Topic: overwintering chillies

[trinity]

when do I plant chillies to overwinter indoors ???
do i just keep the ones I have now indoors permanantaly  ???
or do I sow some more later in the year  ???

[Biscombe]

Plant them at the normal time (I plant mine DEC-APRIL) let them do their thing, when they look tired, prune right back and cut down the watering, hopefully they'll start sprouting and coming back to life come spring

[trinity]

thank you  ;D

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

sowing early as Biscombe says will give you a crop of chillis in the same year (hopefully). If you sow later, like now, you may not get a crop this year, but you'll have plants to carry over for next year.

[Barnowl]

NB Biscombe is in Spain not sunny Hartlepool so might have a different climate  :)

I bring a few of mine back indoors before the frosts, give them a hard pruning around January time and they go out again in April/May.

I do find they seem to be a magnet for white fly while indoors.

PS Actually I was so late sowing this year, last year's are the only ones so far with any fruit on them - thought of staging a raid on Biscombe when I was in Cartagena a couple of weeks ago but just a bit too far ;D

[Trevor_D]

By "indoors", do you mean in the greenhouse, or actually inside as a house-plant?

I over-wintered chillies last winter in a lean-to mini-greenhouse and finally got rid of them in February/March when I needed the space for hardening off hanging basket plants. (I didn't water them enough, so they turned to dried chillies on the plants!)

A few years ago a friend of mine kept two sweet pepper plants in a sunny, but un-heated conservatory and they were laden with fruit all through the winter. One plant was massive, and must have had 40 or 50 red peppers on it when I saw it. He was using it as a decorative house-plant more than anything else!

[Barnowl]

By "indoors", do you mean in the greenhouse, or actually inside as a house-plant?

Kitchen windowsill.

Amazed by the sweet pepper story - I suppose there was some warmth from the house, but even so....!

[Biscombe]

NB Biscombe is in Spain not sunny Hartlepool so might have a different climate  :)

I bring a few of mine back indoors before the frosts, give them a hard pruning around January time and they go out again in April/May.

I do find they seem to be a magnet for white fly while indoors.

PS Actually I was so late sowing this year, last year's are the only ones so far with any fruit on them - thought of staging a raid on Biscombe when I was in Cartagena a couple of weeks ago but just a bit too far ;D

Oh bugger! we could have had some beers!  ;) ;D

[trinity]

I mean indoors as a house plant

[Barnowl]

You can keep the ones you have at the moment and / or sow some more.

They hate frost and prefer at least 5 degC which means a windowsill might not always be warm enough overnight.

As mentioned above, if they are your original planting, I think it's quite important to give them a bit of a dormant period. I usually prune back to about a 6 inch stump depending on the the original size of the plant and the amount of green on the stem.  There is the added bonus that they come back bushier than before.  This a Bolivian - I think you can just make out the stump it grew from..
[attachment=1]

I can't remember which this is, but it's just beginning to regrow.
[attachment=2]

On the other hand I wouldn't recommend doing it to the same plant twice

[mickb]

Visit:

http://www.thechileman.org/guide_overwinter.php

Mark has a whole webpage devoted to overwintering.

Also the Chillis Galore website and search the forum under overwintering

http://www.chillisgalore.co.uk

Lots of good info, hope it helps.

Mick B