For various reasons the entire website is not as active or as populated as it was in past years. But there are still many avid and experienced gardeners that post here. You are just not as likely to encounter that many in the depths of January.......midwinter is always a slow time.

There is also the issue of some forums being a bit too specific in their subject matter and thereby generating less activity.

Not dead, just a lot slower than it used to be 10 years ago.

It's going to be a boring pepper year for me.I need to restock the larder more than have fun this time. I need pepperonchini for canning up. Tobago seasoning- I'm almost out of dried and smoked dried on the shelf. Aji Amarillo, it's become a favorite hot pepper. Red and yellow Italian sweet peppers. I might pick up a couple poblano plants, will see if I got space or not.

Last year was trying out a few new things, but none of them were enough to be in the regular rotation. This fall is going to be ordering some new seed. I need to grow out a few super hots next year since my hot pepper solution for the gardens will get used up this year. I haven't done so in a while and there seems to be a lot more niche pepper companies than there were a few years ago.

You all have completed me. This was my place to learn year ago when I became absolutely obsessed with growing peppers. So happy to see you all are out there. I was on Reddit and found that it’s more for a younger crowd and a lot of people who want to just prove others wrong and show they know more than the next person.

I concur with other comments re the severe slowdown of most forums. I try to scan the forums I used to be active in, but there is so little activity, that it sometimes seems futile. But, this website has been a central part of my gardening life for over two decades, so I'm not ready to let it go, yet.

It might help if you posted any new threads to a few different forums, so the chances of someone seeing them are better.

Martha

Years*

Hey Martha! Thanks

I am still around after many, many years. I still search through Houzz for old threads about topics that interest me as well. There is a wealth of information buried in here. And some of the best subject matter experts.

I joined Reddit as well because it is busier and I enjoy some of it. They have a great plant trading group. To me, the format isn't as good there. The main focus of Reddit is on "top" or "newest" posts and many others just get buried after even a few hours. On top of that, you cannot post pictures in comments (only in the top post) which is different and I think harder to make a conversation about some topics. They recently said you would be able to add pics in comments but I have yet to figure out how.

Anyway, I am still here! With that being said, I'm in the Container Gardening group but I don't do anything with hot peppers.

This place has been dead for years. If you’re looking for a forum dedicated to peppers, I’d suggest ”The Hot Pepper” forum (a completely different website than Houzz). For whatever reason, Houzz wont let me post the link but, it’ll come right up in a Google search. Lots of helpful members there with a lot of knowledge on everything from growing to “processing” your peppers at the end of the season (sauce recipes, fermenting, smoking peppers, salsas, etc.).

The main problem with Houzz is the inability to search all threads. For example, I follow @tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a) and can see only his latest posts.

Ditto to all above comments, especially Martha's - I too scan all the forums I used to be active on, and for me too GW has been part of my gardening life for decades and I'm not ready to give it up, even though it is not as active as it once was (and admittedly, I am not as active on it!)

I used to read and post to many individual forums, but I find they are nearly dead now, so I mostly just post to perennials and shrubs. These broader forums seem to cover most things/plants/topics for me and seem to be more active than the more focused forums. Even wintersowing, which used to be hopping, is practically dead. I guess users have migrated to facebook groups, etc, which aren't for me.

LOL I also lurk on the roses, daylilies and hosta forums. These seem like they are still quite active, but compared to many there I just "dabble" lol, so I read and enjoy but don't post too often!

:)

Dee

It is middle of winter.

There are generally more informational posts in spring and summer, and more picture posting in summer and fall.

Winter is a sad time for gardeners, with only dreams of spring.

p.s. Go check out the hosta forum. There are always entertaining posts by these gardening realists who garden on despite shady conditions. Hosta gardeners appear to be, in my experience with Houzz forums, the happiest gardeners.

I'd like to see some activity in regards to winter gardening for the middle of winter months , like in the greenhouse structure forum or 4 season forum.

I myself have been experimenting with low tunnels and small greenhouses during the winter months.

Of course I try to grow cold tolerant greens and such , not tomatoes.

I do hot peppers too. The superhots especially. , like reapers ,scorpions and such.

But in the winter I just try to overwinter pruned peppers in the house.

AP

I've overwintered peppers a couple times in the past. More as a learning experience than anything else. Peppers that have more of a central trunk structure did better for me than peppers with more open branching habits. I havent' done it in a while though, that space is usually used for other plants through the winter now.

I tend to put my peppers in the outdoor greenhouses in the fall for season extending. Then they get moved to the enclosed porch. If they still aren't done, they sit in the kitchen window for a while. Last year the Aji Amarillo took through November to finally get done with it's last flush ripening.

I think the greenhouse forum is pretty quiet because it's mostly considered for more serious or built greenhouses, and not so much the season extenders or poly growing that some of us are tending to do more. I think a lot of folks forget the four season one exists and post in the veggie gardening or cooking or sometimes growing from seed (microgreens).

I'm in my 2nd winter of overwintering superhots inside my house. I tried last winter for the first time. but they didn't quite make it through till the weather got warmer. I have them in 5 gal buckets and pruned down and kept in my house in various place like in the back utility room (by the water heater) and some in my living room lamp shade. I water them about once a month ( or when the leaves start falling off).

AP

I love superhots ! Also bummed the thread has died. Been growing them for almost 20 years (when ghosts were considered the hottest pepper in the world although I had just discovered 7 pots😆)

Let's see if we can bring this thread back to life!

AP, did you ever have success overwintering a pepper plant? Is there anyone reading this thread who has had success? If so, how did you manage your plants?

I'm not a super spice fan, but I like to expand my gardening experience and share with friends and family who can't grow their own. So, this year I have some Sugar Rush Peach and Fatalii seedlings started under lights. If they are enjoyed, I would like to overwinter them to increase harvests in future years.

I also have other more "common" peppers, such as Poblano, Anaheim, Cayenne, Jalapeno, Habanero, Lipstick, Ancho Gigante.... My sweet varieties didn't germinate well for me this year. Maybe the sweets are what I should try to overwinter, LOL.

Martha

I don't know if this is the case here, but on another gardening forum I'm on, the owners found that many, many of their members were aliases used by only a handful of actual people. They signed up with different email addresses (thank you Google, for making that so easy), and proceeded to flood the forum with information, arguments, and misinformation. The owner of the forum, who happened to be a tech geek, discovered the problem, and blocked them from participating or joining again in the future. I suppose it is possible Houzz did the same thing.

Dchall,

It might be hard to imagine, in this day and age, but when Gardenweb was in its hey day, 99+% of the posters were just enthusiastic, generous, dedicated gardeners who wanted to share their passion with like-minded folks. What some seem to find entertaining today (misinformation and purposeful goading) rarely, if ever, crossed anyone's mind. It's kind of like customer service then vs now. Then, it was an art form. Now, it's gone the way of the Dodo bird. People skills seem to be a thing of the past. I guess I'm showing my age.

Martha

I joined in 2002 at the time I decided to forego chemical fertilizer in favor of organic fertilizer. On the lawn forum you'd have thought I was killing babies. It was vicious, mean spirited, and ugly. It was so bad that Spike started the Organic Lawn Care forum so we could play in our own puddle.

Wow. I must have been on the wrong forums. I'm sorry you experienced that. I was usually on the Annuals, Butterfly, Native-Plants, Perennials, Soil-Compost-Mulch, and Wintersowing forums.

I'm proud/pleased that you went organic with your lawn. Have you read much Doug Tallamy, PhD? He proposes creating native plantings within traditional lawns to save native species, and humanity. There are many YouTube videos of him speaking.

Sorry to everyone for getting off topic. I'll try to rein myself in.

Martha

Sometimes gardening can be shockingly argumentitive. I've seen some right awful conversations around here that just make me shake my head. There are many different ways to garden, and many different reasons to have different ways. Goodness knows that I do a lot of gardening things that seem off to other gardeners, lol.

Peppers are doing ok. Our long range forcast of we are likely to keep into a warm trend has turned into a nope, just a regular last frost date year. I've held off putting peppers in the ground, even under the caps. Been pulling them into the porch on the past few really chilly nights. They are wanting to be planted in. The Aji potted up for isolation is going great since it's in it's bigger pot already. My sweet peppers were indeed poop- the seed was older so not too shocked. Picked up a pack of little ones from the nursery.

Martha

I 'm in my 2nd year trying to overwinter hot peppers.

This time I may some success with Ghosts more so than Reapers.

I took the plants out of my house and into a greenhouse when the temps started warming up enough. I fertilized with fish emulsion and the Ghosts seemed to respond more so than the Reapers. My take is that superhots are just harder to overwinter( or even harder to grow overall).

I'll see what happens but in the meantime I purchased some more Reapers , Scorpions and Ghosts. I'll have some superheat one way or the other. Last year i tried Dragon's Breath but it wasn't any hotter than a Reaper and made a shorter pod

.https://thehotpepper.com/threads/overwintering-superhots.76503/

I also do other hot peppers on the milder scale such as Cayenne , Jalapeno , Haberano , Problanco...?

I'd like to see this forum become more active also.

AP

I find it that it’s hard to get to the forum/discussions part in the Houzz app. I always have to go to a questions I’ve asked a few years back and work backwards to get to the container/gardening discussions. I think the app is more geared towards buying then forums. If someone knows a trick in the app let me know.

Any reason you can't go to https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/ and bookmark it/ add to your favorites?

Al

Thanks. Is there a shortcut in the app? I’m using the app but seems may not be best for the garden forum.