I think this thread shows that they have more than just a chance. I'm glad I saw this because I was planning on overwintering some of my more unique peppers and was also wondering if it would be a total failure.thyme2garden wrote:Wow, that is one healthy looking pepper plant, and with gorgeous pepper blossoms, too!
I'm also a first year vegetable gardener this year, and have had my fair share of newbie mistakes. But this is how we learn, right?
My first attempt at trying to germinate pepper seeds indoors near a south-facing window was an utter failure. Some seeds did eventually germinate after a few weeks, but the seedlings were spindly and did not do well. I think it was just not warm enough in the house.
My next attempt was in our homemade indoor grow box (built from a used armoire). The pepper seeds all germinated within days, and the plants are growing really well, both in the grow box and also outside (I transplanted a few outside). So yes, I second the method of germinating and growing the seedlings under lights, at least until they get established somewhat.
I'm thinking about bringing in the outside pepper plants to overwinter indoors. It's good to know that they may have a chance at a perennial life with just a florescent desk light!
I know, deer suck, found this morning part of 1 of my cayenne plants was eaten, and most of my "Unknown Sweet Pepper"(way to label my stuff!)garden5 wrote:
I think this thread shows that they have more than just a chance. I'm glad I saw this because I was planning on overwintering some of my more unique peppers and was also wondering if it would be a total failure.
Now....if they can only survive the deer until then.
I think that fluorescents alone will work, though it's probably a good idea to have one "cool" bulb and one "warm" bulb (I'm referring to the light spectrum, here). As it is said that light in the "warm" spectrum stimulates flowering and fruiting whereas the "cool" light stimulates vegetative (leaves, stems, etc.) growth.stella1751 wrote:csvd87, I asked this question in another thread, but this appears to be a better place for it: What would you say are the ideal conditions for growing a pepper plant indoors?
I'm especially concerned about light: Can they survive under fluorescent lights alone, or do they need light from a window? I think I have a spot for them in the kitchen. It will mean leaving my portable dishwasher by the sink all winter long, but I can live with that. The plants will receive minimal light from the kitchen window, but that room is lighted by fluorescent lights. Do you think that will be enough?
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's cool-spectrum. When it is lit, does it give off a "blueish" light or a warmer light? Desk lights are usually blue-spectrum, though the fact that it's fruiting makes me wonder if it isn't full-spectrumcsvd87 wrote:Well mine haven't been near sunlight at all, only under the fluorescent. but it has been nice and warm for them, rarely over 90. It is a 27W bulb, don't know the lumens though...
Hmm, I'd say in the basement, under the lights, for the big producer, but your basement sounds pretty cool, not necessarily what pepper like.stella1751 wrote:If my plants make it through tonight's threatened freeze, I think I will experiment. I have three potential locations and three plants. One could go into the kitchen, under what Garden5 would probably call "warm" spectrum light (no blue) and little direct sunlight; another might be squeezed onto my desktop (a stretch) with one of those curly-fry light bulbs in the ceiling and lots of eastern sun; and another could go in the basement under my grow light with weak, almost non-existant natural light and temps in the 50's.
(In the Frankenchile thread, Soil said he prunes his down and sticks 'em in the greenhouse over the winter. He says they do just fine, that they go dormant. I imagine greenhouses have only diffused light in the winter, anyway.)
The most important one is the big producer, the one that's putting on enormous peppers like a house-afire. I think that one should go on my desk, but I'm not certain.
Garden5, I found this especially informative and interesting. Thanks!garden5 wrote: I'm going to have to say you are right about putting it on the desk. That "curly fry" lightbulb is a CFL, just like the ones you grow plants under (OK, it looks different). If you could, perhaps get a dedicated desk lamp that uses one of these CFL bulbs and use it only for the plant. That would be idea. You said that the bulb it will be getting light from is in the ceiling, which means that it will probably be pretty far from the plant, which means that it really won't benefit the plant much at all.
The intensity of light reduces at the inverse square of its distance from an object, meaning if you move a light 2 times as far away, it becomes 4 times as week.
Eh, I'm splitting hairs. Just go for it and I'm sure it will work.