n8young wrote:I have half a dozen bell pepper plants still producing, and half dozen cherry bomb pepper plants still producing.....I live in Maine. Weather has been getting colder by the day, but still no temps below freezing at night. Will a frost/freeze kill the pepper plants, or are they hardy to a point below 32 degrees....I feel like in years past I have just pulled them out in early fall, thinking they are done, but this year my plants are still really thriving.....just curious.
Technically, peppers are perennials. But they're tropicals. They may survive a frost or two, but a hard freeze will kill 'em. Cold temps around 50 for a week or so will stop bud production. (And when they're seedlings, will stunt them beyond redemption.)
Some people pot up a pepper or two to keep going inside during the winter months, (or start & keep in containers) but I have never tried it.
You can throw a row cover ( or even bubble wrap, LOL) over them to keep them warm with the first few frosts of fall, but eventually they'll die. And the peppers themselves will probably become damaged by the cold before they totally wilt out. When frost threatens (like tomorrow night here, yikes!) I pick all the decent looking ones and keep them in my garage. They keep in there for a week or two (or sometimes longer) just fine.