I'm still picking side shoots off some broccoli planted 2 winters ago (or zone 10 winter that is), I really haven't encouraged it too much to see if it would put out a new central head as I have started some new plants, but it is a "curiosity."

I wish I had known about peppers - perhaps I could have saved myself the trouble of planting new - they seem a bit hard to get going - but once established - usually do fine if they can just weather the foggy foggy dew in "June and sometimes in July."

B.

I live in LA too, and yes the climate is different! Our approaches are similar, organic, double digging, compost, etc. I've never been able to keep a summer vegetable going through the winter, they seem to give up in the early fall, stop producing and then become insect infested. And then I want to use the space for the winter vegetables so I always take them out.

Believe it or not - I got some tomatoes in April - not very big. I "trapped" some heat with a south facing wall and they grew fine - until the maters got to be about golf balls - then the weather turned "80" and I think it got too hot - the plants began dying. Perhaps if I had put something over the black mulch I might have saved them - or even perhaps some of the cold nights - just proved too much. Actually, that would then be just like hot house tomatoes - which is not to my liking. Isn't it fun though?

Bejay

Now I'm feeling really special, although it's just my little hillside garden heat-trap. I usually get a tomato or several throught the winter - they don't usually quit until the hard cold in Jan/Feb, and sometimes survive that (this year does NOT count). Like Bejay, everything seems to have the toughest time in the June gloom. Many a fungus among us. I'm terraced with rock walls that catch heat, in fact, I'm just learning to cover them with squash or something trailing through the summer heat to keep from scorching everything, but they make winters very mild, combined with the "spite fence" my downhill neighbor put up (my garden used to be a bamboo field that gave him perfect privacy). It's higher than code, but while it keeps some winter sun out, also keeps the winter heat from those rocks from sloughing down the hill and out of my garden.
So tomatoes (some, not all), peppers, and eggplants tend to make it. The bugs were horrible for the first two years, but my biggest problem now is the four leggeds - they think I keep good soil for their shopping pleasure. Skunks and racoons dig for grubs and worms in the beds and do not replace their divots.

I'm actually wondering if NOT mulching is better for bug control and water. I know the mantra for dry climate gardening is mulch, mulch and drip system, or a deep water once a week, but everything is looking so much better since I started doing a Jeavons: 60 - 90 seconds of overhead sprinkling with the wand per bed every morning (thank god the garden isn't huge). I'm thinking my water usage is about equivalent to leaving a soaker on for several hours, and the leaves get washed, the bugs get washed off, and even the squash and the eternal powdery mildew seems to be doing better - or maybe it's just the weather.

Peppers will live a long time given the correct treatments. The chiltepins are probably the most cold hardy of hte bunch. Having a very closely alligned wild genetic background they live along fencelines in Southern Texas. I have a chiltepin in a pot that is 4 years old. I have a Malaysian pepper that is two years old and is now almost 5 feet tall. I have seen pictures of peppers in New Mexico that have been there for years. Yadda out.

Thanks Yadda! Weather permitting, I'm looking forward to a long relationship with my little bunch...

I think that's excellent news! I'll be trying to keep my peppers/tomatoes and eggplants going through the winter. Since I'm doing balcony gardening, I have less to worry about in regards to bugs (especially since I'm four floors up). But will definitely have to do something to collect the heat during the day and trap it at night.

I kept a TAM jalapeno pepper in a large pot for several years and it did quite well indoors in the winter. I was careful to keep it near a west facing window and let the draperies shake the plant to pollinate it. Yes, it did produce peppers inside but they weren't particulary big. I would sink the pot into the garden soil in the summer then prune over growth in the fall.

Not to be confused with MOgardener1

I can't believe what I just read! I lived in Austin, Texas for the last 15 years and never thought to keep my peppers going over winter. I had some wild chile pequines that the birds so kindly planted for me, and they always came back. But never did I make the connection to other peppers. Like one person said above, about needing the space for winter planting, well I took my "no longer producing" plants out and tried to get one more short season summer crop out of the space.

NOW, I'm in Minnesota and couldn't keep a pepper plant alive over winter if my life depended on it. And just my luck, I have no space indoors near any windows.

Oh well, I'll be returning to Texas again someday and will look forward to trying this neat little tidbit of information.

Thanks,
Red14D

Hi all!
Just found this Forum. Would like all to know it's not easy but overwintering peppers is possible. Some are easier than others....This is my "Pride & Joy" & the easiest to keep in the cellar with no natural sunlight. I have had limited success with others with just a 48" fluorescent light fixture as close as possible to plant.
You'll note that leaves are just starting to come back.
TheNorthEastChileMan

{{gwi:779882}}Third Year Chiletepin

Posted by: JCin_Los_Angeles z10, Sunset 22, (My Page) on Sun, May 18, 03 at 1:25

Our approaches are similar, organic, double digging, compost, etc.

My reply to JC.

I live on the remains of a Glacier Melt. It deposited a mixture of 50% Clay and 50% rocks and gravel. 2 1/2" of top soil is all I have. I read about double digging when I started gardening last summer and said forget it. I am glad I did. I buy my top soil by 6 yard lots delivered and put in raised beds slanted into the sun.

Paul

Wow, I had no idea that peppers could keep on going! Mine were still producing well into November last year and I wondered! So, could I dig them up and bring them in this fall? Do they need to be cut back like the one in the picture? I plant lots of peppers each year. Wouldn't it be nice to not go through the whole process of growing them from babies each year?

I am also interested in your advices to keep hot peppers during winter. I garden on a balcony and it's my first year with hot peppers: Cayenne, one NuMex Pinata looks alike and Espelette pepper. All are capsicum annuum.
Agnes

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos on last page.

Hey all,

I live in Oregon and overwintered a sweet pepper and cheery tomatoe indoors (1 gallon pots, east window) as an experiment. No production in winter, when I moved the pots out in late april I had small peppers and tomatoes by July 1st. It was nice to have fresh fruit so early. Will try a Jalepeno this winter.

Don

Hi Agnes128,

You have a beautiful web site! Very easy to access, sooo easy on the eyes. The pix loaded quickly, too. Thank you for sharing.

Peace,
wildrose

Tis the season of frost soon --
I want to experiment with overwintering my peppers.

Last year I kept an oleander in my porch. It was fine. The geraniums were fine too, except the scented geranium. I'm wondering then, what a sweet pepper zone would be? I'm hoping I can keep the peppers in the porch there, because it's unheated, but sunny. Is there anyone here who knows in which zone peppers can be grown outside year-round, like any other plant without a true annual or biennial cycle?

Hmmmm, I got a chocolate habanero plant from the farmers market last year, it didn't produce much last year but has put out quite a few more this year - I didn't do anything to help it overwinter either - sometimes I figure things aren't dead till they're rotted out though. Any idea how long it'll live? I'm not going to dig it up but it can stay where it is...will pruning make a difference?

There are similar threads on other forums within the past month you might want to check by sing the search window at the bottom of the page. My oldest bell died this summer probably from a nematode attack or a wilt after 6 years of being moved in and out. It died with several peppers in various stages of development. I've considered leaving it as a monument but I need the space.

Please take no offense but when I was at the University (as it is known in Texas -- U of Texas at Austin) Texas A&M was developing the TAM pepper(get it?). It provided a great deal of amusement and was the source of many Aggie jokes -- a jalapeno with no heat. Guess those researchers are having the last laugh now! That was about the same time that A&M decided to add Snow Skiing to the list of accredited courses. They covered part of the stadium seats with stryofoam balls. Put a few Agges on snow skies and sent them down the steps. It resulted in a number of broken legs and an enormous number of new Aggie jokes.

Ok, so i wintered over about 10 Pepper plants indoors - in my southern window office and chilly sunroom. I started these from seed (my first time!) last March...so I'm happy they are still alive, even if spindly.

Yup, as you might imagine, I battled hatchouts of ornery Aphids and Red mites in winter, but got thru it by dunking branches and hand skimming leaves about weekly. I took the last of the modest peppers off last week, and have begun taking or leaving some outdoors to harden off - and hopefully revive a bit - since we are having amazing warm weather for Oregon.

I do plan to replant all in the ground after the soil warms well, but expect to keep the big plastic buckets outside a good bit before then, on a tarmac ara that reflects thermal mass well.

I also want to hear your comments about pruning these guys...hope that is what is recommended - cuz some of these are now long, spindly sad looking guys who are really trying to push out new growth - mostly near the base. Any tips?

Should I lift and refurbish soil some in the 5 gal buckets before planting out? The origional soil is kind of heavy and compacted now, much different than in the fall.

(btw, buckets of Eggplant I tried wintering over finally all croaked indoors in February. Boy, I hate mealybugs!)