Welcome to the forum, flip.

I grew in Atlanta for a while. In Birmingham, you will get plenty of cold nights that the plants wouldn't survive. But you have few plants in small pots, so the idea of bringing them in only when it's going to be cold is viable - so long as you are religious about it. (Actually, my plants survived several sub-zero periods - once overnight - with no lasting effect, but they were in big pots.)

If you do the "only when cold" thing, the plants will slow down due to the shorter days, but essentially will keep doing their thing all winter long. If you bring them inside permanently they will be safer, but will show more pronounced effects. It's still a viable option, though, even without trimming (a common over wintering practice).

Frankly, you have common plants that you could replace from Lowes next year. So don't be afraid of experimenting. Bring a couple in permanently. Do the other thing with the rest. You will learn a lot! And next year your garden will hit the ground running. You will have pepper when everyone else is cursing their seedlings.

Good luck,
Dennis

P.S. Please join the 2014 Holiday Seed Swap to get some much more interesting varieties. No need to send seeds to get back more than you can use.

" (Actually, my plants survived several sub-zero periods - once overnight - with no lasting effect, but they were in big pots.) "

Sub-zero C or F?

Dennis: Is the 2014 Holiday Seed Exchange the same as the Seed Exchange forum? I'm rather new to gardenweb, and don't really see anything otherwise.

Thanks!

holiday seed exchange

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pepper/msg0918472310793.html?74

C. (I meant "sub-freezing".)

flip, not the same as the swaps in the Seed Exchange forum. There are enough active members here that we generally run our own. If you want veg or flower seeds, the exchange is the place to go. There should also be Trade list for every member in his profile, though few fill them out and I for one have a heck of a time even finding them.

Dennis

This post was edited by DMForcier on Wed, Oct 15, 14 at 17:00

Thanks for the tip, Dennis. I posted in the swap. I'm not looking for any one thing in particular, but just thought I'd take anything interesting left over from everyone else's requests. It'll be kind of like Christmas morning when I open the package and see what's in there. :)

I already have seed in hand for Reapers, and have seed on the way for Filius Blue. (It's an Ingress thing for me. Blue is my team's color.)

I overwinter most of mine (or at least the good ones) and if you get leaf drop from overwatering your probably screwed. If it's underwatered then they usually recover even if they look like sticks for a while.

I've had some for 3 or 4 years now. A sunny windowsill is all I've needed.

I've even got a 'dwarfed' Thai chilli that keeps going all through winter.

> " It'll be kind of like Christmas morning when I open the package and see what's in there. :)"

You got that right! :-)

Include a note saying what you don't want. It will help Johnny spread the extras around.

Dennis