A few seasons ago I carefully selected, dried and stored the seeds from my recent crop of Fatalii peppers. I love the flavor and heat these peppers create and wanted to make sure that I had another successful harvest. I germinated the seeds during the darkest part of the winter; put the embryos in new pots with wonderful starting soil and watched them grow. In mid April (after out last frost date) I put these Fatalii children in the dirt and staked them up for the season. A few months later I was surprised to see a weird bumpy orange fruit ripening on my yellow Fatalii plants. What happened? Others call this phenomenon “Pepper Joed” after growing seeds from a certain on line source and the results were not what they anticipated. I finally figured out that the Bees were visiting all my plants and the ripening fruit on my Fatallii plants had cross pollinated with the Carolina Reaper plants in the same garden bed. These peppers were good and hot but lacked the citrusy flavor that comes from the Fatalii cultivar.
A few solutions came to mind. I started my next season’s search for seeds looking for sellers that described their product as “Isolated”. The isolated plant should only be fertilized from the same type of plant assuring an offspring that is true. I also looked in the descriptions that folks used to overwinter their pepper plants. Almost all of the instructions for overwintering involved chopping down the current plant and digging up the root ball, putting it into a bucket and storing it inside for the winter. Sounds good on paper, but you need a lot of room for a couple of plants. You are also bringing garden dirt into the house (if you have a greenhouse you are fortunate- I don’t) and there is a chance that the plant won’t survive.
I thought I would try an experiment. I read that Peppers are indeterminate (they keep growing) as well as perennials (the KEEP growing!) so I wondered if I could start new plants from cuttings. I selected a few of the top most branches, those with new growth and healthy leaves- and carefully cut about eight pieces. Cuttings were dipped in root tone (rooting enzyme – not sure if this is a requirement but I had some around so I used it) and poked them into the prepared pots. Most took root. If I saw one that didn’t I simply cut another sprig, applied root tone and planted it into a pot.
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| It was pretty windy so the plants were moving around. I selected a cutting from the end of a branchat top of the plant. |
Here’s the equipment. Sharp (clean) cutting devices. Root Tone (may be optional) and clean potting soil in clean pot. |
I cut my pieces just below a joint and trim off any leaves and other branches that are there. I use Root Tone. |
The newly potted cutting (left) stays outside. I use our raised block beds to hold the container since it gets pretty windy here. The plant on the right was potted last season! I didn’t use it and it has lived in the blocks for this summer. |
The cuttings live in a window (I use one of our Southern or Western facing windows… no grow lights) inside for the winter. I put them in a tub to catch overflow (The pots have large drain holes) and water them as needed, maybe once a week.
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| The potted plants brought out for planting in April – After out last probably frost date.
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We created raised beds from concrete blocks and our soil is heavily amended with compost. I also use deep layers of old horse hay for mulch. The plants go into wells in the mulch for easy access to water. I also pre install the cages and steel T posts since our plants can get four or five feet tall. Without support the storms we’ve had knocked over unsupported plants.
Sometimes the transplants don’t work. I put in two plants and they both took. I had a total of seven out of the eight I started survive the winter. IF one of yours doesn’t work you can always put in one of the backups.
Plants really seem to like the sunshine and hot weather we have. I just have to water them when it gets too dry.
Our pepper plot includes two Fataliis, one Carolina Reaper and a pair of sweet peppers for cooking.