Peppers are delicious! Whether you like hot peppers or sweet peppers both types can be propagated through cuttings to preserve over the winter.
Propagating Pepper Plants
To propagate peppers take 3 to 4 inch cuttings, treat with rooting hormone (although not necessary it may speed up the process), put in your rooting medium, and keep the medium damp until rooting occurs. It may also be helpful to cover the cuttings with a humidity dome like a plastic bag tented over them.
For my cuttings I’m keeping them underneath a shade tree which will help slow evaporation. To propagate peppers time your cuttings at least a month before your first frost date. You may want to plan a couple extra weeks or plan on bringing them indoors before the frost comes.
Why Propagating Pepper Plants Works So Well
Peppers are really a tender perennial that can grow for several years if kept in the right growing conditions. Unfortunately pepper plants are not frost tolerant so if you plan to grow cuttings over the winter and you are in an area of the country that gets cold they will have to be brought indoors.
The pepper plants will produce peppers over the winter if they receive enough light either through a sunny window or additional artificial plant lights (Amazon Aff.). Ideally you will want to give your pepper plants at least 8 hours of light to simulate their normal growing conditions. Peppers have true flowers with both the male and female parts so you do not need to have cross pollination. When they flower just shake the pepper plant a little and your should have good fruit production over the winter.
My strategy for using these cuttings is to save my favorite pepper plants over the winter indoors then transplant outdoors in the spring after all danger of frost has past. At that point the pepper plants will have a head start for growing with a fully developed root system.
I may take cuttings of the indoor pepper plant several weeks before the frost date so that I can plant more pepper plants in the garden. It’s another way to get your vegetable garden started each year!
Advantage of Taking Pepper Cuttings
When you successfully make a cutting it is genetically identical to the plant it came from. This is true for all cuttings but if there was a particular plant that you really enjoyed and want to make sure you get the exact same produce from it then cuttings are the way to do that. Otherwise you could just grow new pepper plants from seeds. Now seeds are a fantastic method to use but I’ve found that cuttings get a full grow producing plant faster than starting fresh from seeds.
Cuttings are also a great way to preserve a pepper plant that may have come from a rare or expensive type of seed. I purchased the chiltepin peppers this year and grew them but the seeds were $5 for a pack with only 10 seeds. I saved seed from them but it taking cuttings of the chiltepin peppers would be a good way to insure I have the same genetics.
A Complete Walkthough on How to Propagate Peppers
Another Method to Save Peppers Over the Winter
Another way you can save your pepper plants over the winter is to dig them up and plant them in a large pot for the house. I recommend doing both methods just incase there is transplant shock when moving the pepper plants to pots, but it’s unlikely you will have trouble since peppers are tough plants overall.
Indoor pepper plants may need periodic fertilization but if you start with a good potting soil you may not need to fertilize much until spring when you plant them outdoors. I always recommend looking for an organic solution for fertilization whenever possible.
Check out the results of some pepper cuttings below:
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