First time pepper grower. This is a “Mammoth Jalapeño” from “Bonnie Plants”(Walmart). I don’t really know what I’m doing but I was advised to overwinter the plant so as to have a bushier one next year instead of treating it as an annual.
Well, I followed the advice to remove all the leaves and most of the branches but now I have new growth. When I pruned it, we were in a short cold spell with nights dipping down to 60F but now it’s back to 70F at night.
Should I re-prune? Put into my shed ( minimal sun/no water)? Let it regrow ? Any advice would be appreciated greatly. Thanks!
by c0mesit0nmyface
5 Comments
Realistically you could keep it outside and only bring it inside before night time temps drop into the 30’s
A bit too early to start overwintering your peppers in central and south Florida. We still have a solid few months of growing season.
Fellow 9b here. If the temperature doesn’t drop below freezing they can just stay outside. I do this with mine in California and they’re fine. Chop them back, fresh soil, light fertilizer twice over winter, seasonal rains handle the watering. They’ve survived as low as 35-36°F.
I’m also in 9b Florida, and all my plants are still going strong and probably will for another couple months, I wouldn’t really worry about overwintering until night temps are in the 40s-30s, I’d say around early December-ish would be the time you’d wanna do it. I’d say leave it alone till then and once it’s in the 40s at night then prune it back a little bit more, and once it’s around 34F or less at night throw it in the shed. You’ll also still want to water it while overwintering you just do it every couple weeks or so.
I have relatives in Florida that just have tomato and jalapeño ‘trees’ because they’ve just been growing so long without any care. I wonder if they need to winter at all there.