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Hot peppers are tropical and subtropical perennial species in the Capsicum genus. How to Prepare Your Hot Peppers for Winter.In this guide I’m going to walk you through how to prepare hot pepper plants for the winter, so if you’ve got a favorite growing this year, you can give it a try! He’d survived three Zone 9 winters, and I guess he’d just had enough. He was old, so I thanked him for his service and put “big hab,” as I called him, onto the compost pile. Another, a big, beautiful habanero, seemed to suffer and only produced small quantities of tiny fruit. Hot peppers can be temperamental to grow, and one or two of the smaller ones simply failed to thrive. I’ll confess, I lost a few, which is to be expected. Others were in their fourth year of wintering-over. Some of them were small – ones I’d started too late and had only produced a modest amount of fruit. Yes, I was a little bit surprised when I actually counted them. Last season, I overwintered 38 hot peppers. I used to do this, but over the years as my “pepper obsession” grew, so did my collection of unusual varieties. Many gardeners treat hot peppers as annuals, and simply start new ones from seed in the winter months, ready to set out when the weather warms up in spring. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. But of even more importance, that open space and air allows light in to help ripen fruit quickly.We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. And not only does good circulation help keep disease at bay, it also increases pollination.
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Pruning allows air and light to reach the entire plant. Just as it does for tomatoes, pruning pepper plants is crucial for growing a healthy, productive crop. Tie back any heavy branches back to the main support to keep in check. Without support, these large peppers snap branches quickly.
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These smaller plants produce their fruit in compact fashion off of the main stem, and a single support is more then enough to secure the crop.įor larger varieties such as green, red and yellow bell peppers, staking both the main stem and heavily loaded branches is a must.
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Tie off the main stem a few inches off the ground, and every 4 to 6″ of growth above. Proper support will keep a heavy fruit load from breaking off the stems and branches.įor smaller varieties such as jalapeno, banana and serrano peppers, plants should be staked to support the main stem.
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