habanero

4 shoots

CR with issues

I would not top the habanero. Leave it and let it produce. I like your plants!
You might want to top the one in the smaller pot though. Last picture looks like too much water.

Dave

This post was edited by stoneys_fatali on Sat, Apr 26, 14 at 12:23

Thank you Dave this is my first attempt at overwintering and I really have no idea what I'm doing. This is the first time they have been outside since October. I took the pictures right after their first good deep watering and feeding since then. The plan was to re pot them in bigger pots with fresh mix. Do you recommend against this?

Thanks again,
Scott

Nice overwinters!
Do not bury the trunk any deeper, as it can make a pathway for disease, pests, et cetera. Only young green pepper stems should be buried deeper without fear of rot or disease.

Josh

Thanks Josh, and thanks for the help. Do you think I should repot them? The potting mix is almost half the depth it once was and it doesnâÂÂt seem to hold water very well. Also, it is probably root bound to all heck I never cut the roots back. Any suggestions on making the one shoot of the four stable?

I would repot any overwinter pepper. Put them in at least a three gallon pot, 5 gallons is better in my opinion. plant them at the depth they are now and as Josh says, dont prune the Hab on the shoot that is green and growing, but you can prune all the dead shoots back to just above the last green (live) node. Same for the Reaper, I would probably prune off all the dead wood back to just above the last live node.
If you are worried about the hab being unstable, I wouldn't at this point. But unless it thickens out, it may have a hard time supporting a lot of mature fruit. Habs can produce quite heavily. You could now or later, stake the plant if necessary but right now, I would leave it alone and look for it to thicken up on it's own now that it will be outside in the wind and should naturally strengthen the trunk as a result. You may find that the hab will start to put out more buds and shoots from the main stem after it is exposed to the more favorable growing conditions that it experiences indoors.

In the future, if you plan to overwinter, I would cut the plants back to three to four nodes in the fall and also prune the root system down before repotting into a somewhat smaller pot (about 1 gallon). This system has worked well for me in the past.

Yep, re-pot them and stake them so that they're supported.

Josh

Thank you both so much for the input. Esox I did prune back half of the plants I attempted to over winter like you said, but those are the five that died. It was probably just a coincidence and was more about environmental conditions and plant variety than pruning. I don't know why but I'm very afraid to mess with the root system but I will give it a try this year. Maybe a super pruned back stem/vegetation and a full sized root system is a bad combo.

Thanks again,
Scott

"Maybe a super pruned back stem/vegetation and a full sized root system is a bad combo. "

YAAAAR!

(pirate for "I agree")

Whenever I root prune I try to match the drapes to the carpet, lop siding plants is a huge stress.

It's a very good practice to prune plants BEFORE doing any root-pruning. In the Fall, when preparing to overwinter, prune your plants hard at least two weeks before disturbing the roots. This allows that stored energy in the roots to immediately help with the regrowth of the removed foliage, which is exactly what you want. Once new growth has begun - proving that the pruned stems are still viable - then you can bare-root the pepper and replace all the old potting mix with something more acceptable (clean, free of pests, better draining) for the Winter indoors.

Josh

Uhh... pirates garden?

What zone?

All I ever do overwintering wise is put them in a fairly sunny (SW or NE facing window) and cut back on watering.

I've just had a 5yr old one die, albeit of neglect (and it wasn't a good plant anyway) I've got 2 x 3yrold habs, a few Fresno and serano and various ornamentals (which arnt that big anyway).