Shears amzn.to/3jHI1yL
Japanese Pruning Saw with Blade amzn.to/3wjpw6o
Double Tomato Hooks with Twine amzn.to/3Awptr9
String Trellis Tomato Support Clips amzn.to/3wiBjlB
Nylon Mason Line, 500FT amzn.to/3wd9cEo
Expandable Vinyl Garden Tape amzn.to/3jL7JCI
*********************************************************
SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow Me on TWITTER (@NCGardening) / ncgardening
Follow Me on INSTAGRAM / millennialgardener_nc
*********************************************************
ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
34.1°N Latitude
Zone 8A
*********************************************************
*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
© The Millennial Gardener
This procedure really works! After watching this vid, 2 yrs ago, I dug up several of my best producing reg bell pepper plants (still blooming & producing) as well as a Carolina Reaper hot pepper that I had struggled to get germinated. I'm proud to report that this is almost spring 2023 and I'm getting ready to transplant my bell peppers & Carolina Reaper back into my garden. This will be the 3rd yr of production and my pepper harvests are much earlier and more prolific than had I started each growing season with new seedlings. My plants have all new growth from being pruned prior to being dug up & transplanted into pots. I had a smaller bell pepper plant that I left unpruned and it produced peppers all winter in my heated greenhouse. I did the same with a smaller tomato plant I had pruned at the end of the growing season. It came back out with new growth. To pollinate, I simply shook the plants daily to stimulate release of the pollen. EXCELLENT VIDEO and I'm living proof, along with my peppers, that this procedure works!!
My first attempt at overwintering peppers. My plants are much smaller than yours and are just beginning to produce fruit in September. My frost date is October 15th-ish. My question is, can I let my plants produce until the beginning of October, then transplant into winter containers (1 gal. Size) and severe prune back to a few nodes and bring indoors before first frost? Will they stay dormant until longer spring days?
That Walmart knock off garden hack is worth its weight in gold! Wow! Spent so much money on M. G. This year. Tomato and strawberry plants love M.G. A cheaper alternative is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Never too old! For the first time, I'm planning to overwinter 3 very good pepper plants, so this video is a timely help. Thanks!
We had some hard frosts (down to 22F) in the Piedmont of NC the last week of October, so rather than let my eggplant die I used TMG's pruning, potting, and fertilizing technique to overwinter a Burpee Early Long eggplant in a 15-gal black plastic nursery pot with augmented and refreshed garden soil. I started this plant from seed last winter and planted it in-ground in April, where It was a reliable producer of fruit from mid summer. Knowing it was a perennial we wanted to keep it, and after just 2-3 weeks in my unheated SE-facing sunroom it's already producing new leaves and looks really healthy. It's a long time 'til April, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
You must have read my mind because this weekend I will be overwintering 4 of my peppers plants.
Good luck! Thanks for watching.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks you.
That was a very informative post. I was just getting ready to bring my peppers indoors. Thank you.
Thanks for watching! Glad it was helpful.
Thank you for this video.
I learned so much just from this one video. your content is dense with good info!
I appreciate it! Thanks for watching!
I'm doing this now this year. Very informative. I love all your videos
As always great video...keeping notes for next year 2021 and I agree I love my grow bags! All the best from NY!
Thank you for watching! I appreciate it.
Great video, thank you!
William R thanks for watching!
Thank you. Had no idea. We live in Appalachia western MD so not sure how one would survive even in the greenhouse but I've got nothing to lose but to try 😊.
Love your "pup" 😍
This video is perfect timing since I am going to attempt to save my pepper plants this winter 🌱
Glad to help. Thank you for watching.
TH-cam suggested the video in October 2023!
Very helpful, and needed right now..
Thanks! Glad it was helpful. Thank you for watching.
Great information!
Thanks for watching!
This is awesome. Thank you so much. Excited to get to work tomorrow
You’re welcome. I’m still eating off that pepper plant. It is over 18 months old at this point and fruits like crazy.
Nice can't wait to try it
I’m still eating off this plant. It is beautiful and full of fruits. It is over 3 years old.
Definitely going to try this next year! I had no idea they were perennial by nature!
Yep! If you lived in a frost-free climate without a lot of disease pressure, they can live for several years.
Excellent video!
Thank you very much!
ill be overwintering some in my grow bags as well. Best of luck to your peppers! Ready for next season already!
ill be leaving mine in the ground as long as possible. Prob around thanksgiving
Thanks for watching!
So glad I subscribed this year. Wish I had saved my peppers, but I still have plenty saved so I won’t cry. Thank you!
Glad the video was helpful! Thank you for watching!
Great video
Thanks for watching!
Keep up the good work
That was great information to lern
Like the way you explain everything
And easy to understand
Thank you!
Glad it was helpful! Thank you for watching! I appreciate it.
I’ve been watching plenty of gardening videos, your’s was A+. My question is, wow, so much details on fertilizing! Perhaps overwhelming, I recorded and will watch with pen in hand. So, I pruned and brought my plants in (RI) planted in homemade compost. Why are you loading up with fertilizer when I thought we were having the plant go into a dormancy, like we do with geraniums in New England. On my enclosed porch it could get down to upper 40’s. Thanks! I’ve subscribed!
You pack a lot of info in a short video. Great video.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching.
Thanks for the excellent and valuable information.Minnesota has already hard frosts and snow.I'll try to do this next year when I grow some 'Lesya' and other Paprika Peppers You're always looking Handsome in the Vids.I was hoping to see Dale do a lap around the Garden at the end lol
I imagine peppers in MN can be challenging with the shorter summers. I think even at your latitude, a mature pepper overwintered will produce indoors given enough light. It is hard to film Dale Zoomies because they’re so unpredictable. And once you get the camera out, they’re done. It’s like filming a unicorn.
great work
Thank you!
Ótimo vídeo parabéns
Thanks for watching!
Thank you! I'm gonna give this a try with some poblanos and red/yellow bells. Rats/mice ate all the foliage off my jalapenos and did them in.
Ah, that's a drag. Hopefully, the overwintering works for you!
Nice video! Timely…
Thank you for another great video!!! From Kentucky 🤗🦋🤗 Please make a video of how they did!!!
Thanks! I always show this pepper in my garden tours. It's still growing. It'll be going on its 3rd year, and it still fruits and grows fine. A single pepper can keep growing for 5-10 years. The stalk has turned into "wood." It's not true wood, but it's brown and hard as wood. It's pretty amazing.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you so much!! Can you post the link? I notice many like me are asking for the result after you planted it after Winter!! 🤗🦋🤗
Great video. What would you do for pest treatment before bringing inside.
very acpling
I hope you are well. I watched this video when you originally produced it and found it very helpful of course. Can you share your rationale as to why you would chose to overwinter a particular pepper plant, the benefits you have found of doing it, and if you still do it? As you know, you’re in zone 7V (in my case Northern Virginia) over the weekend the temperatures will dip down below freezing. I am considering doing it with one particular pepper plant and hoped you might be able to share some thoughts before I go ahead and do it. Be safe and well, have a great weekend
Thanks! Mine are 4 yrs old but they suck
I'd screw a 2 foot 2x4 board to top of that privacy fence's 4x4 posts parallel to ground. Then screw another 2 ft 2x4 screw to end of other 2x4 and to 4x4 to support weight and I'd grow some Muscadines grapes such as Hall, Supreme, Black Beauty or what ever from Isons or Bottoms nursery. So good and make excellent jellies and wines.
Great video! Super useful information this method will quadruple the effort vs reward involved in growing peppers! That second years growth has Soo many peppers!
I’ve done this before and it is pretty amazing how they crank out peppers all winter. I grew a Garden Salsa pepper for 3 years in 2 different states. It did great all 3 years. Peppers are tough and persistent.
Incredible content. Wow my brain is digesting! Quick question: is there any point to trying to root those pruned clippings?
Thanks! At this point in the year, I would say no. My peppers all have some amount of disease on them, and you don't want to root diseased branches. At this point in the year, it would probably be faster to start a new, healthy, disease-free plant from seed. Many peppers only take about 45 days to germinate and begin flowering.
Would love to see a quick follow up video to see how the peppers are doing now. Also, what zone and elevation are you in?
Zone 8, elevation...3? I'm 9 miles from the ocean in NC, so the topography here is basically a pancake.
Great video....Did i miss the exact type of pepper plant you transplanted?
Is it a hot pepper plant of some kind?
It's beautiful.
This is a hot cherry pepper, but the methods apply to any pepper plant you want to bring indoors over the winter and grow.
👍👍
I just found and subscribed to you today. I enjoyed your heated hoop house video and now this one. I was wondering, what zone are you in?
Thank you. I appreciate that. I'm in Zone 8. More detailed location information is in my video description and in the channel description.
Hi, I'm in zone 6b so I would have to bring the plants inside for the winter. What temperature should they be kept in for their time inside? Thank you.
Great video per usual. Questions for you: 1) for potted plants (specifically figs) that go dormant over the winter, how often is it necessary to fertilize them? 2) when you overwinter peppers, does the plant also go dormant and lose its leaves? 3) Do you sell your fig cuttings; and if so, are you selling any white Madeira cuttings? Thanks!
This site called FigBid has tons of people selling fig cuttings and plants, they're buy now or auctions.
@@Motolav Yeah, thanks; I've made a few purchases on there recently. I like hearing what figs have performed best for these fig growing youtubers and then seeing if I can get a cutting directly from them to ensure I'm getting the same clone. Sometimes I think the varieties are a bit different depending on who you buy from.
What do the bottom of your containers look like? Can you do a video on proper drainage of container growing.
Jesse Brown the containers are basically a really strong felt-like fabric. It is like wrapping your plants in a really strong shirt, so drainage is not an issue.
Do you think what you did will help the plant produce more than before? I suspect so and hope you'll give us and update in months to come. Thanks.
Generally, I find plants in containers do not produce as well as a plant in-ground. In addition, the ability for a plant to produce fruit is proportional to the heat and intensity of the sun it receives. This plant will only produce a fraction of what it did in ground during the summer when the sun is nice and warm and strong, but it is still producing. I just picked 2 nice red peppers off of it, so I'm happy with any fresh peppers I can get in December.
I live in Massachuetts.have 3 shishitos I overwintered indoors and which produced . I want to place them back in the beds. What do you recommend besides hardening? Trimming? Removing fruit and flowers thanks
Does it need to be a grow bag or could it be a basic pot?
Do you water the peppers normally through the winter I live in CT so they will be in my basement do they need sunlight?
The leaf on that pepper is yellow with green veins. My indoor peppers have the same issue (as well as some bad edema), do you know what is causing the discoloration? I've tried to add calmag and iron but no luck
Thanks so much for this video! We are neighbors, I’m in Wilmington :)
Question-so what is next after the plant recovers? Where do you put it for the winter-garage? Indoors? And in the spring-do you replant it back into the garden or leave in the pot?
Hey neighbor! After the plant recovers, you can either leave it outside when temps agree, but carry it inside when there is a risk of frost/freeze and bring it back out in the morning when things warm up, or if you have a greenhouse, really sunny south-facing window or a sunroom/enclosed patio that doesn't see freezing temps, you can leave it there. Mine is inside my hoop house because it gets really warm in there and it set a whole new cluster of fruit and I've already picked two ripe ones.
@@TheMillennialGardener thanks!!!!!! I missed my opportunity with those freezing temps.... may try to just save it anyway...
@@lenasutherland5035 you can always start a new seed. It'll grow slowly, but you'll have your first fresh peppers in March or April if you start now. Beats waiting until June.
@@TheMillennialGardener Doing this with my peppers this fall! I have a few plants and hopefully I can overwinter them all!
Quick question- when I do bring them in during frost temps, would you advise bringing them into the house or just the garage (no greenhouse of any kind or enclosed porch)? Would the house be too warm for them?
thanks!
Thanks for sharing! How did you overwinter it when frost came? Do pepper plants need lights indoor (or in garage), or can they hibernate for a few months in the dark?
I I tried to save 2 peppers last November as an experiment, wish I had seen your video first. I think they're just dying in my dark garage right now =(
I simply moved the pot into my hinged hoop house. It's now 30 inches tall and full of peppers. I've been periodically harvesting them. Peppers grow continuously, so they cannot sit in the dark. They'll need light. If you want them to set fruit, you'll either need to carry them outside during the day and place them in real sunlight if it is above freezing (and back inside at night if it's going to frost or freeze), or you'll need to move them under grow lights. To fruit them, they need fairly intense sunlight. If you just want to overwinter them to get a jump on the spring, you can place them in front of a sunny window. The sunny window will keep them alive and growing very slowly, but it won't provide enough energy to fruit in most cases.
@@TheMillennialGardener thanks!!
Can you overwinter basil plants in a similar manner?
Yes. Since basil doesn't grow fruit and you simply eat the leaves, there is less energy demand than a fruiting plant like a pepper. Basil will grow well indoors provided you give them a sunny, south-facing window (or even a grow light) and high nitrogen fertilizer at recommended intervals.
Just wondering if you recommend propagating these pepper plants
Since you are cutting some branches off it occurred to me that some of could be rooted in water and later planted? But I don’t know if that is an option?
Can this same process be done with eggplant or are they different ?
Great video! Learned a lot from your other videos as well. I had to throw away 2 outdoor potted pepper plants a couple months ago because all the leaves were infested with spider mite eggs. The plants were started from seeds and grew beautifully until the mites showed up. I tried spraying with soapy water, then neem oil. Nothing worked. The leaves kept falling off in bunches. So sad to see. Do you have any advice on preventing this from happening? Im gonna start seeds again this winter.
Thanks,
I find neem oil to be a very poor insecticide or deterrent. I gave up on it a season and a half ago due to poor results. I now use pyrethrum concentrate for beetle type bugs and leaf hoppers, and spinosad concentrate for worms and crawlers. They work infinitely better, in my opinion.
@@TheMillennialGardener Are these 2 available at places like home depot, Lowe's,.....? I'm not familiar with the chemical names. Do you know the brand names? Thanks a lot.
Darren Donovan they are not. At least at my local stores. I have to order them on Amazon. I have them linked in my Amazon Storefront in the video description. They’re pretty cheap when you figure each bottle makes dozens of gallons of spray.
I use BT and love it
I seriously need ur advice/help. I am going to start a garden in saudi arabia( it gets hot!). I will grow figs, peppers, etc. My question is regarding the figs, i will grow them in a mix of sand and cow manure. How can i decrease transplant shock. I also noticed that some are starting to show fruit so should i fertilize them with a high phosphorus fertilizer or a high nitrogen fertilizer or an equal mix.
I addressed this in my new hinged hoop house video so you see it 😀
have fun getting that pepper out of that grow bag. i did try this on 3 plants one year. it wasnt worth the effort. i can grow a very large pepper plant starting it from seed in spring. the difference in production wasnt worth the effort for me.
This plant will produce all winter long. It isn’t about trying to preserve them for a head start next year. This will produce food for me all winter long. Once my spring peppers begin fruiting next year, I’ll likely junk this plant. Place it in a pot and bring it indoors for food production. You may want to watch the video to its conclusion.
@@TheMillennialGardener overwintering?
@@666Necropsy yes, bring them inside over the winter.
@@TheMillennialGardener good luck with the indoor grow
Have you thought about doing black berries?
I planted 3 blackberries, a raspberry and a tayberry this past summer. I'm hoping I get something out of them this next year. The video's here if you want to check it out: th-cam.com/video/hj1PW9Yo9pk/w-d-xo.html
I live in Eastern North Carolina (the Sand Hills area) and im planning on winterizing a scotch bonnet pepper plant. Do you think I can keep the plant in a 12 x 6 shed with a grow light during the winter?
I'm not sure, but if you live in eastern NC, you don't need to. All you need to do is move it to a pot and carry it indoors at night if it's going to frost or freeze. You can just keep it by your back door and carry it in and out as necessary. It will fruit for you all winter long in eastern NC. I eat my cherry peppers all winter long. The productivity is certainly a lot lower, but it still works.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you. I’ll keep you posted….
I planted peppers in containers in the spring. What should I do before I bring them inside.
Simply dig them up and pot them like I show in this video and carry them indoors as necessary to avoid frost/freeze.
I love this method, but I live in New England. Do you water this after bringing indoors? Could I store these in the attic? It’s cold but not freezing
The plant is always alive and growing, even if it looks like it isn't, so you cannot let it dry out. Peppers are tough, so as long as it doesn't freeze, it will stay alive. However, it needs light. Peppers don't go dormant, so they cannot be kept in a dark attic. They need light, food and water 365 days a year. They'll at the very least need a somewhat sunny window all winter to stay alive.
@@TheMillennialGardener
I didn’t give it any light. Stalks are still green (mostly). I brought them down last week. I gave them some fresh soil and fertilizer. They’re in a warm hallway w just the overhead light.
Should I add grow lights?
Unfortunately all my peppers I tried to over winter died :[ they first lost the leaves that I had left a few on. A couple of them had this sawdust like stuff that accumulated on the leaves. Just didn't survive. I may not have watered enough not sure. I should have watched this video before I potted them also as I see some mistakes I made!
Have you ever tried Fish and Seaweed Fertilizer? Is there a big difference?
I use a lot of fish fertilizer and swear by it. I have not used seaweed. Fish fertilizer is readily available and less expensive, but it can attract animals. I don't have a problem with that, so that's why I use fish. If you have a problem with animals digging up your garden, you may want to use seaweed. I have them both linked in my Amazon Storefront in the video description if you're having trouble finding some.
@@TheMillennialGardener thanks! Great to know. I’m in Connecticut and the foxes, raccoons and even bears are out trying to find all the food they can before winter. I had a brand new jostaberry plant dug up last week after I buried a fish head underneath it for fertilizer.
My peppers are in covered grow house, heated...can't I just prune back , fertilizer and leave them
Any updates? How did it fair all winter?
I'm still eating off the plant. It's loaded with fruit. I pick cherry peppers on it every week. I'll probably bring it inside again this year as it is perfectly healthy.
Hello 👋
Thanks for watching!
Is there any reason we shouldn't prune it first? It just seems like it would be more easily moved around and potted if the pruning was done first.
Not at all. You may prune it when you wish.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks for the reply. That's good to know! I'm debating on taking my plants in, though I think our temperatures in my zone don't get too low and my peppers may survive. I know our Thai varieties have been in the same spots outdoors for about 3 years now, but I don't want our new Carolina Reapers to die.
fuzyhentaipanda I still recommend carrying them inside at night and back out during the day. Even if your highs are tolerable, lows in the 30’s and 40’s will slow them down. Bringing them in at night, then placing them out again during the day helps, and when you place them in a pot, the roots will actually warm up faster because in the winter, the ground is cold and stunts the growing process. Container plants outperform in winter, as long as you protect them.
It sounds like your strategy is quite different than others for overwintering- with the difference being you are giving nitrogen fertilizer and trying to promote leaf growth while others are trying to encourage dormancy by removing leaves and giving very little nitrogen. Is this because you aren’t immediately moving inside or have a spot where it gets a lot of light inside or a greenhouse?
Are some varieties/species of pepper better/easier to overwinter than others?
It depends on your definition of "overwinter." If you want them to actually flower and fruit for you all winter, yes, absolutely. Very hot peppers and large fruited peppers need more solar energy, so they don't do well in the winter to produce fruit. Small fruited peppers like red cherry peppers, jalapenos, tabasco peppers, lipstick peppers, etc. do pretty well where I live. I'm STILL growing the cherry pepper in this video, and it's flowering and making fruit as we speak.
If all you want to do is cut the pepper back and let it go semi-dormant to get a jump start on next spring, then no, it doesn't matter what you choose to overwinter.
@@TheMillennialGardener interesting, thank you!
4 th year trying but never worked.
Peppers are evergreen plants that need to grow 365 days a year. They do not go dormant, so you need to treat them as such. They need sun, water and food constantly. If you deprive them of those things, they will die. This pepper plant in this video is still growing strong and I just picked peppers off it today.
are those bananas growing at the end of your yard?
Yes.
Nice arms 🤓
Thanks 😅
i can't help feeling that it is much too much fertilizers you are adding !!!!! i hoped it won't burn the plant with the chemicals before the Spring time !!!!
It isn't. I've never burnt a plant with fertilizer in my life. It takes A LOT of fertilizer to do that. Most people don't use enough, or the wrong kind at the wrong time.
Ugh you're such a hottie.
I assume you’re talking about Dale 😂
Wtf! Is wrong with you people! He is legit putting a shit ton of non essential chemicals onto his grow! I could grow better plants with my chickens shit thsn this