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seeds Starting New Seeds

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daddytindell

So I have a question for you guys. I have been looking through a lot of your glogs. When.do you guys start your seeds (obvious answer is jan/feb/march to get a jump on growing season)..do some of you keep seedlings going year round? start a new variety whenever the mood strikes you? Just curious how others do it. im debating on trying to keep some stuff going year round.

which brings me to one more question. how many years can you expect good production from a plant? i have a jalapeno i over wintered last year and its got probably 30 pods on it already. would it be worth the effort to overwinter this coming winter? or after 2 good years would that be pretty much it?

kind of a jumbled bunch of questions. hope that all made sense. thanks y'all.
 
I start seeds in February...I'm getting into the habit of starting seeds "whenever" because I also grow indoors under t5 lighting.  The biggest problem I've run into with that is winter aphidpocalypses.  I've personally never kept a pepper plant alive more than 2 years (due to leaving them out overnight when it's too cold out) but I'm sure under optimum conditions they could probably go for a decade+ (I have a germanium that's 7 years old).  From my experience peppers definitely produce more pods the older they are, I'm sure Jalapenos are no exception.  I'm probably from now on only going to overwinter the chinense species because of how easy annuums are to start in say November or December ALTHOUGH I might overwinter some Goatsweed this year.
 
Here's a good thread to take a look through:
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/31744-what-is-the-oldest-pepper-plant-you-havehad/
 
 
Also, some wild varieties don't even really start producing until they're a few years old
 
Im new to this, but I guess I can say that I start seeds "whenever"
Its autumn here (only for one more week, then its winter!), and I have multiple varieties germinating now..I also have a few small plants that are thriving on my windowsill that are a month or so old.
I even have some seeds coming in soon from overseas which I also intend to start regardless of the season, and to make things even more fun I have no artificial lightning  :)
 
How long you keep a particular plant depends on its variety. I have rocotos that are going on their 4th year. Rocotos generally have longer lives than most other peppers, assuming no other adverse factors, and are known to last 16+ years. Some here will tell you after the third year many other varieties decline in production. I had a 3-year-old douglah plant that was a great producer - until it got hit too badly with aphids. In prior years I kept my OW's (overwinters) in the main part of the house, but put them in a back room last year - out of site, out of mind, as they say, so the aphids were in all-out warfare mode by the time I checked on them again. I got ladybugs, which wiped out the aphids, but it was just too late for the douglah. My rocotos pulled through, however. 
 
You are in Arkansas, so have a longer grow season than where I now live. The question of starting "whenever" is one you need to give some thought. i take an approach with my overwinters that lets them go dormant because I typically want a break from tending the plants at some point. Letting the OW's go dormant helps give me time to focus on seedlings. So depending on your own schedule, you may or may not want or need much of a break. Also, how much room do you have? Your winters likely don't get as cold as ours generally do (-25F is the lowest I've seen it since moving here), but you still do get cold snaps. Hauling plants in and out when the weather gets chilly can become a real chore, depending on how many plants you have. Also, think of how much room you have - how many can reasonably fit inside once full grown? And yes, how much lighting do you need if you're going to keep them growing, etc., so how much money are you willing to spend? Also, do you have reliable people to help out, on a regular basis and/or should you need to be out of town for a while?
 
I'd suggest thinking about these kinds of things in batches. First, how ready and willing are you to deal with 100 plants? 75? 50? If you start them "whenever", think of all the different stages they will be in at the same time and whether you have the time to deal with that much going on. Tallying maximums should also help you decide how many to start at any given point in time - it's good to have a plan for how much is enough.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. I have quite a bit of room..not a lot but some...and indoors a lot of natural light coming in. Im just starting out so am far from the level a lot of you are at...i think if i hit 100 plants my wife would throw a fit. thanks again for the replys. was just curious how you guys did it.

how do you decide what to over winter..what to do a cutting clone and what to just save seeds and start again next year? would think saving seeds and starting over every year would be tiresome. easier to ow or clone. maybe that is ne through my noob glasses though. haha
 
I have a few plants that are over 5 years old - a datil, Grenada hot, and besler's cherry. I trim them a little before the first frost and protect them from the prevailing NW wind in the winter. When it freezes, I cover them with blankets. This works well for me and I haven't noticed a decline in production.

Of course, I live in Florida. But, we did have the coldest winter in my 18 years here in the Panhandle.

Bob
 
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