Quote:
Originally Posted by Tringa
Hello all, my first posting here.
Grateful for any advice about overwintering chilli plants.
We have one chilli plant which was bought from Homebase this year. I have no idea what variety, but it has produced lots of very hot and very tasty chillis. Given the mild weather it is still going strong outside in a pot but eventually the frost will get it.
As the chillis are so good I don't want to lose the plant if I can help it. Is there any way I can keep this plant over the winter and grow it on next year?
We have no greenhouse so the plant will need to be brought indoors.
Any advice will be appreciated.
|
Success is far from guaranteed, even if you follow the instructions. But people do succeed from time to time. Rocotos seem to overwinter best, but people do sometimes succeed with other types too.
Prune it down to a stick with a few short side branches, ensure the soil is faintly damp not moist, ie give it only little bits of water if any from time to time, and keep it cool but not cold until you want to get it going again when the days are increasing again in say Feb or March. Try to put it in the place with the best light possible. They naturally grow in places with a dry cool season, but much more intense light than a British winter.
Successfully overwintered plants do seem to get off quicker the following season, thus giving you a faster crop.
Another way of getting the same thing again is to keep some seeds from this years' crop, and replant in a propagator next feb/march. They are terribly promiscuous (except rocotos) so if it had a chance to cross-pollinate with other peppers it will have done, and in that case what you get next year will be a bit hit and miss. But if you had it reasonably isolated from other peppers when it flowered, you've a reasonable chance of growing the same thing again.