How did you over winter your plants?

I had mine on an east facing window sill and they started growing again almost immediately after I cut them back and re-potted them.

Yes, you will have to harden them off again, so I would go easy on just leaving them outside.

Harden them off? Without leaves what's to harden? Just put them outside. Yes, they will be fine with 50 overnights temps.

I had two die this year from too much water (see elsewhere for the gory details.) Without leaves they will use almost no water so be extra careful of overwatering. Whether you leave them out in the rain depends highly on characteristics of the growing medium.

I had them in the garage, very low to no light just a shop light over them for a few hours a day, temp around 60 max maybe less in the middle of winter. I am glad any survived.

They are in various size containers from a 6in pot to 5 and 10 gallon containers. I use they same soil as in my raised beds and it is still probably a little too much clay but does drain well but would probably hold too much water for the stage they are at now.

Thanks for the info. I guess out they go and be ready to throw a tarp over them if it rains I guess.

hmmmm.... I think they're gone. They should have *some* leaves at least.

They should but alas they don't. Only my devil's tongue as a few tiny leaves. So I will just hope for the best and try not to drown them or dry them out. It will be interesting if nothing else.

I was about to post a question on this same topic. I overwintered my Trinidad Scorpion CARDI, by trimming the roots, shoots, and re-potting. It hung in a room with lots of light (not direct) all winter, put out a few bunches of leaves, and I watered with half cup of water a few times. However, this week, I noticed one set of leaves drooping. Looking closer, I realised that shoot seemed a little dry, so I pruned it. Today, all the other leaves are drooping, so I am wondering what went wrong. This is my first try at the pruning method: I used to just pot up and bring in. Any ideas? I really want to save this plant. I have not grown any this year, and it's now too late. It's not over-watered, it seemd very dry so I watered well yesterday and still nothing today. Help!

Today I noticed that the plant seems to be drying from the trunk up, so I've given up on it. What a bummer. No Scorpions this year.

To overwinter a pepper, I find it best to use a smaller container and a potting mix that holds no perched water and drains rapidly. This allows you to water copiously all Winter long without the fear of root-rot. If plants are growing, even a little, they need light, water, and fertilizer (dilute but regular doses).

Josh

I have the same question. I overwintered 4 cayenne peppers that did really well for me last season. I cut them back to a few leaves each and watered sparingly all winter.

They were ALL infested badly by aphids and despite all sorts of treatment, i lost or discarded 3 of them. The last one now sits outside but has refused to grow back. Its stem and branches are still green but there has been no other signs of regrowth. Should I write it off and dump it or wait a while more? I dont think i will ever overwinter my peppers again...

Josh, thanks for the thought about the rapidly draining small container. I had read the post about the perched water and maybe that is what sent the ones in the bigger containers over the edge. I did put some in small containers but with garden soil and did not water that often. I took some that were in 5 gal. buckets and some in the garden out into the smaller containers to see if that made a difference, but I cannot tell. Overall it looks like about 2/3 died.

The ones that I set out and am being careful in my watering do seem like they may start to be forming some leaves but still a little to early to tell.

I got some aphids too but without leaves they had little to live on. A keen eye and some insecticidal soap and pyrethrin took care of it enough for me, but I have had the mass infestation before. If it were me I would wait for the cayenne up to a month maybe.

Sometimes stuff happens, but, it's really not that difficult to overwinter a pepper. Just treat them like any other houseplant. I've lost my share of overwinters, but, I've had plenty of success as well.

They should behave like houseplants as well. In other words, they shouldn't loose all their leaves and not grow new ones. They don't go dormant. Sometimes you can loose most or all of them during a transition from out to in or in to out, but, new ones should be growing almost immediately.

Otherwise, main thing is not to overwater and watch out for aphids / mites and be prepared if you find them.

As an update, some have started sprouting new leaves while others do not have any sign yet. Two that had some branches dying do not look like they are coming back. Some are better than none I guess.

Thanks for all the information, perhaps next time I will be able to keep more of them alive. Or I may try to root some at the end of the season and try to keep them living until the next season.