I am going to guess that some of you may still be growing and harvesting peppers of all descriptions. It is no secret that peppers, particularly sweet peppers, are the number three vegetable (technically, they are fruits) grown in home gardens across the USA, and there’s no mystery as to why this might be.
Peppers of every description have become part and parcel of the cuisine of almost every culture that has ever existed. Ranging from the deliciously sweet bell peppers to the incredibly incendiary ghost peppers and Carolina reapers, there are peppers to suit almost any taste. I personally like the milder types, but I have a couple of granddaughters who could probably swallow molten metal and like it. All this apparently has something to do with the way that the capsicum molecule fits into a sensory receptor in our mouths, but all I know is that I don’t deal well with that really hot stuff!
If you have grown peppers from seed, you already know that these things take a long time to germinate and even longer to grow to any size and start producing peppers. Even if you buy those expensive transplants at the big box store, you know that they are just naturally slow to mature. Most folks feel like there’s little to be done, but to be patient, however there is another way to speed up and extend your harvest.
Did you know that you can actually overwinter your pepper plants and restart them in the Spring? That’s right, a large number of pepper plants can live several years before they begin to slow down production. What is overwintering? It’s a process of helping plants survive winter by getting them to go dormant. We do this by bringing the plants indoors, cleaning them up and keeping them in a cool, dry place, pruning them severely and watering infrequently. Then about a month before we put them back in the garden, we move them to a warmer, brighter space to acclimate them to another year in the garden.
There are five basic types of peppers, and their life spans vary:
Capsicum annuum 1-3 years (bell, sweet, jalapeño, cayenne)
Capsicum chinense 3-5 years (habañero, Scotch bonnet, ghost)
Capsicum baccatum 4-6 years (South American types, including aji amarillo and aji limon)
Capsicum frutescens 3-8 years (tabasco, Thai chilies, malaguetas)
Capsicum pubescens 5-10 years (rocoto and manzano)
If you like experimenting with new things, this might be a fun project for you this fall. While you may not succeed with every single plant, I’m sure that you will get at least a few to make it through and they will reward you for your efforts. You’ll save some money, save some time and have some fun as well. Here’s what you need to do.
Once the nighttime temperatures start to drop into the high 50s, we need to act. Temperatures below 55 degrees fahrenheit produce a great deal of stress in pepper plants. Remember these are really tropical plants and do not like cold weather. Dig up your plants, saving as much of the root system as possible and place them into a large container.
Five gallon buckets are great, just make sure that they have drain holes, and if they are already in a large container, all the better. Use potting soil that does not contain fertilizer. We are not trying to grow the plants over the Winter; we want them to go dormant. Place your plants in an area that is cool and dark. A garage or basement is fine if the temperature doesn’t drop below 50 degrees fahrenheit. Since you are inducing dormancy, additional light is not needed.
Prune the plant severely; cutting it back into two or three Y shaped stems and remove all the leaves. Water your plants only every two weeks or when the surface medium has dried out. Then, about 30 days prior to the last frost date for your zone, (I like to use April 15 for my Augusta garden) bring your dormant plants out into a warmer and moderately lit area so they can begin to reacclimate for another year of production. Once all danger of frost has passed, you can place your plants into the garden and watch them grow again. Next spring let me know how this has worked for you and I’ll report on my success too.
By the way, have you gotten soil tests for your gardening areas in the last two to three years? Now is the perfect time to do that because any changes that you may need to make will take several months to become effective. Stop by the UGA Extension office at 602 Greene St. in Augusta or any county extension office and they will be happy to fix you up. More on this next time.
I came across this quote the other day and thought that you might like it as well.
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” –Cicero
Send your questions to Augusta Press Managing Editor Stephanie Hill at stephanie@theaugustapress.com or leave them in the comments of this story. We’ll look forward to hearing from you.
