Doubtful that you'll get any harvest to speak of. Unless you live directly on the coast, the frost will get them in December/Jan. Not to mention the decreasing sunlight.

I'll be picking peppers then, but mine are well established(outside in April). Unless you have a light grow setup and/or a greenhouse, October is way too late for anywhere in the U.S. besides maybe Miami or Galveston.

You could "try" to overwinter them, but why? They're leggy and you could just get started indoors from seed under shoplights in Early Jan. like a lot of us do.

The latest you should be planting peppers in most of SoCal is early July. The best time is probably(depending where you are), is April/May.

I'm not trying to discourage you. Just trying to warn you -- don't expect much.

If you feel you really want to give them a shot, go for it. A suggestion though -- try containers. That way, you could haul them into the garage each night when it's cool and get outside during the days when the temps are in the 70's/80's.

If you do decide to do it, then yes...harden off now. And you can plant an inch or so deeper than soil level to straighten out the legginess.

Good luck.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin. I was not counting on harvesting. I just didn't know if removing the buds and few peppers would further stress the plants. I was going to plant in pots and was hoping the remaining warm weather could generate some decent roots prior to it cooling down. I do want to try to overwinter.

You'll have much more success, and far better yields, if you start over in spring with fresh transplants installed outdoors at the correct time.

Jean
who gardened for 30-some years in Long Beach,CA