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- #21
Ok, thanks I will reuse the potting soil.Where did they spend the winter? I've overwintered pepper plants the last 2 years, but I didn't really cut them back and I put them under lights during the winter and gave them water every week or so. I don't think it's likely that you can overwinter a bell pepper type plant because they have been so bred so far away from their wild ancestors which are perennials. Hots, I've found, are a different story. Treating them like houseplants when indoors seems to keep them alive and even flourishing.
I don't think you need to throw your soil out though; you might want to amend it a little with some compost or fertile addition, but I don't see any reason to toss it.
I was thinking the same thing, keeping them at room temp may be the trick. I kept mine in garage over winter which normally doesn’t get below 50°. We had a very unusual cold snap this past winter that cause temperture below 50° in garage. I think that could have something to do with it. Now if you were keeping yours at room temperture and giving it water over winter, it probably never went dormant. I did prune mine branches back just above where the bottom Y's branch out just above the nodes.
Don't know if that had anything to do with it or not. I did plant more bell peppers this year thinking something could go wrong with the over winter peppers. I have 6 plants of the California wonder coming up now about 4" tall now. I like this variety better than last year anyway. Last year I had the mini small bell peppers, & lots of them.