Search here and you'll find a ton of posts about overwintering.

All chiles are perennials, but usually treated like annuals because of the climate most of live in. If you lived in an area that didn't have frost/freezing temps, you could grow a plant for years outdoors. The rest of us have to overwinter them indoors if you want a head start.

Here is a link that might be useful: overwintering search

Just get some grow lights (or failing that some 120+ watt equivolant daylight CFLs), rig them up over where you want to have your plants, and go easy on the water.

Really, thats about it.

In addition to tsheets link, the link below also offers some guidance.

Here is a link that might be useful: thechileman.org

Thanks guys :) I tried searching the forum with mostly results about seeds for some reason. Maybe I was being too specific and it messed up the results.

No worries, the search engine here can be rather finicky at times.

But yeah, there are three big things to keep an eye out for:

1) Light
Short of getting metal halide bulbs, no light you can make indoors is going to be as bright as even full shade outdoors would be. You'll also have to be careful about spectrums. I mentioned the Daylight bulbs before because they're about as full spectrum as you'll be able to easily find. Put them indoors in your normal lights and you'll see real quick how much of a sickly yellow normal lights put off, it really is night and day. Just get daylights as bright as you can, get florescents if possible, and put them very close to your plants and you should be okay. If you get incandecent you need to be careful about how close you put them. Too far away and the light won't be bright enough, too close and you'll burn up your plants. When in doubt, hold your hand close to the bulb. If it gets uncomfortably hot, then you know its too close for your plants too.

2) Water
Indoor overwintered plants are basically in a state of half-hybernation. They don't use much water, and since you'll probably be looking at them a couple times a day it is EXTREMELY easy to overwater. Gotta be really careful about that. Use the dowel or the wilt method to help reduce the odds of drowning our poor plants.

3) Aphids
The plants are going to be stressed pretty much all winter long, but extra so at the start. Stressed plants are very easy for aphids to attack, so you will almost assuredly get an outbreak or two. Just check in on them every day, and take extreme action when you do find them. If any escape, you'll just start over again, so thats where I recommend a nice glazing of sevin the instant you see them. There will be no beneficial insects indoors of any kind, so there will be zero chance for most of the problems of a broad spectrum insecticide like sevin to crop up. Just nuke 'em.

Actually, unless they're in the house with you, it is extremely easy to UNDERWATER.

A simple and cheap moisture gauge can easily prevent over-watering.

This is all really good info. Thanks everyone who has contributed. I bookmarked this so I'll have everything ready to go :D

I found that overwintering larger plants, even when cut back is too laborious. Aphids are the biggest issue.

I've had better luck by taking a cutting, rooting it, then keep it in a window over winter. It doesn't grow until the days get longer, but stays healthier with no aphids over winter. You still get an early harvest since the cutting will be maturer then the recently planted seed.

Hi PinkieMarie.
Thanks for starting a provative post.
I've successfully overwintered peppers for many years. I leave about 6 to 8 v-shape 'crotches' maybe 4" long with leaves still attached. The plants go into a state of semi-dormancy so you will get some leaf drop. It's all good, it's the roots that count. I recommend giving a good watering every two weeks only. It's a good practice to fertilize them once mid-winter. As far as the aphids go, I really dislike chemicals. Besides, if you use them indoors you could breathe the toxic fumes. You can spray with a soapy water solution (hit them with a direct spray) ...1 tsp. of dish soap mixed well with 16 oz. of water. This is a good all around control for garden bugs. It suffocates soft bodied garden pests (aphids) by suffocating them because they breathe through their skin. It kills hard bodies insects by giving them a permanent case of dysentary. Also, keep an eye out for ants in your potting soil. They actually 'herd' the aphids to milk the sap from them....much like we milk cows. You can control the ants with citrus rinds placed at the base of the plants. ...they don't like them.
Good luck with overwintering your peppers pinkiemarie.
Fiery REgards,
Pepper Joe

I wish I could "overwinter" in zone 10, LOL. In Pinkymarie's case, you'll likely need supplemental light to keep them healthy enough. I have a dome that faces skyward, which supplies enough light for many other plants, but even pruned pepper plants sulked real bad with constant pest issues. The cuttings, as smaller plants seemed ok with the reducton in light. With good indoor lighting that changes things. I couldn't do it with overwintered plants as I needed my grow areas for seed starts, and winter lettuces.

Ok, another question...when to move them in? It's getting into the low 40s at night but we still have decent sun during the day. They're right next to the house so the risk of freezing is lower in case of a sudden super cold night.

I wouldn't let them go for too long below 40ðF.
It's not that they'll die, but they will slow their growth considerably....

Josh

Thank you :)

Oh wow! I repotted today and I'm glad I did. The soil was quite chilly at 11 am. Nowhere near freezing but well below what I would imagine a pepper would enjoy. Now I'm trying to decide if I should add a long fluorescent light in addition to the puck lights under the counter edge. I'm not sure how bright the light should be when they're in winter mode.

Also, thank goodness for apple bitters or I imagine a little somebody would REALLY regret putting his face in there!

pinkimarie: If you are simply planning on overwintering the plants so that they will be ready to go next spring when it warms back up, then you probably want to cut the plants back a bit (probably quite a bit). If you are trying to keep them producing all winter, then you need quite a bit of light and real sunlight is the best.

I just cut mine back to two or three branching nodes and they do fine. It cuts down on the chance for pests indoors too. Such as aphids and the like.

Here is what two of my Hot Hungarian Wax Peppers looked like prior to cutting them back for overwintering. They are in 7 gallon pots here.

Here they are after cutting them back. You cut back the root ball as well. They were transplanted into 1 gallon pots for the winter.

Here are the plants one month after pruning and repotting.

Bruce

Nice looking plants! I do want them to just hibernate, but they've got fresh peppers up near the tops of the plants so for now I'm going to do my best to grow them indoors. Thanks for giving me an idea of what to aim for when I cut them!