[Goodloe]

Originally Posted by Ozark

I have kept a pot of Maui Purple Peppers going for over 20 years now, they're the only really hot peppers I grow. Nine of these little peppers, chopped up in a half gallon of garden salsa, give it just the right amount of heat and a great flavor. The plants and peppers are very attractive and ornamental, too. ScottinAtlanta, they look a lot like your Black Pearl peppers as pictured, but the little Maui Purple Peppers are elongated rather than round.

Sometime in the late '90's I bought an envelope of these seeds from a lady on the Hawaiian island of Maui for $1. She offered them on eBay, and her listing showed a picture of a permanent hedge of these pepper plants in her yard. Her listing said that this pepper variety is native to Maui, and of course they never freeze there so they grow as perennials.

I planted them in my garden that first year, and at the end of the season I dug up the best-looking plant, put it in a pot, and brought it inside the house by a south-facing window. The plant thrived indoors and had a good crop of peppers that dropped into the soil and re-seeded themselves. I stuck a wire tomato cage into the pot, and ever since I've had a cluster of numerous pepper plants growing and bearing fruit three times a year. They really like being crowded together.

Individual plants live only 2 or 3 years, but they re-seed and when a crop of peppers gets ripe and then dries up, I always crumble some dried peppers and seeds into the soil of that pot. The pot is brought indoors during our cold months, and the rest of the time it is outdoors on our deck. I water the plant with MiracleGro about twice a year, and the same soil has been in that pot for 20+ years now without any problem.
Overwintering these pepper plants has worked just fine for me, and the fresh hot peppers are pretty to look at and something we use year-round. That was a very well-spent dollar!

That's outstanding! Probably the best pepper story I've ever heard! KUDOS!!