Overwintering bell peppers

tuffnelljohn · October 2020

Hi,
Im going to try and over-winter my chilli plant (by cutting it right back). Can I do the same for my bell pepper plant?
Any tips for overwintering chillis and peppers very welcome.

Thanks

Fairygirl · October 2020

I don't think anyone does that - they start afresh each year, but maybe someone will say otherwise. They would need a lot of heat, so it's a bit counter productive.

tuffnelljohn · October 2020

I would move them indoors and hope for the best.

Fairygirl · October 2020

I thought they would be indoors already.

tui34 · October 2020

@tuffnelljohn I would think summer vegetables such peppers, tomatoes, aubergines etc. have a "shelf" life.

BenCotto · October 2020

I have been reading about this because I was thinking of doing it. The advice is to trim it quite hard, reducing the size of the plant by about two thirds. Keep the plant in a frost free greenhouse or anywhere else under cover that gets maximum light, water sparingly and expect most of the leaves to drop off. In early spring as temperatures rise and light levels improve increase the watering and add a little feed. It might then break into growth. If it does so then you’ll be about a month ahead of starting with a fresh seed sown or plug plants as peppers are very slow growing until about June or July.

If you keep your greenhouse frost free for the benefit of other plants in there you lose nothing by trying to cosset the pepper.

Joyce Goldenlily · October 2020

in the past I have kept chilli plants until the following year by bringing the plants into my unheated double glazed conservtory. I trimmed them back and kept them just damp.
They took a while to kick into regrowth the following Spring. I decided I hadn't gained much and haven't bothered again. However, it is an interesting challenge to try.

BobTheGardener · October 2020

I do this every year wirh bell peppers and it usually works well - the recent mild winters help as does my double-glazed but unheated 'lean-to' type west-facing conservatory. What I do is this:

Wait until the leaves start dropping and then defoliate the stems (this is to reduce fungal problems)
Almost stop watering - you need to keep the compost in the pot just very slightly damp.
In the spring when you see the first signs of life, cut the stems back to just above a point where new growth is showing.
at the same point, tip them out of their pots, gently shake off most of the old compost and re-pot into fresh.
Enjoy your first peppers from these plants about 2 months before those which you started from seed (I always do both.)

I find at least 50% of the plants survive the winter, usually more.

Good luck!

BenCotto · October 2020

Thanks for sharing your experience, @BobTheGardener. I’ll be doing what you do.

Eustace · October 2020

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/fb/akofzwk1m2e1.jpg

These are 3 chilli plants in a reusable fabric plant pot which I had overwintered last year. They spent Nov-April in a shed near the window and were watered sparingly; I didn't bother defoliating them - they just went as such into the shed. They started getting flowers quite early and they are still going strong. Hope to move them inside again sometime next week when there is a chance of frost. HTH :-)

Overwintering bell peppers

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