I usually start mine about 12 weeks before I plan to plant them outside.

Sounds like you are on the right track. I live in zone 7 and just planted my pepper seeds today. I suggest start them from now to some time in Feb. make sure you have enough light and room for the peppers. Plant the C. Chinese varieties as soon as possible as they grow slower than the others. Two years ago I planted a sweet pepper at the same time and it outpaced my c Chinese varieties by 1/2 to a foot ahead.

Mark

I started mine last week, and I've been eagerly awaiting the first sign of the little guys popping out of the dirt...

Update 1/21/14: I can see the first yellow brain strain trying to pop all the way out of the dirt, and i sse what looks like a Poblano coming up too... Exciting times!!

This post was edited by TFortune on Tue, Jan 21, 14 at 16:59

I have just germinated the remainder of my peppers (mostly annums). I have some c. Chinese started earlier. I have 12 weeks until plant out.

I planted 72 cells of various varieties on January 10, and about 2/3 are up now, with the exception of Pequins and Tepins, which can take longer than Bhuts.

BUMP IT !

Now that grow season is over (for most us) it is an itching matter to talk about next season.
On the top of agenda are (in my mind):

=1= WHAT TO START : seeds/variety: This is a personal taste.
=2= WHEN TO START : This in most part would depend on one's climate, namely LFD.
=3= HOW TO START : Here comes the techncal part that the novice (like me) can gain from the experience of the seasoned pepper gardeners.:-) (a) starter soil mix (b) light (c) watering/nutes (d) potting/ re potting (e) setup (f)other care items

Rather than starting another thread, why not just do it here.

For me there is a couple of months, perhaps, til I start the process. But for someone with early season and maybe some indoor resources, the process can be started sooner. Another consideration is varietal growth habit. Some hot ones are like turtle some sweet ones run like a rabbit.

So lets get it started, at least by just talking about it.

Seysonn

I remember starting my seeds like a day or two after I started this topic back in January.... I could have waited a few more weeks though, by the time I transplanted outside they were quite root balled in 4"x4" containers...

This post was edited by kclost on Thu, Nov 20, 14 at 11:04

Hey kclost, do you think that stunted their development at all? Or would it have mattered?

I started mine in January last year and I wish I hadn't. The main reason was I just ran out of room inside. They did great and got quite large. had to transplant 3 times and just ran out of room beneath my grow lights.

So by the time I had the weather to replant outside they were suffering. I had issues later outside with soil so i cannot tell you how quickly they bounced back (they didn't).

Technique wise.. I am still new to this, but I ended up having much success using a plug maker and they were placed on top of a wicking mat which sat on top of a regulated heat mat.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plug Maker

Ripe Tomato,

No I do not think it stunted their growth at all, but may have been close to doing so. But just like Siouxzn says, I ran out of room also inside. And the root ball was compact enough that I'm sure it took a while for the roots to take hold of the natural earth outside in the garden, even after I tried to loosen them up.

But everything ended up ok, just don't see the need to have overly grown plants with overly grown roots in a 4" planter. Mine were approaching 12 to 16 incles in height in the planters and getting bushy as well. Quite crowded in water proof trays they were sittting in.

High KClost.
I revived your thread. Lets get more talks and ideas from what we learned in the past. I you started on week remaining from January and your plant out is, say May 15th, then it will be 15 weeks. But If I start the same time and my plant out is April 15th, then it will be 11 weeks for me. Incidentally, I started most of mine on Jan. 21st last year too.

So now here is the question: WHAT IS THE BEST WINDOW OF TIME from starting to plant out ?

Lets get more opinions here. I have heard 8 to 12 week is ok for peppers.

Seysonn.

Last year I started my seeds on 12 Dec and transplanted outside 15 April. The plants where big and healthy when I transplanted into soil and pots. I plan on doing the same thing this year as I believe for me here in zone 8B it was perfect timing. My problems is convincing the wife that I should start that early again because I am still picking peppers off my plants today that where planted 12 Dec.

I started the Harding off process about 15-20 March this past year. This all worked great for me here in Central Louisiana.

Bill

I started mine on Feb 12 in Minneapolis last year and it was probably 2 to 4 weeks earlier than necessary for my area. Granted, I started way too many which contributed too additional work and space issues. I had well over 200 plants in red solo cups spread under various lighting systems. By the time I could get them outside, some were 18" tall and still in the cups.

I'm going to treat my liver to an All-Inclusive experience in Mexico Feb 17-23, so I think March 1 will be my target date for seeding.

> "I started mine in January last year and I wish I hadn't. The main reason was I just ran out of room inside. They did great and got quite large. had to transplant 3 times and just ran out of room beneath my grow lights." - Siouxzn

That's pretty much my experience too, except for the "wish I hadn't" part. (Actually, I started starting in mid-Jan and kept it up, OCD-style, into March.) Plants stayed in pots for the rest of the year and some got transplanted a couple more times, totaling as many as 5 or 6 times each (towel to starter cell to 3-4" to 6" to 1 gal, to 3-5 gal to big). Never had an issue with shock.

They get to stay outside about the week yours do (roughly May Day), but meanwhile I was shlepping them out for sun (pick up a bunch of plastic landscapers trays for this from the Lowes recycling rack) and sun makes the durn things grow so I had to move about half of them up to 1 gal pots by mythical "last frost". The bigger pots wouldn't fit under the fluorescents so had to live on the top shelf in a south-facing window while inside. Little direct sun but it didn't seem to bother them at all.

But I had no problem doing all this because I had the room and the time. Seysonn, that is your crteria. The slow growers want to be started early early early. But you have to judge whether you will have the room when they get bigger. If it were me, I'd start superhots in mid-Jan, followed a couple weeks later by baccatums, then the faster growers. Then an intervention to prevent germinating more.

Btw, some of your seedlings will take vacations for no apparent reason, then later come on like gangbusters. So don't give up on them when they lag, unless you just have to reduce the population (the hardest part of growing peppers).

So what does your grow list look like? (or are you waiting for the swap?)

Dennis

* Setup - a four-shelf wire rack - or two - from which shelves can be hung fluorescent fixtures; they need to be vertically adjustable; a 72-cell starter tray or two
* Soil - Georgia MGMC, (I'm not sure if I'll use Texas MGMC for the starter), then 5:1:1-like mix, or stay in MGMC or equivalent; I used heat only for germinating
* Water - an art form
* Nutes - very light MGAP while still in the starter flat, Osmocote in the mix for larger pots, occasional hits of MGAP and epsom salts throughout the season (I probably under-feed compared to most here).
* Transplanting - see above. Don't fear it. Don't try to pick up the root ball using the stem.

P.S. If you are going to plant out in soil, your choice of adolescent potting mix might should include some of the soil the plant will be going into. But I have no experience with doing that. Good question to ask. Anyone?

Last year I started my seeds on 12 Dec and transplanted outside 15 April. The plants where big and healthy when I transplanted into soil and pots. I plan on doing the same thing this year as I believe for me here in zone 8B it was perfect timing. My problems is convincing the wife that I should start that early again because I am still picking peppers off my plants today that where planted 12 Dec.

I started the Harding off process about 15-20 March this past year. This all worked great for me here in Central Louisiana.

Bill

This was my setup, and the top shelf eventually became full (had a longer grow light put in place of the LED). I ended up with over 100 plants (not all are shown here of course) It worked well and all were healthy, just taking up way too much space and without very many south facing windows I was having a hard time. I had plants everywhere! My neighbors thought I had a pot operation (with all the damn work should have just done that since it is legal here!)

The plants also started peppering early, and since I was new at it I was very excited so I let those peppers stay. In hindsight I should have snipped them off because I think at that point a lot of the energy went into the pepper growth and not the plant.

Then after I FINALLY got to put them outside I had a terrible soil mix that ended up ruining most of my crop. At the time I did not realize it was the soil.

Anyhow, I will probably start the more difficult varieties mid to end of January and the others sometime in February.

Can't wait to see what the exchange brings me!

I usually germinate mid Jan - beginning of Feb. this year I may start my wild peppers in December, I failed three attempts at growing the galapagos pepper so new seed source and back at it for the fourth time, if one germinates I may pass out from shock and you can bet I will post pics of that accomplishment. The rest at the normal time frame though I will have to keep my germinating in control as I have a habit of being impatient and if seeds don't sprout in a reasonable time via my standards I start a new batch and keep the original and end up with way too many seedlings and usually give them away but keep enough to be over crowding nonetheless. I am in zone 7 PA and harden them off April/May timeframe. Soil is usually a mix of MG orchid mix (not course) MG organic choice equal parts with additional perlite for better drainage. I use a combination of MG tomato feed and Alaska fish fertlizer. I germinate either soil or paper towel plastic bag or a mix of both and place on the DVR and the shelf above it in the entertainment center and have used this method a few years now.

Mark

If you're growing year round in a greenhouse with supplemental lights, can you germinate any time?

Brian, Dennis, Bill ...thanks for sharing your experience.
It sees that most of you started EARLY rather than Late. So the only problem with that had been space shortage. I experience the same problem (started Jan 29th) and after I started my tomatoes (1st of March). Before you know it tomato seedlings caught up creating over crowing under my 3 twin bulb shop lights. So lesson learned. I will start everything a bit later this year.

OK. Great. lets hear more about other issues too.

Seysonn.

Bill, I wonder why you planted out so late in zone 8b ? I used to plant out earlier than that in zone 7B in North GA. Now I am talking about tomatoes. Can't remember peppers.

> "If you're growing year round in a greenhouse with supplemental lights, can you germinate any time?"

Yep.

BTW, what zone are you in? Please put in your profile.

Yeah, sure you can grow in greenhouse year round, provided it is heated during the cold season. Additionally, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada you need to add supplemental light as the days are short and solar altitude is low. And If it gets cloudy (more often) then need for light is a must. I know this since I am in NW Washington area.

Seysonn

You don't need a greenhouse a spare room and a grow tent and you can enjoy your plants in your tidy whiteys if you like. As for when I start my plants usually it's Dec but we started to see 100's or near by March this year burned and stunted most of my plants others would not set till late August due to heat.
This year started in Oct will trim and top to control size clone the special starts give away the rest. First batch are unstable crosses and seeds of questionable origin some are flowering and setting peppers and a few are not who they should be. Second batch started on Halloween most are 3-8 inch now. Third batch will start in about a week.
All are in ebb and flow tables inside and will transplant to soil in February if the weather is good.

I get a pretty good ideas as WHEN to starts: 8 to 12 weeks before LFD. I would start slow growing and bushy one early and that faster growing ones few weeks later, with my tomatoes

Lets talk about HOW TO part.
--- how to germinate, transplant, pot, ...provide heat, light ..

Seysonn

OK, I'll start with adding transplant conditions as related to LFD of starting the seedlings.

I've always followed the premise that peppers don't like cold feet, soil temps above 50ðF to transplant, although I've read planting them doesn't harm them they just remain stagnant. Following this thought process, one season I was not able to transplant until the first week of July as June was cold, raw and wet. I didn't have the lights to keep 200 plants happy indoors so needless to say the early bloomers grew very leggy. The solution was was to plant 'em deeper! While members of the same family, indeterminate tomatoes benefit from this as they'll grow roots on the buried portion, peppers don't but they'll benefit from the support the soil gives them.

So what does this have to do with seed start date? Nothing unless Mother Nature throws you a curve ball!

To combat with cool unfavorable spring weather , I have found a couple of ways to deal with it :

COLD FRAME:
In case you run out of room, and night temps are too low, shelter your small plans/seedlings in Cold Frame. You can also germinate other vegetables in it.

MINI HOOP.
I have built couple of them. Dimensions: 2 1/2ft X 5ft and ~45" tall at the peak. I made them portable so that I can move them around where needed. You can make them with 3" by 2 lumber(frame) and 1/2 in pvc ( bent and clamped to the frame), cover with clear plastic (6 mill is good). When the cold is over, just take them away.

I found those two very dandy and useful.

Seysonn

Something I would like more info on is the fertilizing. I've only been growing peppers three years now and I've kind of gotten the hang of it, but its hit or miss each year. Does everyone water from the bottom? And if so, how much water and/or fertilizer and how often?

Kalie ,

I water from the bottom, because I want to keep the top dry. I think that bacteria and fungus gnats start from wet top more often.

FERTILIZING:
Obviously seedling would need food after starting to grow true leaves. I fertilize very very lightly early on with liquid fertilizer at about 1/6 of recommended strength for normal plants. As the seedlings grow I increase the strength like to 1/4 to 1/3 normal strength.

Seysonn

Getting closer to germinate and I am running out of patient (virtue ?).
I am test germinating some TEPIN seeds (in zip bag), from the pods that I bought from a Mexican store.
Now, we are waiting for "Johnny Pepper Seeds" to broadcast the seeds across the land. Any day now. Then I will wash, disinfect my 4" pots, make some starting soil mix. Here is my recipe':

-- 4 parts Screened pine bark fines ( 1/4" and smaller).
-- 1 part Perlite
-- 1 part DE ( I have to get a bag of UltraSorb from auto parts store)
PLUS:
Half Tb spoon of fast acting lime per gallon of soil
ONE Tb spoon of Shake N Feed ( time release granular fertilizer).

Then , of course, need to set up my light system.
I have decided on starting the process around mid January.

Probably I will start a thread when I get into action.

Seysonn