I managed to overwinter my pepper plant and it’s finally waking up. The main stalk survived and it’s pushing out a bunch of new green shoots.
Should I trim the lower shoots/leaves? There’s some new growth pretty low on the stalk near the soil line. Not sure if I should pinch those off so the plant focuses on the top, or just leave them.
When should I move it back into the garden bed? I’m in Northern California (Zone 9b). It’s starting to warm up, but my garden spot still doesn’t get great sun this time of year. Right now I have it in a black pot so I can move it around for full sun.
by Felixdai1999
8 Comments
Huge. I wanna see how things go for you this season. Keep us posted.
That’s great! I tried to overwinter a few pepper plants too—I hope they wake up like yours did. Enjoy your future harvest!
Very happy for you! I find it very difficult to overwinter pepper plants. Yours looks set for a super productive season.
Don’t trim anything, I’d say. Take it out to the garden when you take everything else out. You still need to harden the plant off to sunlight as well. Though, I’ve found my over wintered jalapeno handles hardening off much better than seedlings.
That looks great! I’d just keep an eye out for aphids as it starts putting on new growth. I’ve found that my overwintered peppers often attract aphids once they begin growing again in spring. A quick check under the leaves every few days usually helps catch them early before they spread.
That’s exciting! Mine stayed with leaves (mild winter) and I moved it to a green house. Added compost and it had been waking up too. So much easier than starting from seed again
I would clip that one shoot near the soil
I overwintered 4 peppers, 2 survived and are going nice and green! I didn’t cut it down nearly as much as you did though.