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Post by woodeye on Jul 21, 2022 12:10:27 GMT -6
Well of course now I'm interested in these Shishito peppers. I've not grown these, however I've grown lots of bell, mild, & hot peppers in the past.
Have any of you folks ever over-wintered Shishito pepper plants by pruning them closely, digging them up, pruning about half of the roots off, then repotting them in damp potting soil in a small bucket, then moving them inside your house?
I've done this with cayenne and jalapeno peppers, and had excellent results. I put the re-potted plants in a bedroom for the winter during the last week of October. But of course it needs to be done before the first frost, so mid October to Mid November here in my area. Anyway, all I did to them was leave them alone all winter. I never watered them or anything, they went dormant & then come spring began to sprout leaves again. I set them outside again during the first week of May. Boy, talk about a jump start! They really did good the second year, peppers galore.
I have photos somewhere of them living existing in my un-heated bedroom, hopefully I can find the pics and post them.
So with all of that in mind, I'm going to start some Shishito pepper plants to give it a try next year, then over-winter them and see how it goes...
Found the picture of the pepper plants that I over-wintered in my un-heated bedroom. Photo was taken on October 24, 2016. That's where they stayed until I set them out in the next spring...
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spike
New Member
Posts: 39
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Post by spike on Jul 23, 2022 20:17:28 GMT -6
I love Shishito peppers. I didn't grow any this year and that is unusual for us.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 24, 2022 13:56:36 GMT -6
Woodeye,
Thanks, for sharing those photos. I can now say, "I learned something new today." I've never tried overwintering a pepper plant before. That would be a nice project in the future.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jul 24, 2022 15:00:00 GMT -6
Woodeye, I’ve never overwintered Shishito peppers. I figured that they were productive enough and early enough that I didn’t need to. I have overwintered some small sweet peppers before, and they did produce earlier the next spring, but I wasn’t sure it was significant enough for me to try it as a regular practice. I did do it the way you described, though, digging up, pruning roots and repotting. I kept mine in the garage by eastern facing windows. We don’t usually have our garage go below freezing even when it freezes outside (February 2021 being a notable exception). Mine actually kept their leaves, and I did need to water from time to time.
I didn’t overwinter any peppers last year as our frost came so late in the season (January 1) that I was ready to be done with the plants. My overwintering space in the house this year was given over to a big planter of ginger. The garage would have been too cold for that.
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Post by woodeye on Jul 24, 2022 16:53:05 GMT -6
heavyhitterokra, I'm happy that it might give you something new to try. I admit that I figured I would do something wrong and the plants would die. Luckily that was not the case. I'm going to make the shishito pepper one of my backyard projects, have it in a 5 gallon grow bag the first year, if successful it will be in a 7 gallon bag the 2nd year, then a bigger pot the following winter, and so on, etc. To me it's a fun project.
chrysanthemum, I can understand your thinking on it. If I was to do the planting and digging of the plants out in the garden, it would make overwintering a lot more work. The way I grow pepper plants in the grow bags, it's not that big of a deal to roll the grow bag around a bit to loosen the plant and then dump the whole plant out of the grow bag. Before I ever overwintered one I thought the plant would be fragile, now I know that pepper plants are tough rascals, at least the varieties like jalapeno and cayenne are. That's why I want to see if shishito peppers are. The heat level of them is more suitable for me nowadays than the other peppers were. I wish it was warm enough in my garage to overwinter them, but it gets too cold out there. I know this because my garage doubles as my woodworking shop, and I don't have it heated, therefore in bad winters it would definitely kill any plants I had out there.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 13, 2022 18:31:17 GMT -6
I now have the Shishito Pepper seeds in stock, they are in the seed bank in my freezer until Feb or March next year. I've decided to start enough seeds to have plants out in the garden as well as have one or 2 in grow bags in the backyard. Not necessarily a contest to see which growing method works best, but hopefully just to have plenty of peppers available for my use as well as having extra peppers to give to folks...
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 13, 2022 20:41:35 GMT -6
That sounds like a good plan, Woodeye. Shishitos are a fun and tasty little pepper. I really enjoy them. I’m sure others would be blessed by getting some if you’re able to grow a good crop. Seeing how well you do with your squash, I imagine you’ll be overrun with peppers.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 13, 2022 21:28:44 GMT -6
Thank you, chrysanthemum, your vote of confidence is much appreciated. I'll do all I can to make it come true...
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Post by rdback on Sept 3, 2022 7:42:26 GMT -6
...I've decided to start enough seeds to have plants out in the garden as well as have one or 2 in grow bags in the backyard...just to have plenty of peppers available for my use as well as having extra peppers to give to folks... If you're planting that many Shishito plants, I hope you know lots of folks who eat peppers, lol. These things are prolific! I've already picked 2 or 3 dozen peppers off this plant, but they just keep coming. ...and they taste pretty darn good too!
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Post by woodeye on Sept 3, 2022 11:35:30 GMT -6
That's what I'm after, rdback. About 4 years ago I had a few Sahuara pepper plants, those things loaded down continuously seems like. Good for giveaways and for the freezer.
Plus, my backyard garden for next year has been cancelled, so probably 2 plants is all the pepper plants I'll have in the enclosed garden due to available garden space...
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Post by hmoosek on Sept 3, 2022 13:44:02 GMT -6
I guess I’ll join the party. Baker Creek has them. I grow a few peppers every now and then, but No one around here eats anything hot and spicy except me, so maybe they might like these. I like grilled Jalapeño’s stuffed with cheddar cheese, shrimp, and wrapped in bacon. I can eat my weight in them.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Sept 3, 2022 17:42:56 GMT -6
...I've decided to start enough seeds to have plants out in the garden as well as have one or 2 in grow bags in the backyard...just to have plenty of peppers available for my use as well as having extra peppers to give to folks... If you're planting that many Shishito plants, I hope you know lots of folks who eat peppers, lol. These things are prolific! I've already picked 2 or 3 dozen peppers off this plant, but they just keep coming. ...and they taste pretty darn good too! Rdback, that plant is loaded with some mighty fine looking peppers. Our shishitos have produced only in very small quantities this summer. I assume it’s the heat and drought because nothing has done well this summer, and shishitos were great last year (though not quite so great as the one in your picture, I’m afraid). Now that the weather has cooled off some, I’m hoping for more production. We really enjoy blistered shishitos as a side dish.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Sept 3, 2022 17:46:53 GMT -6
I guess I’ll join the party. Baker Creek has them. I grow a few peppers every now and then, but No one around here eats anything hot and spicy except me, so maybe they might like these. I like grilled Jalapeño’s stuffed with cheddar cheese, shrimp, and wrapped in bacon. I can eat my weight in them. Baker Creek is where I got my pack of seeds for shishitos last year. It was cheaper to buy seeds than it was to buy a half pound package of peppers at the grocery store, so we grew them before we ever tasted them, and we got way more than a half pound off the three plants last year. (Prices on the peppers have also gone way up since last year.). I really only needed the one package of pepper seeds at that time, but I needed to buy a second seed pack to meet the minimum order requirement, so I decided to browse their okra selection. I was shopping earlier than most folks, so I was actually able to buy Heavy Hitter Okra before it sold out. It was reading about that that brought me to this forum. I’m so very glad it did.
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Post by hmoosek on Sept 3, 2022 22:04:55 GMT -6
I’m glad it did too chrysanthemum You and woodeye have certainly been a nice addition to our forum! oh by the way, my peppers are ordered! I’m ready. Oh wait…I guess we do gotta get through winter. There I go jumping the gun.
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Post by woodeye on Sept 3, 2022 22:14:13 GMT -6
I’m glad it did too chrysanthemum You and woodeye have certainly been a nice addition to our forum! oh by the way, my peppers are ordered! I’m ready. Oh wait…I guess we do gotta get through winter. There I go jumping the gun. Thanks, hmoosek. I know, I've designated September as catchup month on woodworking, but more importantly, I have designated October as the 31 days I'll have to build my enclosure.
By the way, it's only 197 days until the first day of spring 2023. We'll make it, next year is gonna be an outstanding gardening year...
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