Linda - how are your plants doing?? I don't have much to offer in the way of advice, since I haven't tried overwintering pepper plants, but anything that I've read on the subject seems to indicate that they would need supplemental light - plenty of it. A friend overwinters chile plants, and he's told me that they will look pretty tacky, but as long as you can keep them alive, they'll pick up pretty quickly once they go outside again.

Not much help, I know ... but I'd be interested in knowing how you're progrssing.

PV

Two of them look totally dead. One is hanging on. The hot pepper plant (can't remember which it is, but I think it's Serrano) is doing fantastic.

I think maybe the bells needed a light set up for the winter (something I don't think I want to spend the money on...but then, I have to use lights to start a new batch of seeds anyway).

We've been remodeling and I just now had time to move my lights and stuff to another room. I'm thinking of putting the plants that look dead under lights just to see if it helps them, while I start a new batch.

Would you believe my Datura conked out too? I overwintered it last year and it bloomed nicely outside, in the ground late summer. The stalk had turned to wood outside, I transplanted it back into a pot to overwinter indoors. It was doing great for weeks and then it just dropped all signs of life :-( If I had known that would happen, I would have Summer Sowed more.

Ah well...adventures in overwintering...
Thanks for asking, PV :-)

I haven't tried overwintering Bells (haven't grown them) but from my experience some hot peppers don't winter as well as some others. My Pueblo lost all their leaves shortly after coming in mid Sept. and then were cut back sometime in December. I kept the soil just from drying out and now they are coming back to life. The Golden Habenero on the other hand I removed from their 3 gal pots in mid September, root pruned them small enough for 6" pots and cut the tops back to about 6". After about 2.5 weeks these started regrowth and needed watered more often like the rest of the house plants. Now they are starting to flower :D
Peppers are magnets for spider mites indoors and to prevent that I take them to the shower once every other watering to keep the leaves clean.
Here they were on December 5th:
{{gwi:332115}}
...and here they are on March 5th:
{{gwi:332116}}

Thanks for the info, Vera :-)
Yeah, I think the bells are all dead, but I'm hesitant to take them out of the pots, just in case.
I am starting to get whiteflies/mites on the Serranos, and I have sprayed it in the sink a few times, but I think the shower would be better...more water pressure to pellet those badboys...Thanks!

Linda
PS...I see a kitty....

Are you sure it's white flies or could it be fungus gnats? Are they gathering under the leaves and are they white? If they are white fly...they are tough to rid of! I can't imagine they would be white fly without any living tissue above the surface. If you have fungus gnats then water is the last thing you need as you want the soil to dry up between watering. Fungus gnats sound more probable especially if the roots really are dead and decaying.

Vera

I've got a whitefly infestation going on with my overwintering plants this year - especially the ever-blooming abutilon! Never had the problem before. The plants look great, though. Been spraying with insecticidal soap, to no real avail.

How do you get rid of those buggers?

PV

Here you go PV..
Hope you find it helpful :D

Here is a link that might be useful: Managing Whiteflies on Indoor and Outdoor Plants

Thanks, Vera! I've been using the Safer insecticidal soap.

Maybe I need to be a bit more diligent about it ....

PV