How To Overwinter Pepper Plants

dang peppers are done for the year or are they most of us in temperate climates that grow pepper plants hot or sweet grow them as an annual starting the seed indoors every winter planting every spring and then harvesting every summer but what if i told you that pepper plants were actually perennial by nature that is where they come from they don't die back they don't require planting every year amazing right well my tempered friends even you and i can enjoy the fruits of not having to start our pepper plants every year let me show you how [Music] when overwintering pepper plants we're going to encounter three different scenarios all based on climate the first case is if you live in a relatively warm area that is you don't ever get a frost and your nighttime cool temperatures stay above 45 degrees fahrenheit or seven degrees celsius in warmer regions peppers can actually stay right where they're planted all through the winter no need to relocate them at all so knowing this let's go through the steps of overwintering this guy right here assuming that i live in a warmer climate the first thing that we have to do to prep our pepper plants prep our pepper plants is to remove all the fruit when we're done with these guys there basically isn't going to be any leaves let alone fruit comb over the entire plant taking even the small unripe ones off peppers can ripen off the vine in most cases just fine now that we've removed all the fruit we can go ahead and prune this pepper plant to set it up for a pseudo-dormancy let me remove some of this foliage so you can see what i'm doing to get an accurate view of the plant's branching you got to remove the bulk of that foliage i do this with just a regular pair of scissors as you're not going to be cutting thick branches at this time pretty drastic right well don't worry it gets even worse now with the foliage removed we can see the nuts and bolts of that pepper plant you can really see how peppers are just a series of v sections that branch off from each other as we move up the plant our goal here is to eliminate all branches except for two of the lower most v sections or nodes cruising up the main stem we get to that obvious first v don't get distracted by the offshoot sucker stems they don't count at this time then one tier above that is another set of v's so when you're pruning you're always gonna be left with four terminal branches at the very top it's really easy stuff again the suckers don't count so clip them off first to avoid the distraction go ahead and prune the plant to exactly three v's the main one plus the two top ones that's gonna leave us with four liter shoots in total it seems super drastic i know but this is the world of perennial peppers clean up any remaining leaves or other bits and the hardest part is complete with our peppers cleaned and pruned let's mulch heavily around that base to provide some winter protection we want to give our peppers all the advantages possible over the coldest months of the year so mulching is a no-brainer if it's still summer where you live and the fall rains haven't quite hit yet go ahead and give that plant a good soaking there it is we did it this plant if i lived in a climate where the winter temperatures stayed above 50 degrees fahrenheit or 10 degrees celsius will be perfectly fine as it is until spring so the next two scenarios are much more applicable to me and they involve having to actually relocate the pepper plants if you live in a climate where the winter temperatures go below 50 fahrenheit or 10 celsius then most definitely the pepper plants are gonna have to come indoors the initial steps are identical where we harvest all the fruit then cut down the bulk of the foliage to reveal the plant schematic followed by pruning the pepper plant to the lowermost two v sections remove all suckers and side shoots don't forget that part easy stuff because we've already done it now however we have to get that pepper plant out of the garden and into a pot peppers have great root systems but they're not massive just dig around the stem about 8 to 10 inches away from that main chute and remove the plant from your garden it should come out pretty easy however if you haven't prepared the pot or container yet now would be the time i begin by filling my pots with a quality organic potting mix let's stop right there and discuss with these guys coming indoors really strive to obtain a quality sterilized mix fungus gnats routinely infest almost every commercial mix that i've come across so now i just make my own potting and container soils i'll throw a link in the description below how i do that if you do go to the store however try to get a mix that's designed for indoor potting because they are available carrying on i fill the pots between one third and one half full now let's head back out and grab that pepper plant pot up that pepper plant by centering it in your chosen container and filling in with that aforementioned potting mix plant it about an inch or two deeper than it was growing in your garden to really cover those roots and solidify that planting now is the perfect time to ensure that the stem is as upright and vertical as possible compress the soil down firmly and deliberately around the base of that stem doing this is gonna leave us with an inch or two space at the top of that pot which is perfect to apply our mulch apply it on as thick as possible just like we did in that first scenario my top choice to mulch these guys either indoors or out is either coarse straw or dry shredded leaves give the pot a good soaking and it's set for winter the four rules that you want to observe with indoor dormant peppers are temperatures above 60 degrees fahrenheit or 15 degrees celsius but not too warm minimize the watering and the nutrients and give moderate light daily and finally we have pepper plants that are already potted so let me go through the steps i'm pruning this guy here and then we'll take it into the greenhouse and finish it off as before remove all the fruit on the plant cut off all the foliage to reveal that branching layout and wait what's this hey little buddy be free garden friend like i was saying go ahead and clip the branches down to the lower two nodes only we don't want to encourage any bud burst at this time and the less leaf nodes we have the better for already potted peppers i removed the loose mulch on the top to give me more room to add more potting mix just like our other potted pepper plant pot of pepper plant pot of pepper plant add a generous amount of that soil mix burying that stem up to two inches deeper than it was prior i don't fertilize my winter peppers but the soil mix that i add in is quite rich in nutrients so food is available to the pepper plants if it's needed the more soil that i can add at this time the better as this will allow the plant to flourish in the spring and possibly not even have to be replanted next year compress that soil around the stem to really solidify the planting and to leave us more room for our mulch layer use the pressure and compression to ensure that that stem is vertical try to add in a two to three inch thick layer of coarse straw or dry shredded leaves for the perfect mulching give it a solid soaking likely the only one it's gonna need all winter and we're done there we go we've covered all three scenarios of overwintering our pepper plants let's recap the entire process in 77 seconds no matter where you live the first couple steps are universal start by removing all the fruit even the small unripe ones then remove the bulk of the foliage to reveal the plant's main branching the desired end goal is a plant devoid of leaves suckers and branches except for exactly two nodes or v sections now if you live in a warm climate without frost you can mulch the plant water it and you're good until next spring if you're like me however and you get even somewhat of a defined winter you'll have to move that plant indoors if you're lucky enough and your pepper is already in a pot or movable container add some more quality potting mix to it mulch it and water it heavily and then move it to a location that stays above 60 degrees fahrenheit or 15 degrees celsius if your pepper plants were planted in the ground you're gonna have to dig them up move them into a pot add some more of that quality potting mix mulch water and then relocate indoors again keep the temperatures above that 60 degree fahrenheit 15 degrees celsius threshold don't over water don't fertilize and give moderate light overwintering pepper plants as perennials is one of my favorite gardening activities because it arises from minimal effort for maximum gain i can appreciate the spring rite of passage of starting seeds indoors and moving them along as you wait for the weather to warm up outside in fact i wait patiently for it every year i have many plants to fill that need though but thankfully now peppers are not one of them hey if you got any more overwintering tips for your peppers throw in the comments down below hey thanks for watching guys if you're getting value in this and the other series that i'm doing on youtube hit those like share and subscribe buttons if you'd be so kind and i'll see you in the next video

Channel: The Ripe Tomato Farms

Views: 115,484

Rating: 4.9536443 out of 5

Keywords: how to overwinter pepper plants, how to grow peppers, overwintering peppers, the ripe tomato farms, how to overwinter plants, overwintering plants, overwintering pepper plants, easy gardening, mulching, plant winter, peppers, transplanting, growing peppers, growing peppers indoors, gardening tips, vegetables for beginners, container gardening vegetables for beginners, container gardening ideas, container gardening for be

Id: x09X87UCZTI

Length: 13min 27sec (807 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 25 2020