Organic Chilli Plants Can Be Perennial
Chilli plant in a greenhouse to avoid frost.
In southern Australia many areas receive frosts during our winter time which would often kill off many vegetable plants leaving us to think that they are annuals and need to be re-planted every year. But chilli plants (and capsicums too) survive quite well for a number of years (act as perennials) if they can avoid the frosty winter months.
We kept finding that by trying to grow our chilli plants each year they had such a long time required for them to set fruit that by the time the fruit was turning red the plant was dying as it was late into autumn and getting too cold. We then put our chilli plants into pots so that we could move them under the shelter of a porch over the winter and by avoiding frosts they managed to survive more than one year. In fact we have found that by keeping these plants alive over a number of years they grow much larger and produce a great deal more fruit as the years go by.
Woody stems of chilli plant after 1 years growth.
We have also placed a few plants in a neighbours greenhouse to avoid the winter frosts, well at least until we get a greenhouse of our own! After a year the plants stems become quite woody and they have a much greater capacity to set and hold a lot of fruit . Also the plants are able to grow much more fruit as they don’t have to grow from seed each year, hence having a huge head start each spring.
So if you love chilli’s like we do getting a couple of different varieties into a greenhouse or some pots that can be moved around to avoid frosts – will mean you can have an abundance of chilli’s on hand all year around. They also make great gifts as they are bright and colorful and can store well. Here are some ideas for preserving chilli’s for year around use – we even home made tabasco sauce with our chilli harvest this year.
facebook 
twitter 
email 
