[Ralphy]

I've heard that treated properly chillis and peppers are pirennial. do you reckon I can do it over the miserable Scottish winter though? I suspect it may be a bit too long and dark, I've got no windows that get more than a couple of hours difect light a day even in summer.

Do you think it's worth a go?

[Lardman]

It depends on what variety you are trying to keeping alive.

I've done it on a few occasions with the longer season varieties, but to be honest - its really not worth the effort for most of the commonly grown types.

[arugula]

They overwinter quite happily in Scotland, but we've never found that it gives you any sort of a flying start the following season to make it worthwhile doing so.

[Ralphy]

thanks guys, i've got a few chilli plants from seeds i saved from a couple of chillis my girlfriend brought back from holiday, they're not a comercial variety as far as i can see and i planted them a tad to late for them to fruit (they've just started flowering).
  No seeds left so i'm keen on keeping them alive!

[shokkyy]

I tried it last winter with sweet pepper and chilli plants (2 of each). 1 of each survived and came back nicely and fruited earlier than the newly started plants this year. In fact, the sweet pepper is the only sweet pepper plant I've had this year that gave me a crop. I don't think the lack of light is necessarily a biggie. I think the idea is to keep them dormant through the winter, not growing.

Try this link for helpful tips on overwintering chillis - www.thechilliking.com/growing/over-wintering/

[Ralphy]

top notch! cheers Shokkyy