Teach Me Bonchi

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I got mine to the age of three years.
Plant them in pots, get them indoors for winter, a window sill will do just fine. Treat against spider mites, treat again, treat again. Then in spring put them back outdoors.
All in potting soil.

They can drop their foliage, but they'll leaf out again in a couple of weeks. That's when the spider mites get them.

-5°C is deadly, anything above will only turn them purple or black, the peppers too, but they'll change color again to red or green if you harvest them and bring them indoors.

Peppers do tend to lose some vigor if you keep them alive for over a year, but a friend of mine had them grow the most vigorous in year 2.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Peppers do tend to lose some vigor if you keep them alive for over a year, but a friend of mine had them grow the most vigorous in year 2.

This is SPOT on!

 

[Firstflush]

This guy does it in Michigan.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Shoot! I forgot to share some pics of my inside chiles.. I’ll share a few of the more attractive ones . As my work with peppers is only a small part “bonchi” aspirations.

Serrano.. the “base model” var. HAHAHA.
GreenGiant Bell Belonging to my youngest. “Spiderman the Pepper Plant. (Lived in that pot his whole life)
Another GreenGiant... Lived HALF it’s life in that pot.. produced peppers a tad bigger than “golf ball-size”

 

[ShadyStump]

This whole conversation has my gears turning.
Present theory: Capsicum anuum originated in the jungles of what is now southeastern Mexico and has been cultivated in that and surrounding regions for roundabout 1000 years. Most of the more common varieties we know today, however, were developed in Europe and Asia in the Post-Columbian period, and then brought BACK to the Americas in the colonial era. These were, of course, bred as annuals to suit the new climates.
So, do you suppose that the original cultivars, or maybe some heirloom varieties of Mexican cultivars, would still survive much longer than our familiar ones that have always been bred as annuals?