Overwintered peppers

[Vanisle_BC]

I have some 'dormant' (dead?) pepper & tomato plants in pots that spent the winter neglected under reemay on my covered patio close to the wall of a mostly-unheated bedroom. I'm not optimistic about their resuscabilty but I want to give them every chance. My question is what should I do for them and when should I start doing it? I've never tried overwintering these before. We're not officially frost free till mid May but temps likely won't get far below freezing now; and I can throw a blanket over if real cold is threatened.

Should I start giving water, bring them indoors, put them out in above-zero daylight, wait another month - or what?

[applestar]

It’s so weird given how much we need to coddle and baby the pepper seeds to sprout and then the baby pepper seedlings to grow until ready for the outside in late spring/early summer, then cooler summers can delay them from maturing, but once grown, it’s the peppers that are hardier than tomatoes in the cold winter.

I have had best luck by following the technique to prune all twiggy side branches from the overwintering (dormant) pepper plants, leaving the main trunk and two or three major branches in a Y or reverse tripod shape. The branches should be cut back to the first or second knuckles (the bulbous leaf nodes). Some of the branches will/will have winterkilled.

If the plant is alive, it will start to leaf out when it is warm enough and days start to lengthen. I can’t speak to ones outside since I keep them in the unheated garage in the fall and then MUST bring ones I want to survive into the house before the garage temperature dips below mid-20’s in the normal depth of the winter, but they will leaf out under the lights indoors even in the coolest rooms once the days start to lengthen and the temperatures start to get above around mid-60’s. When they start to leaf out, peppers will grow MULTIPLE shoots from each knuckle/leafnode, and you will need to selectively cull the new shoots.

At that point, I try to give them plenty of light or be prepared to prune them again once put outside. And WATCH OUT FOR APHID INFESTATION!

[dveg]

"'dormant' (dead?)"? Probably the latter. Peppers don't go "dormant". Are there any green healthy leaves? If not, toss them and start new ones indoors under lights, like your old ones should have been kept.

[applestar]

They do if it gets cold in 30’s to below freezing — wilted and dried up leaves that may or may not shed, branches look like sticks with usually grey streaks on greenwood/semi-hardwood — it’s the younger branches that might winterkill and dry up or become hollow), but can survive down to upper 20’s and as low as about 24°F.

I try to overwinter about a dozen (...OK 2 dozen ) pepper plants every winter and have had various results depending on conditions. Overwatering while dormant will kill them.

[Vanisle_BC]

"'dormant' (dead?)"? Probably the latter. Peppers don't go "dormant". Are there any green healthy leaves? If not, toss them and start new ones indoors under lights, like your old ones should have been kept.

Please see applestar's post. I believe she's had considerable experience bringing peppers through winter in various conditions. Knowledge gained by direct experience is something I value.

[dveg]

I've never heard that pepper stems can survive a hard freeze. Is there a reference for that? All of my references say that peppers are entirely frost intolerant. As in, zero tolerance.

[Vanisle_BC]

A simple internet search query provides many links to information on pepper plant hardiness and dormancy.

[applestar]

I’ve been looking and I guess this 2010 thread is probably about as far back in our archives as my own experiments have been going... Quickly scanning the thread, it looks like this was when I was asking the relevant questions and gleaning the basics from other member of the forum
Subject: Why Bring Pepper Plants Indoors for Winter?

There are typical novella threads from each winter with plenty of photos, but unfortunately, the earlier posted photos on P-bucket are blurry and unretrievable.

[applestar]

This winter, I didn’t post much about the peppers since they were not the main focus of my winter experiments, but I just posted photos of some of the peppers that appear to have successfully overwintered Subject: Applestar’s 2019-2020 Winter Indoor Garden

...but please note that I did NOT do the extreme overwintering experiments with the pepper plants this year since I only saved what I had hoped to really overwinter. —- OF COURSE, as it turned out, I could probably have overwintered the lot in the garage since it hardly ever got super cold. I do have one Fish pepper in the garage that I “sacrificed” to curiosity— and it has survived.

If you are curious, check out the threads from previous years.