I have hot pepper plant in the basement with my woody herbs but as I have said before, it is so cold down there that even with the light above them I can't keep heat loving plants alive. Basil never lasts more than 3 weeks.
And my kitten pushes aside the rocks and mulch and digs in my plants. He comes up smelling deliciously herby LOL.

Minnie, I read that if you sprinkle coffee grounds over the mulch on your plants that cats won't dig in it. I haven't tried it & it didn't say used or fresh coffee but it would be worth a try.

I've heard but since I don't have cats, I don't know. If basil won't stand the cold basement, I would doubt that pepper would. You might try making a tent of plastic and putting an incandescent light in it for heat.
Coffee grounds normally means used coffee grounds, not fresh coffee. I've never heard of someone using fresh coffee, and I know the used grounds help with tilth and nitrogen as well.

I'll try the coffee grounds (I am sweeping/cleaning the basement tomorrow and want no more messes). If Scout gets into them I'll counteract the caffeine with some whisky.
He has his neutering/declawing in 2 weeks and won't be digging for a few days after that.

quote:

Originally posted by Snotzalot:
Peppers are perennials, so yes!

They ARE???? I had no idea! That's awesome. Living here in the PNW, a lot of our "annuals" are perennials in other places.

How long will a pepper produce fruit, if you can keep it alive?

I would imagine - with ideal conditions - you could keep production going fairly indefinitely.

I kept several potted hot peppers very productive for a little over 2 years. Outside during the summer; inside in a full southfacing window with skylights in the winter. They produced peppers year-round. Eventually, as they became too large to bring indoors, I planted them in-ground in Year 3 & let them play their swan song out in the garden. But I imagine if I had potted them up larger (which would have meant 14"-16" pots), I could have kept them going & producing for much longer.

quote:

Originally posted by Jen's Garden:

quote:

Originally posted by Snotzalot:
Peppers are perennials, so yes!

They ARE???? I had no idea! That's awesome. Living here in the PNW, a lot of our "annuals" are perennials in other places.

How long will a pepper produce fruit, if you can keep it alive?

I grew several hundred hot pepper plants 4 years ago for my sons' wedding as reception favors. I still have one growing under the grow lights here in the office.

Everyone loved them, the only trouble I have with this last one was when my wife decided to plant it outdoors without hardening off to the sunlight and all of the leaves vanished. It's still with us and back under the grow lights.

The seeds of this line of peppers go way back through their courtship.

Those are beautiful. My peppers are blooming that are out on the porch. My biggest problem is remembering to water them. I figure if I can start with some blossoms on them, perhaps some fruits will mature on them at least to have in November and December... just in time for some of those special dips and goodies I like kto make not to mention for a salad or pot of chili!

I bring my Hot Pepper Plants indoors every Winter.It gives me a big Head Start the following Spring when I bring them back outside. The plants become more of a Pepper Tree in the 2nd and 3rd years with a thick, strong stem.
I spray them with a spray of water and Sulfur to kill any fungus...plus it gives them a good shot in the arm of fertilizer.
There are some good tips at http://www.pepperjoe.com/faq that will also help with this.

quote:

Originally posted by Liz1:
It's been three weeks now since I brought those potted-up peppers inside for the winter. Took WileyR's advice and soaked them thoroughly in soapy water first. Well, the plants for the most part look fine.

And...

Knocking wood as I type...

No fungus gnats!

Thanks, Wiley!

Just checked my plants. All the peppers are beautifully red. My main goal was to fully ripen some from each variety for the purpose of saving seed. The plants don't look so great b/c they're just in a window (no extra light) and didn't much enjoy my 10-day absence of watering.

However...

I did get my ripe peppers! With no bugs!

Liz, mine are ripening too! My plants also don't look too great. They're in my stairwell (to the basement), which has very large south & east facing windows... but not enough heat. They're alive... but eagerly awaiting better conditions. Unfortunately I don't have room in the house for them... and not sure if the greenhouse will be cooler or warmer. The stairwell recieves some heat from the house... but isn't directly heated. We'll see.

In any case... I have the worlds smallest habanero ready to pick (it's the size of a peanut m&m, but its a pepper! LOL) and a hot cherry is starting to turn red. The others don't have fruit... but I'm hoping they'll at least survive the winter for an early crop next season.

Those plants in Paul's photo look VERY much like the "ornamental" pepper plants that are sold as houseplants at my local grocery. I've heard that these ornamental peppers ARE actually edible... but not from any source reliable enough to be certain. Does anyone know?

sort of on topic, mostly for fun...
the last year in california, i purchased a bell pepper start -not organic (i dont think?). anyway... the thing produced profuse flowers, and then peppers the size of umm.... hmmm.. what?....grapes! and they were -obviously- genetically whacked out, they were half (exactly) red and half green! they were so dang cute! I steamed them and at them as appatizers, lol.

So you can keep pepper plants indefinetly? We should be able to keep ours all winter here in Central Florida if we keep them out of the occasional freeze? Would overnight temps in the 40's be detrimental? I'm excited! We have some we started for the Fall garden, it would be nice to keep them going.

quote:

Originally posted by Digger Jones:
So you can keep pepper plants indefinetly? We should be able to keep ours all winter here in Central Florida if we keep them out of the occasional freeze? Would overnight temps in the 40's be detrimental? I'm excited! We have some we started for the Fall garden, it would be nice to keep them going.

I would certainly give it a try! Peppers won't LOVE temps in the 40's, but they will not kill the plants off. My peppers are routinely exposed to nighttime temps in the 40's, especially in early fall. They may slow down a bit. Let us know what happens!

And...

Good goin' Jen!