Pepper Experiment: Making a Bonsai Pepper Plant Over the Winter - Pepper Geek

[@The_Pepper_Passion]

Good video for a beginner who wants to try the Bonchi

[@Fdubsdee]

I twitched so hard every time you snipped at the roots. I have such a hard time "hurting" my babies even if it is for their own good. 🤣😭🤣

[@PepperGeek]

Haha yep, it’s a reflex, but the plants are strong!

[@scottfarrar376]

I can understand pain of "trimming" the plant down. Here's another way to look at it. Don't think of it as hurting the plant. Rather, think of. It as grooming the plant. Much in the same way you groom a dog or cat. No pain, but necessary for success.

[@scottlincoln9900]

@@scottfarrar376 peppers and tomatos or anything fast vegitating can not only handle up to 1/2 the root ball being cut right off, but can also handle the pruning at the same time and shrug it off like nothing. I blast mine with x3 dose miracle grow fert. anything that makes fruit or lots of flowers can usually handle a x3 fert every other week and a regular dose on the other weeks. feed every week to see rapid fast growth.

[@amck3345]

I overwintered a Habanero plant and it was first time trying this, I may have cut it back a little too much but it is growing flowers and looks really good. Cheers A

[@cluegrew2845]

I learned so much about a pepper plant all because of this. How resilient the pepper plant really can be. I have two lunch box variety indoor one all that be natural and the other I think I'll attempt what I suggested.

[@rapinbatches]

Always wanted to try this. Great way to save peppers from the cold and looks cool at the same time.

[@PeppersnGlowworms]

A great combination of two seemingly different hobbies! And a wonderful way to overwinter a few selected plants... A bonchi is something awesome!

[@eduardolozano3561]

That’s a really cool looking end result for your first time. Makes me want to attempt it

[@Diana-ze8wu]

Great video! I went crazy this year with peppers 🌶 😜 I’m about a 3rd yr gardener with just enough confidence to go crazy ordering seeds. I have 9 varieties of peppers, 40 something other veggies/flowers😳. I’m up to my eyeballs 😅I am definitely giving this a try! Thanks!

[@amck3345]

You sound like me. 3rd year growing peppers, about 25 varieties and 75 plants maybe now, I started early this year and already in 3rd stage potting. 1 more stage and they are out doors. I can't leave them outdoors until mid May. I live in Ontario Canada

[@Diana-ze8wu]

@@amck3345 25! Wow. I’m not great at preserving but I have a basic dehydrator, not so much freezer space, and hopes for canning/pickling this year. Last year I tried pickling watermelon rind from my first ever melons. They were terrible. Ma remembered having Bread and Butter pickles so I tried. They were terrible too 😂 This year we will pickle peppers. Wish me luck! 🌶😀

[@amck3345]

@@Diana-ze8wu yes good luck in your adventures in pickling peppers. I have bought a pretty decent hydration this year, I have been using it to make habanero beef jerky and it is fantastic. I plan on dehydrating most of my peppers but will spice up my stuffed olives with different peppers from this year. Last year I had between 50 and 60 pots that I had on my extra driveway which was south facing. I gave away 20 bags of peppers to friends and neighbours last year. The pepper season was a huge success...cheers Andy

[@Chakawm]

A great idea. Never heard of this before, appreciate you sharing it.

[@leonardodiamond4374]

Very cool idea, I am definitely going to try this this winter.

[@mutinyspice8868]

Awesome video.. I cant wait to try this next winter!

[@PepperGeek]

Thanks! Hope it goes well for you

[@johndomingodarum9709]

Nice experiment! I will try your good idea cause i love peppers.

[@taotefling]

Love it! I'm going to try this with an apocalypse scorpion pepper plant.

[@PepperGeek]

Nice! Would recommend using normal potting mix if you haven't started yet

[@ekgheiy]

@taotefling - How'd it go? Did you ever try this?

[@afinecupofcoffee8476]

I wish I had known this was a thing last year! So cool.

[@DavidMFChapman]

I did the same-unintentionally. I brought two plants inside, but they dropped their leaves. I trimmed the branches back and continued to water. Eventually, green buds emerged as new leaves. I grew the plants under lights. Eventually they flowered and fruited ( I helped). I hoped they would grow larger, but they stayed small!

[@hannahmaebeaver9521]

More light & cut back totally on phos. & potass for a 2 months. Just use nitrogen. You would have seen more growth.

[@jonlouis2582]

I did this this winter, not exactly on purpose, but it worked out great.

[@jtsmith4434]

So much want! Need! I'm so late seeding. Might just start inside.

[@cohenkane2148]

Very cool idea, I'm gonna do this

[@nml5536]

since this is 2 months old I'd love to see how its going. :) love this channel!

[@PepperGeek]

Thanks! We ended up keeping it a bonsai for this season - ended up more busy than usual this year..but it is still alive and well!

[@BrenFoxy9952]

I really like your videos and I've been waiting for this video :) #greetingsfromSlovakia

[@pplusbthrust]

First ever bonsai pepper & I'm first to say it.

[@pshngo]

Nope

[@KornKrlz2]

Oh wow! I just discovered your channel and love the vids.

[@mrkthmn]

Perfect timing! I have a bunch of seeds waiting to start some of them! I know people typically use their over winter plants for it but the season just started and I don’t want to wait near a year to start, haha! Thanks for the video!

[@hairybass480]

You should just get a bunch going and play with a few of them like this. I find 20 pepper plants is enough to keep me busy. I still want more though. Lol

[@satoshipokemon8411]

Today i just seeded my first 8 peppers thanks to this channel ❤️ 6 mild ones and 2 Habanero Peach. I thought as u said Bonsai soil, this isnt going to be good 🙈

[@PepperGeek]

Haha! We learn from our mistakes here - glad you're growing some peppers for the first time!

[@wadmadhushan4434]

Good job friend. Super

[@MrDarkmyths]

this is an interesting idea, i might try this next season. how did the plant do long term?

[@nickh2579]

I plan on making a bonchi with a Bolivian rainbow soon someday

[@sir.reelcinema]

I too had the same issue with water when I did my bonsai a few years ago it would dry out too fast and I used regular potting soil

[@driesthijssen498]

You know what I think would be a great addition to this channel? Everyone in this hobby looks for hot sauce recipes at some point. Well, let's say you just take all kinds of different hot sauce recipes from the internet, try making them, show us the process and 'review' them. Could make an entire series about it. We, the viewers, don't have the time, money or peppers to try 100 recipes to find the best ones. I see some channels (including this one) review store bought sauces, and that's cool and all, especially if you're targeting a US audience only. The world, however, is much bigger than that, we love spice in Europe too, but we don't have the same assortment of sauces here so these videos are not helpful, but if you link to an internet recipe, we can all enjoy and discuss the same sauces. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

[@PepperGeek]

That is an awesome idea! I love it. We'll definitely make some of our own sauce recipes too, but reviewing other recipes is a great way to help narrow down what to make and also maybe help some recipe creators get some exposure. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@mitchhobock683]

Good job Bud

[@DMcGaughey2011]

I'm trying to bonsai overwinter my KS Lemon Starrburst pepper this winter. I started the plant in 2021 and overwintered it to this season and the stem is about 1 1/2 inches wide with large roots. I found a ceramic pot that was 8-10 wide and 8 inches deep. It has one hole in the bottom. I put a screen in the bottom to hold in rock and soil. So far I have put small lava-type rocks in the bottom inch followed by potting soil mixed with gardening moss and perlite. Then i used a chopstick to move the soil into the root system and then covered the small roots with the soil and left the big roots exposed. Around the big roots and the top layer so far i put another layer of the small lava rock. Ill see how it goes this winter with it.

[@zfloutek]

cool idea! Have to try it this year :) thank you for a great content guys

[@lorenzodelacruz1887]

Great show. Very exciting content. I have got to try this myself. I'm sad to let my peppers go in October with the cold. Thank you

[@DivaGardening]

Nice informative

[@CherylLewis-i8u]

This is making me so happy. I was growing a bunch of different things and thought I was growing a bonsai wisteria but found out it was a pepper plant and did the exact same thing......this plant is definitely dead right? I swear I said and went throught the same thing.

[@OSGCourtWatch]

Love the aphid bath...great idea. Another thing u could add to that is some household strength hydrogen peroxide. We had great overwinter peppers two years ago, last season damn aphids wiped out all but 4 of the 22 peppers we tried to overwinter.

[@vidaroni]

Agreed! Submerging the whole plant is much easier than trying to spray every nook and cranny. At least for smaller plants.

[@chillifarmer8402]

Nice video :)

[@nicholaslomb7174]

I'm new to the pepper game. And on the leaves of my four out of five pepper plants or those brown spots under the leaves. What exactly can I use to remove them. I heard you say when you soaked your plant that you used soap water and neem oil. What type of soap? Am I able to just use a spray bottle and wipe? Or do I have to soak all my plants?

[@PepperGeek]

Soaking is really a last resort and only really works if you are uprooting the entire plant and repotting like I did in this video. Brown spots could be fungal, or it could be insect damage. If you have aphids, always start by trying to simply spray them off with water (hose, faucet, etc.). This is and easy, effective method. Neem/soap is a second option, but is only for insects, not for fungal problems. For that, you'll either need to remove the plant and discard, or try an organic fungicide spray. See if any of these look like the issue: peppergeek.com/spots-on-pepper-leaves

[@blasermann1994]

I'm personally leaving a couple in bonchi. I use regular soil though. They're loaded with peppers. I ate one last night as 4 were ripe.

[@PepperGeek]

Awesome, would love to hear more about how to maintained them to produce 😊

[@blasermann1994]

@@PepperGeek I kepped it small like a bonchi but not in a bonsai pot. So maybe that doesn't count. I lost my first 50 or more flowers. Mycorrhizae helped. I have a few in solo cups producing dozens if not over 100 flowers and pods. Ready to bonchi Twilight, numex Halloween and white habanero is fully loaded. I ate purple ghost scorpion is the one I bonchi last year. I need to move them into an actual bonsai pots after a good round of pods as I don't want to touch the roots at this time.

[@blasermann1994]

I also used 25% worm castings in the pro-mix I used. But I did put it in a bigger container so it doesn't count. Next seasons project however.

[@spicymcspice9122]

debating cutting back one of my 4 plants (JPGS) into one of these a few weeks before the season starts so i can take it with me to college and if I'm lucky, have a few pods to share with friends for shits and giggles

[@PepperGeek]

Definitely worth a try! A JPGS bonsai would look awesome

[@dans3718]

Bonsai soil is designed to stress the plants. Suspect you're right that a good regular-style potting soil is better for fruiting more abundantly. Typically bonsai are fertilized with a very dilute liquid fertilizer too. Cool experiment.

[@geoffbremner193]

Could I do this with a jalapeno pepper plant?

[@cluegrew2845]

Ya I came looking. That was the most hacking I've seen aside from a bonsai tree although they are much mature. 😂 Do you suppose you could pre bonsai The pepper plant but what you would need to do is pick the fruit off throughout the whole year I would guess so that it can harden off. Do you have a suggestion?

[@cluegrew2845]

Basically keep the pepper in veg the whole time without having to retransplant hack the hell out of it lol

[@PepperGeek]

Yeah, this is probably possible, but it may not get quite as thick of a stem. We grew a plant from seed in a soda can this winter and the stem got to about 1/2" and then stopped growing. Looked cool, but not as thicc as this one was from being in a larger pot all season.

[@cluegrew2845]

@@PepperGeek hmmm due to the circumstances I would agree since the environment would be smaller you'd get smaller results. I'll have to get back to you and see how I might be able to bend it.

[@jstalsis]

Did you leave this under a grow light or in a window?

[@mikes978]

Do the leaves stay small or will they grow out to it's normal size?

[@PepperGeek]

Pure were mostly smaller than they were on the full sized plant, though a few did grow to be pretty big. Peppers should be full sized though!

[@greatgardenguru8718]

"well..another bloodbath" 😭😭😭😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Aar0nDown]

Can I use any pepper seeds for this? I have Cayenne pepper seeds I would like to use for this.

[@PepperGeek]

Surely! Cayennes will work

[@Aar0nDown]

@@PepperGeek ok thanks. You guys are the best.

[@MalaysianTropikfusion]

I'm *so* interested to see how an ornamental like the Masquerade would fare in a broom or cascade style. Why don't you try it out in the future? I'm a first-time grower (Of anything, really. COVID-19 has a way of making us get off our butts). Just ordered some peach ghost pepper-Trinidad scorpion hybrid seeds earlier today. Can't wait to plant them around Eid. I'm prepping up with your videos, which are very informative, by the way. If my chillies turn out okay in a couple of months, I'm *definitely* dabbling in bonsai chillies. Maybe coconuts too.

[@PepperGeek]

Coconuts?! Awesome...Yes we'll have to choose carefully which variety we bonsai-ify this year. Have fun growing those JPGS peppers - they're HOT!

[@Sy5temfire]

Am I hosed for photosynthesis if I already pulled off all the leaves? Eeeek.

[@dubcindub15]

I've a little pepper that's about 5 inches tall at maybe 4 months old, the stalk is bent so bad from lack of water and mistreatment it goes from soil up, then loops around about 300 degrees and grows upright again. Definitely a candidate for bonchi once I get it to come on a bit more. I'll tag your instagram and let you know how it progresses :) edit @3:54 yeah I agree from my 1st attempt at bonchi, don't use actual bonsai mix/compost, it drains way too fast and you'll be watering twice a day, possibly more in a warm climate. Considering the pot is so small, you need a compost/soil that will retain a bit of moisture or your little baby will be feasting or famining on water and the stress probably isn't good for it's general health long term.

[@PepperGeek]

Haha that sounds awesome - perfect for bonchi! Hopefully you can post it on instagram with #peppergeek so we can see

[@hairybass480]

Peppergeek! How many plants do you usually have going? Or how many of each variety is enough to keep you busy?

[@PepperGeek]

We had about 50 pepper plants last year, this year is over 60. Since there are so many varieties, we usually grow one of each type, unless we are running an experiment, then we’ll have 2 or more of the same variety to keep things consistent. Or if the variety is particularly cool we’ll grow a couple (like the sugar rush striped)!

[@hairybass480]

@@PepperGeek ok so it's normal to grow a bunch of them when you love them. Im not the only one!!! You channel is awesome. Thank you.

[@gangstreG123]

@@PepperGeekWhat do you do with them all? Make sauce?

[@oFontanini]

There are specific bonsai soil mixtures for fruit trees

[@illiquidwombat3515]

would be cool/useful to see how you wire it from closer

[@PepperGeek]

Yes, thanks for sharing - we use them too, especially for non-powdered stuff

[@mattkiernan4009]

What does it look like now??

[@Jacob-em8mn]

ngl the roots at 2:49 made me hungry for ramen

[@inmyopinion6836]

I have an eight-year-old Tabasco pepper X 4 , I split the plant and am propagating it to my "Pepper Plantation" LOL

[@5klicktone]

I over wintered a jalapeno and I was a le to get 2 peppers out if it.

[@pyromongols8508]

I have animals in it always

[@ohno3587]

Soapy water?

[@PepperGeek]

Yes we use about 1tsp of Castile soap (Dr Bronner's) in a gallon of water and mix it well. We also add about a tsp of neem oil.

[@mr.tomuning5124]

👍👍👍

[@kikilicious99]

I'm currently doing this in cans. Look on instagram for #pepperinacanchallenge and #cansai and #pepperinacan. I have four going right now. My first year trying. U just have to start from seed inside the can. No transplanting!

[@PepperGeek]

We have a video on our pepper in a can challenge, check it out !

[@kikilicious99]

@@PepperGeek Ok. Sure!😃

[@aquariummama6453]

What type of pepper is this?

[@PepperGeek]

CGN 21500

[@gangstreG123]

Is the plant really being "bonzai-ed" or is it just downsizing? You have smaller productivity, but are the stems, nodes, and leaves becoming smaller, too?

[@PepperGeek]

Well, by pruning often, you encourage the plant to branch out more often, causing leaves to remain smaller. Fruits should grow true to size, making smaller pepper varieties the best fit for bonsai.

[@ankrax]

Bonchi is the term for a bonsai chilli pepper

[@cowsagainstcapitalism347]

A few months, my mom decided to hurt my feelings by killing my 2 year Tepin. She knew exactly where to hit me😢

[@benjaminbillings4466]

I've done a pair in that same potting mix and they hated it. I also have a beautiful scotch bonnet bonchi in about half bonsai mix, half potting soil. Started it as a stunted seedling and removed all the leaves before wiring and potting. As the branches grow in its ideal to snip the growing tips to encourage ramification and branch structure. Unfortunately bonchi trunks dont appreciably thicken much overtime. Also the more you do the more you realize you can chop off A LOT. That root base could have been halved, flattened, and thinned out to select the strongest radial roots.

[@zanic07]

Can't you just rinse off the roots and add new soil and wire it back in place.

[@ParapluieDefenestrator]

my indoor peppers are constantly infested with aphids. I'm clearly doing something wrong.

[@jhdrake2]

no

[@DoomedBeThyHeart]

Hey, thank you for the video. You MIGHT want to overthink your thumbnail again. The depicted flag is the war flag of Japan and therefore symbol of their war crimes. It is similar to the flag of Nazi Germany.

[@PepperGeek]

Oops! Thanks for the heads up... :)

[@DoomedBeThyHeart]

@@PepperGeek No problem! It is still used by the japanese marine and at some sports event but a lot of countries in south east asia find it offensive. So it is not offensive for everyone but controversial nontheless :) Just want to spare you the trouble if someone gets offended

[@KiloBravo69]

Bone-sai not bonzi