Peppers are perennial like tomatos. However in general tomatos are bit more frost hardy than peppers. But with your protection it'll probably pull through. Good luck.

Hey, Megan.
I tried to grow Poblano this year, but my plant never did anything! It was just making flower buds when we started experiencing our first frosts. Needless to say, I yanked the plant and said nevermind, maybe next year.

Josh

I once got some habaneros to overwinter in Austin. They were mulched thickly with leaves (I mean really thickly like they were almost buried) and then covered over with an old blanket. By spring they had no leaves and the tips of the branches were dead, but I pruned them back to the green branches, and they put out new growth and started right back up again once things warmed up.

Dallas might be pushing it, but this could be successful. Maybe putting some grass clippings or leaves or something under the cover with the plants will help, since rotting vegetation gives off heat, but I'm not sure if it will make a big difference, it's just an idea.

Anyway, good luck and let us know what happens!

Well, they made it through another "chili" night-- 25 degrees outside, 34 in the 'pepper house'. This is kind of exciting, actually-- but then again, I'm easily amused!

This is my first season of growing pobies, so I didn't really know what to expect from them. Are they typically slow to produce like these were? The plants were big early on, but it was September or October before I saw my first flowers. I planted the seeds on New Year's Day, sprouts appeared in 5 days, transplant-to-first-pot size in just a couple of weeks under only window light. No special lights, but I did have them in a warm area with heat under the growing tray until they sprouted and got their first leaves. My bells and my pobies were the same size the whole time, and the bells put out months before the pobies did. The pobes never got as big as stated, but they had excellent flavor and looked pretty, even if they were "small" (largest 4-1/2" long, bigger around than a beer bottle-- many were closer to 3 or 3-1/2" with several even smaller, every flower made a pepper, no drops other than what I accidentally knocked off).

Is that typical for poblanos? I know some peppers, like habaneros and bhuts, do take a loooong time. Are pobies in that class, or were these particular plants just slowpokes?

I'm hoping that I can have poblanos earlier in the season by keeping these guys going, and then also plant some more seeds as well so I can have some extras to dry for ancho chili pods. Did I mention that I LOVE poblano peppers, LOL??! They are extremely versatile, even more so than bells, IMO. Then again, that's just in my kitchen. YMMV (your mileage may vary)...

My DH has also come to love these peppers, as well. He has also come to love habaneros, surprisingly. He's never been a hot pepper nut until this year. I think seeing them grow, and especially watching the Red Savinas go through their gorgeous ripening cycle (green to orange to neon to crimson-red) heightened his appreciation for peppers. He's really rooting for the poblanos now. They've sort of become our "pets" (sorry, kittehs-- no offense.) :)

It's going to be fun to see what happens... crossing fingers :)

I think you have a good chance of getting them through the winter. We are trying the same experiment here in St.Louis,MO. We have several plants (mostly wilder type chinense,tepin,pi#) under three layers of plastic. We mulched heavily and included several long strands of christmas lights. Figure the lights will keep the soil/mulch a few degrees warmer and will help keep the roots from freezing. We have had several nights with lows in the single digits and a quite long stretch here of lows in the teens/twenties. The leaves all gone and the tips touching the plastic are dying back, but they are still alive and green the rest of the way.

Its really hard to kill a pepper plant. As soon as you get 2 or so days of temps above 45 or so, I bet you will see the new little leaves budding out.

kendra

Okay, an update (sorry for the bump):

We had temps in the teens for several nights with highs in the low 30's last week. We didn't make it above freezing for a couple of days during that period. Before the arctic blast poured in, I set a shop light (clamp type) with a 40 watt standard light bulb inside the tent and let that run during the night. I kept the tent covered with blankets as well, and was able to maintain overnight temps of around 45 to 50. This was about 30 degrees warmer than the outside temps! In retrospect, I could have probably gone with a 25 watt bulb and been just fine. But 40 watts isn't all that much, less than a dime a day to run.

During the day, when the sun was out, I was able to turn off the lamp and fold back the blankets so that the sunlight could get in for a while to provide solar help. During the peak "solar periods" with no supplemental heat, the temps were a balmy 75 to 80, with brief periods above that... as high as 86 F. This, with outside temps not even breaking the freezing mark! Heck, my house isn't even *that* warm, LOL...

As of yesterday, the plants look basically healthy with some 2-3" long poblanos and quite a few little "buttons" that weren't there before the chill. I did have some non-fertile flowers (old maids) as well, but hey, I'm pretty tickled to have PEPPERS in January. Considering that there's not much activity under that tent other than my occasional watering and checking things out, it's a wonder that anything even got pollinated. Eh, maybe some random bugs did that job or the peppers are "parthenocarpic". We shall soon see.

Happy birthday to the plants as well-- they are now one year old, planted on January 1, 2009 and broke soil as new seedlings within 10 days. I've got more orange habs, serranos, bells and pobes started which are just now breaking soil. So cute to see the little baby seedlings. The Red Savina seeds are ready to go in the starter trays, but not sure if I'm going to waste time or space with jalapenos this year after the disappointing show I had last year. Lots of peppers, but almost all were totally heatless. Mismarked "Jalapeno M", I guess; they were more like "Fooled You's" or TAMe Jalapeno hybrids... what a waste of a good pepper (but that's for another thread).

So, it looks like the experiment is progressing along nicely. It will be interesting to see if they continue to produce through the 2010 growing season.

-Megan

I predict that your overwintered plants will give you a huge yield.

Also, I'm with you re heatless Jalapenos. What's the point? But don't give up on Jalapenos. When they are good they are VERY good. I can send you seed for some very picante ones (assuming my seed is still viable).

Jim