Overwintered chillis

[lewic]

I have two very productive chilli plants that I brought indoors before the frost last year. Their leaves have dried up and they look like sticks now. No sign of life at all.

Am not sure whether they are dead or just dormant, or how to tell!

[Squash64]

I am by no means an expert, but have you tried cutting a stem and seeing if it is green in the middle?

[lewic]

Stems are hollow in the middle... I guess they are dead then!!

[1066]

The same happened to mine - I didtched them a couple of weeks ago. A real shame as I'd read on here about overwintering them. Oh well here's to trying again next year!!

[Vinlander]

Only 4 successes this year - one C.pubescens (Manzano), one C.baccata (Bishops Cap) - no surprise there... and two C.annuum (Black Pearl & Habanero Arbol) which are a surprise.

Incidentally the more hardy first two did better in a citrus (4C sunroom) environment than inside the house. The C.annuums did better in the house than in the sunroom.

My experience with other overwintering solanum-tribe is that live ones will be sprouting now without risk - plants that sprout earlier in the year can break the bank and die by March.

[ajb]

This year, Little Elf survived in the conservatory (which stays above about 5C) and Explosive Ember lived on the windowsill in the kitchen. EE are now covered in new flowers. Mushroom chilli croked in the conservatory.

[goodlife]

In home their never survive..in work all alive and well..
So I take it it is not me..it is the environment..

[Vinlander]

It turns out my C.baccatum was a false dawn - it was lovely and green 2 weeks ago but was completely dead underneath.

C.pubescens still going strong though and Hab arbol still OK.

[Bugloss2009]

my chinesis, baccatum and pubescens chilis all made it through the winter, and are in full growth. I didn't cut back the chinenses and had hardly any leaf drop

the frutescens died

All the annuums that fruited last year died (cayenne, jalapeno and hungarian hot wax). The annuums that survived didn't produce any fruit last year (the ornamental trifetti, and one I sowed in July which grew strongly all winter and is in full flower now)

the annuums  that fruited didn't produce enough to justify growing again, from a January sowing. So what i'm going to do is sow them in July, see if they'll get through the winter, and have a head start next year, and get a decent crop.

[tricia]

I cut back my two year old peppadew in November and stuck it in the unheated greenhouse. After a very slow start it has now begun to show strong new growth. I thought the cold had killed it so sowed some more, but it will be interesting to see which produces the most fruit.

Tricia

[Vinlander]

My C.pubescens (Manzano/Rocoto) is now 1.5m tall and has 12 flowers - even though it is still in its original  25cm pot.

Definitely worth doing again!

Unfortunately neither of the more commonplace C.annuum survivors is any bigger or flowering earlier than this year's seedlings - so not really much point overwintering that species is there?

I will give C.baccatum another try though as it has a good rep and didn't really get a fair chance...

Cheers.

[Sholls]

Unfortunately neither of the more commonplace C.annuum survivors is any bigger or flowering earlier than this year's seedlings - so not really much point overwintering that species is there?

My annums, all of which got radical haircuts around September '09 have been putting on growth since February and I picked my first ripe chillies in early May (from one of the smaller varieties, Apache, which simply refuses to die). The remainder are about a month ahead; as you say, no significant advantage.

Like Bugloss I'll be doing an early sowing of a few, as yet undecided varieties, over the next few weeks; I was picking Fatalli's and Mustard Habs in February, but these were enjoying 8 hours of artificial light a day.