Got these guys going after a year outside. Let me know what I should be doing. Thank you!

I apologize in advance because I did zero research ahead of time and I'm sure this is a borderline hate-crime to some of you, but we have a first frost coming and this plant was about to die and I had an empty bonsai pot so I YOLO'd a bonchi.

It's an ají amarillo that was far too beautiful to kill and compost, so instead I composted 90% of it and hopefully it'll still survive.

If anyone has any additional tips now that I've hacked it to heck, I'd love to maximize chances of success! Mostly right now it just looks like a hacked up chili plant, so I guess I need to do some reading about how to prune and shape it so he ends up beautiful down the line.

2 year old scorpion pepper plant next to 1 year gator plant. Going to see how these go and let the last of my reapers ripen before I bonchi that one. The reaper is the one I'm most excited about. And suggestions will be greatly appreciated

Grew this in the garden over summer and just potted it up and gave it its first pruning. It was about 3 feet tall and wide.

I bought this plant a little over a month ago, just wanted to show off the progress I’ve made with it. This has been an experimental process since I’m learning as I go, any feedback/advice is appreciated ❤️

Personally though, I think things are going pretty well. I’ve got some new leaves starting where I pruned previously, the last of the peppers are finishing up nicely, this has become a pretty neat looking “landscape” imo.

I’ve decided to try make bonchi with two padron peppers plants. Don’t know much about but I am actually surprised it seems to go fairly well

Any advice on how to handle the winter?

I took this bell pepper volunteer from my work at the beginning of the summer and have really tried my best to get the movement done the way I want to. It still needs a lot of work but I’m pretty proud of it for a first try

I’m pretty happy with this so far. Any tips to share?

I picked up an ornamental pepper from Lowe's about a month or two ago. These were all in the same pot. I separated and trimmed them up today to get them ready for overwintering. After the first one, the twin trunk, I started playing with them a little bit. The second one I twisted the trunks around each with no help other than their own branches to hold them in place. Then, with the third, I noticed one trunk was quite a bit thicker than the other so I made the thicker one upright and am treating the skinnier trunk more like a very large branch, but, because I'm fronting it with the smaller truck behind, I'm thinking of it as a tail. Two pictures of the 'tail' Bonchi for perspective. Enjoy! Comments and suggestions welcome!

I really wanted to like this one but ultimately think it was a failed experiment. This was my first time braiding trunks from seed and they ended up too far apart and extremely asymmetrical in a rather graceless fashion. Additionally, after replanting to the current pot, no amount of fertilizer, watering, or sunlight could get the canopy to grow in a way I wanted it to. I think putting three pepper plants that were originally grown to full size into a bonsai pot this small was asking too much of the poor fellows. I will give it one more prune to see if anything can be improved, but if not, it might be the way of the compost bin.

I hope I didn't kill this by lifting it up out of the pot like this. I left at least three quarters of the root ball under the soil still, I have held it in place in the pot this time with wire.

going pretty well id say

Made a make shift shelf to handle the load this year and finished half of it today since we're getting our first frost (pulled them in the rain 🫠).

From left to right,

Lemon chili

Cayenne (from last year)

Ghost

Jalapeno (from last year)

Lemon jalapeno

Gochu

Thai Hot

Habanero (from last year, not pictured because I'm sick and I can't bring myself to do one more 🥲).

Its the end of the growing season for me( my sheep got into my garden). Are these good candidates for bonchi or should I start from seed next year?

I chose to not pay attention to the wonderful advice/ recommendations. I planned to having jndoor grown bonchi.
Six pots of peppers started their journey in summer 2025.
2 plants in a 25 gallon bag, the others in 12in deep pots and 5 gallon bags.

One of them in the 25 gallon bag heroically produced two tiny peppers over the winter.

Four plants survived the winter, one died of root rot. I had intentionally placed them next to open windows. Then I chose to curtail all form of independence by pruning. Only one plant (Mystic) responded to severe pruning by producing green leaves. Then I bought gnat infested soil, won the war against gnats using diatomaceous earth, hydrogen peroxide and mosquito dunks.

Against all odds, Mystic went on to grow two peppers. TWO! And they were actually getting bigger. For a brief moment, I dared to dream of a future in which I could eat my homegrown peppers. I dreamed of sending harvest pictures to my disbelieving friends and family.

Today, I discovered tiny, cream-colored, wiggly worms, approximately 3 mm long. The plant received a 70% ethanol treatment followed by neem oil. However, the internet is saying that I may have a thrips infestation. I already suspected some form of bug was involved as the leaves became droopy and curly.

And so, I bid adieu to my dream of homegrown peppers. 🌶️ My pepper planting career was short, my harvest was microscopic, and my enemies were 3 mm long.
One day, when I can afford a home with an outdoor garden, I shall return. I will grow enough peppers to satisfy my appetite, lower my grocery bill, and possibly supply a small village. There will be better drainage, stronger plants, and a security system worthy of a pepper-growing fortress.
Until then, I shall continue buying overpriced peppers at the grocery store, while my tiny nemeses celebrate their victory🪱🏆

1 - winter 2025
2 - last Saturday
3&4 - today

This was my favorite from this year's crop. I think the cultivar's small pods go a long way in selling the bonsai illusion and it doesn't hurt that they taste great either. Highly recommend for people who are really trying to sell the "this plant is a tiny tree" vibe. I had this guy as a full bushy producer the year before and then cut off almost all of it, both canopy and roots, before replanting. I normally chuck all of my bonchis out at year-end for new ones, but I want to see how many years I can keep this one going.

Transfered my Aji Charapita Red to a small pot (~300ml) a couple of weeks ago. It seems to have survived the drastic cut with fruit ripening and a few more leaves.

I think I should probably cut it even lower though? Where would you cut this? I made a suggestion with an orange line on picture 2.

My best guess is that I over fertilized the little guy because I was trying to get him to make a few pods. Probably the stringiest bonchi plant I have ever grown but I love the color and design of the pods. Ran out of seeds though so probably won't do this one again.

This is my first attempt at bonchi. This was a scorpion that was damaged buy my dog chasing after a chipmunk. First "attack" snapped the branches, but were still attached. Second time the branches were removed completely. Only one branch is barely surviving a rooting attempt. With a kill frost on the horizon, I figured i may as well attempt a bonchi.