- Above this node.
Pretty...
It's right here.
(mellow jazz music)
Did you know peppers are a perennial plant?
Most of us grow them as annuals
because we have a winter killing frost
that we say our peppers just won't survive through that.
And to some degree, that's true,
but there's some stuff you can do
to get your peppers to perennialize and overwinter them
so you can start from a plant like this
instead of starting from a seed.
Now, there's nothing against starting from seed.
You can grow amazing varieties that way,
but if you have a pepper
that you really like the flavor of,
you really like the production of,
you may as well overwinter it.
So in today's video,
we're gonna be talking about the three things you need to do
in order to successfully overwinter your peppers.
So the first thing we need to do is cut it back.
There's a lot of extra growth
that while it was great when this pepper
was putting out fruits and ripening those fruits up
for some delicious salsas,
it's not gonna be so good in winter,
because the plant's going to go somewhat dormant,
growth is going to stall,
and we don't want it putting its energy
into all these long stems and leaves.
So we need to grab some pruners, grab some gloves,
and let's go ahead and hack this back.
What we're looking at here is the base of the plant.
And then the main stem comes here.
We have another offshoot right here.
And then as we turn the plant,
there's another Y-split right here,
and that's kind of it.
There's these three main stems.
And so we want to be cutting it back pretty aggressively.
So I'll show you exactly where I'm gonna cut.
My first cut is going to be on this stem right here.
So let's go ahead and zoom in,
and lemme show you exactly where I'm gonna be cutting it.
We're gonna go for right around here,
right above this node.
Pretty severe cut.
We've taken quite a bit off.
I'm also gonna prune off these leaves.
We'll just toss these in the pot
as a little bit of leaf mulch,
but we don't want any leaves on here
while it's going dormant.
Next, we have to tackle this long stem right here.
So as you might imagine, we're gonna be going in,
and I'm gonna be taking it off right there.
We now have one stem remaining, our big Kahuna stem.
And as you might imagine, we're gonna take it off low,
sorta near that Y branch, right about here.
We'll prune off this leaf as well.
Finally, we have our lonely branch right here,
which I'm just gonna take off right here.
So we've cut this back to a considerable degree.
Okay, our next step is to backfill
with just a little bit of potting soil,
provide some extra fertility.
You could dig out some of the existing potting soil,
but this was somewhat low planted anyways,
and so there's a little bit of extra room.
So I'm gonna add a little bit of that.
That's Happy Frog, for anyone wondering,
and I'm sprinkling in just an organic,
granular 5-5-5 on top,
which of course I am now gonna go ahead and mix in,
and you can see we're still below the Y.
I don't wanna plant, again, like I said, too high.
So that's really all we need to do
as far as the soil amendments over the winter,
and now it's time for our final step.
The last thing we're gonna do
is top this off with just a little bit of mulch
for some cold protection
as well as some soil protection.
So let's top that off.
This is just a little bit of micro-bark,
but there's a ton of different things you could use.
You could use composted leaves.
You could use shredded leaves.
You could use straw,
whatever your favorite and most locally available mulch is
is perfectly fine.
But now we have successfully mulched it up
and protected it for the winter.
So while it might look a little scrawny now,
we have set it up for success as it goes through the winter.
Now, it's important to note
that if you're in a cold climate
where temps in the winter
will drop below 45, 50 degrees or so,
you will want to protect this even further,
maybe even bringing it indoors
under a little bit of supplemental light.
Oftentimes, you don't need a whole lot
as long as it's not completely dark.
In my zone, Zone 10B,
I can leave this outside,
and it's gonna be fine.
My temps very rarely get below 50 or 45 degrees.
So I'm going to leave mine outside.
But if you'd like to see updates
on how an overwintered pepper comes back,
definitely make sure to like and subscribe.
I'll be doing some follow up updates.
And I just wanna say
that this is one of the fun things about gardening.
Yeah, of course you can grow peppers as an annual,
but if they're a perennial,
and like I said, if you liked it,
if you liked the genetics and the flavor and the production,
why not experiment with bringing something back,
because boy can you get a head start on your season
when you're growing from a perennialized overwintered pepper
versus starting from seed.
So until next time, good luck in the garden,
and keep on growing.