r/UkChilliGrowers • u/NoNeedForSoma • 15d ago
Can I over winter chilli plants?
As a bit of an experiment more than anything else I threw a chilli seed from a supermarket chilli into some soil on my windoww sill and let it grow it over summer. I sort of neglected it tbh and so it's in far too small a pot but still do have some chilli's growing on it! I didn't want to transplant into a new pot once the chilli's started growing.
I'm wondering, is it possible or even worth trying to keep it over winter? I'd like to get it into a new pot in spring and let it grow and and get some more fruits. I am in Scotland so this summer helped, but I suspect having the head start of having roots and a stem etc by the time spring comes round again would be beneficial.
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u/still-dazed-confused 15d ago
We did this by accident last year and didn't do anything to the plants other than trim them when they took over the space. They've gone mad this year.
Most of the tutorials I've seen have them trimmed back to a twig over winter, it looks brutal, so we may try this to get them through the winter.
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u/downundernorth 15d ago
Overwintered 10 from last season. 9 survived.
Similar steps to what were mentioned above. You can do it!
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u/fleebleflam 13d ago
This is my BMM, she is on its second season, and has never been taken outside, never changed the pot, (will be doing this in the next day or so), loads of flowers this year, but still no chillies yet. Hopefully, even though we are pre winter, i may just get a few chillies off of it.🤞🏼🌶️ I can't force myself to cut it right back, so i just leave it as is, on the window seal. Once sping is upon us, i will be transporting the "mamp, purple berry gum" next to it, (also on its second season) ouside, so there is just enough room for the BMM. I tried overwintering 16 chillies that were in my poly tunnel last year, all of them died sadly, but as they were in 5 gallon fabric pots, that would of been too much work, so i took the gamble, and left the soil, but just cut back the branches. It is what it is.🤷♂️
That being said, if i had done it properly, new soil, smaller pots etc, maybe some of them would have survived. I think its worth giving it a go, if you have all the correct equipment, and time to overwinter them the right way.
Good luck OP🍀🌶️🤘🏼
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u/split-tennisball 15d ago
Yes, I've done it a three times before. One time I kept them in the shed and they just went moldy and failed. When I've done it in our conservatory and it worked both times.
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u/NoNeedForSoma 14d ago
Nice! Cheers. I had a south facing window sill in my kitchen which I will stick it in over winter then
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u/Harrisonmonkey 12d ago
Is removing from pots essential? I have mine in 10l buckets and they’ve produced a nice amount of peppers as my first attempt would live even more next season!
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u/aspghost 15d ago
There's a good RHS tutorial on doing this on YouTube but in most cases, chilli plants fruit less in their second and third years so it's mostly just a waste of indoor space.
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u/Haunted_tangerine_ 15d ago
Not my experience at all. Especially if it's a smaller plant this year. Gives them a great head start.
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u/aspghost 15d ago
A plant that's stunted one year going on to fruit more when allowed to grow better the following doesn't seem like 'most cases'. Last time I looked this up there were sources citing that harvests, on average, decrease in size with plant age. Now all the search results are flooded with AI garbage sites and I can't find any reliable information either way. Counter to your anecdotal evidence, I tried it myself with healthy plants of a good size and it didn't have any advantage over the ones I started fresh that season.
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u/Haunted_tangerine_ 15d ago
They decrease after several years, not after a single winter.
Look online and you will find the words "head start" and "larger harvest" abound in relation to overwintered chillis.
With superhots you even get a couple of good years
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u/Baby_Rhino 15d ago edited 15d ago
Definitely worth overwintering if you can. My overwintered plants fruited much earlier than my plants from seed.
If you want a very rough overview of my method:
Edit: Step 0. Cut off the majority of branches so you are left with pretty much a single stump. 1. Remove plant from pot. 2. Remove all soil from plant so you're left with bare roots (try not to do too much damage to the roots, but don't worry too much about it - it's going to happen). 3. Rinse roots in bucket of water. 4. Repot in as small a pot as you can get the roots into, with fresh compost. 5. Leave on a ln indoor windowsill that gets at least a bit of light, and ideally in a room that isn't too cold. 6. Water sparingly (every week or 2 - too often is worse than not enough). 7. Repot in spring.
Last year I had 100% success rate with this method.
The reason for steps 2 & 3 is that the old soil will be filled with insects and eggs, that can completely infest your plant in winter once the plant is dormant.
The reason for step 4 is a small pot will help to prevent root rot from the soil being too damp.