Topic: Perennial peppers

[Marlborough]

Hi, I've read the peppers can produce fruits for several seasons. Has anybody experienced this?

[galina]

Hi, I've read the peppers can produce fruits for several seasons. Has anybody experienced this?

Yes, some are easier to keep going than others though.  Broadly speaking chilli peppers are easier than sweet peppers   

[Duke Ellington]

My dad kept a scotch bonnet chilli alive for three years on the kitchen window sill. He fed it with Baby Bio.

[jimc]

I grow my capsicums and chillis in an igloo for winter protection and away from fruit fly attack.
One capsicum died coming into last spring and it was about 11 years old while my others range from 3-6 years old.
All my chillis are at least 5 or 6 years old. I pulled out two plants back in mid summer because they were just taking up too much room because I wanted to put in wicking beds for a better winter tomato harvest. They were about 11 years old and came from seed my mother started to grow back in the 60's.

[Robert_Brenchley]

A friend of mine used to overwinter chillis successfully in her conservatory.

[goodlife]

I've never managed to keep sweet peppers and I treat them as annuals, but chillies yes...many of them will keep going on.
I've got some now that came through winter without any extra heating...

[Vinlander]

In my experience most overwintered chillies sulk so much in spring that they get overtaken by seedlings. But then I'm in the UK - probably no problem in a mediterranean climate where apparently the tree types (habanero arbol etc.) reach 2 or 3 metres.

There are two less-common species that are supposed to be significantly more perennial:

C.baccatum (odd fluted shapes with 2 tone yellow/white flowers - bishops caps, bulgarian teardrop etc.) and
C.pubescens (Very thick-walled blocky or cone shapes with hairy foliage and purple flowers - manzanos, locotos, rocotos).

However I find the baccatums are not much less sulky than the tree types.

The manzano/locoto types take off like a rocket in their 2nd, 3rd spring and leave my seedlings for dead. However they are very late in their 1st year and only tend to produce in their 2nd, 3rd years etc. To compensate they will produce then even if their 2nd 3rd summer is so bad that all the other species' seedlings do nothing.

You can definitely make an advantage of a dud first year by not sowing them until April when your ordinary seedlings are starting to release your propagators, frames etc. This also gives you smaller more juvenile plants that are easier to overwinter.                 

Cheers.

PS. if you really want to overwinter a sweet pepper then the "chiquita" "mini sweet" types are as reliable as any of the hotter C.annuums.