Time to start mixed seeds indoors... need a little help

[Blackcat]

Well planting season has come up on me a little too quick this year. I have a lot of seeds to start indoors and from what I can tell i'm a few weeks behind schedule My work week is pretty hectic so I only have a few hours over the next few nights to get these babies going.
I just want to get some opinions about if I am doing this right, its my first big indoor start and garden project.

From what I have figured my final frost date here is June 5th.
I have a very cheap 8x10 outdoor greenhouse I can use if need be.
Other than that I have the option of planting in raised beds or large pots.

I have the following seeds:

7 pot
Butch T
Black Jalapeno
Carolina Reaper
Scotch bonnet
Chocolate bell
Chocolate Hab
And a few heritage tomatoes

I would like to grow some of each from this list but I dont really want the peppers to cross pollinate species in my garden. How can I manage this... can some of these be easily grown indoors on a windowsill ?

This area is super dry outdoors... will these peppers still do their thing or will I have to put tents or something over them to up the humidity ?

Any of these that can be overwintered i'm going to grow in large pots so I can move them.

It looks like all the peppers and the tomatoes should be started indoors 6-10 weeks before final frost date. The tomatoes go out 2 weeks after the date and the peppers can go in just after the final frost. Does that sound about right ?

Most of my seeds are pepper joes 10 packs... about how many should I start from each this year ?

I also have one surviving Ghost pepper in my room... its just started to produce fruit... can it go outside in June as well ?

I think that's about all... thanks for all the good advice and help so far!

 

[megahot]

Its late to be growing any of those but the jalapeno. If you want to grow this year, it might be best to either just grow indoors, or once weather gets cold grow them indoors. Reading further, wow! Your final frost date is in June? Better keep em indoors. As for the producong plant. You can begin hardening it off and then keep it outside when there is no frost.

 

[stickman]

Tomatoes should be able to take a bit cooler temperatures than the peppers... usually you can plant them on the frost-free date and plant the peppers outside a week or two after that. For long-season peppers the recommendation is sow in January to set pods in July.

+1 on MegaHot's recommendation... transplant outside when it's safe, and bring 'em back inside before frost.

 

[Blackcat]

I like that idea give them some time outdoors and then finish them up indoors. What about the low humidity here outdoors will that be a problem ?

 

[stickman]

I'd say give 'em lots of humus and enough water... If you can afford to, you could build a walk-in hoophouse or set up a low row cover with agricultural fabric on top of it to hold in the moisture a bit. The flip side of that is that the pollinators won't be able to get inside and do their stuff...

 

[PepperWhisperer]

Not sure how those varieties will respond to the low humidity. Some peppers grow great in those conditions. Farms in Hatch, NM produce tons (literal tons) of peppers and they are in the desert at 4,000 ft elevation with extreme sun and extreme low humidity in the summer. Chinense are probably used to a wetter environment. Maybe if you crowd them together you can make a little microclimate with more moisture? Trying to think creatively.

 

[Gotrox]

Cross polination between peppers has no effect on current production.
It's the seeds produced in the pods that are affected for the next season.
Numerous ways to "bag" a branch or part of a branch to ensure no crosses, allowing selective or self pollination for next years seed.
You will probably get Jalapeno's to pod up, maybe the Habs, but too short a season for the supers.
I would pot those up and move inside and outside as climate allows.