Weather Trends and Planting out Date

[Pepperfreak]

I have been following the weather patterns pretty closely recently and it seems that this spring, we have entered into a higher than usual temps for this time of year. This has made me wonder...could I push my plant out date earlier to lets say early May instead of late May? I think I havene't seem frost for about a month now and so far our night time lows have been between 37f- 47f and the day time temps have been between 55f-74f. I am just thinking that the earlier I get everything into the ground, the longer season I'd have = larger harvests.

What are some of your thoughts? Are some of you also thinking as I am?

 

[Silver_Surfer]

Same here, higher temps than the norm. We hit 88F a few days running, but it dropped to the low 40s the last two nights.

I put my plants outdoors early because I needed the room to start some tomatoes and you can tell the cool nights have slowed growth quite a bit on the chinense, but the rest don't seem to mind it so much.

So, if you have the room to keep them indoors where it's nice and warm at night, I'd delay placing them outdoors until the nighttime temps warm up a bit.

 

[patrick]

Until you're past the last frost date it's a crap shoot. How big are you willing to gamble?

Our weather has been warmer than norm also and I have been tempted big time as I'm running out of room inside. I know as soon as I go for it the weather is going to go bad and we'll end up with a couple feet of snow and I'll lose a bunch. It just isn't worth it to me.

 

[Maligator]

We have been having warmer than usual days here as well, but then two days ago it freaking hailed in the morning and was 60 that afternoon and then it frosted this morning and was in the 60s again. I'm not taking any chances until at least May. This is however going to pose a storage problem as it seems that my grow tent is now going to need shelving! I'll be looking at more of your set-ups to get some ideas.

I live in zone 8 and think that I should get a nice long growing season. Summers are great here but the winters are just grey and wet.

Come on SUMMER!

 

[POTAWIE]

Don't plant early! Although tempting, mother nature always has a few hidden tricks. People here always go by may 24 long weekend for plant out, and every year I see people re-buying/planting all their plants I wait until Mid june to early july to plant even when weather seems to co-operate. A few years ago we had a surprise frost June 8th and I'm sure glad I had all my plants in pots It also takes time for the soil to warm up to pepper growing standards, at least in my location.
Just remember that plants will grow nearly the same in their container so why rush things

 

[jjs7741]

I agree with above. No way to know what will happen in the coming weeks. It may be better to move them in and out on beautiful days and keep them inside at night until proper time. My last frost date if April 15 here and a couple of years ago we were have great weather early and I took a chance and planted all my direct sow stuff a couple of weeks early. Well, on like April 12th and 13th, we had a freeze, not just a frost. Lows in the teens, highs in the low 30s. Had to resow everything and wiped out the peaches I had and the grapes I had growing on the vine. Thank god I didn't get around to planting out the peppers and tomatoes yet. Just never know what will happen with the weather.

jacob

 

[Pepper Turd]

I felt the same way last year. Had more plants than I needed, so I put half out a couple of weeks early and saved the other half just in case. Didn't have any weather problems, just cool nights (high 40s and 50s). Regular plant out time came so I decided to expand the garden and put the rest of the plants out. There was no difference in plant size or harvest time between those out early and those out at regular time. The early plants really didn't do anything for several weeks until the night time temperatures warmed up to the 60s. Didn't pay attention to soil temps early on either, but I suspect they were pretty cold. Patience can be difficult, but I didn't gain anything last year by getting out early.

 

[Straticus]

I just put 6 of my pepper plants in pots and set them outside for the summer. Living in Maryland, this is highly unusual but we've had for the past few weeks temps during the day between 70-90+ degrees and temps at night no lower then 50. If you're going to plant into the ground this still sounds a bit risky though, as I'll wait and see how these few plants do until May then plant the rest of mine in the ground. This is by the first year I remember being here catching Bass and getting sunburned in March and April, I love it!

 

[Pepperfreak]

You guys are all right and thanks for talking some sense into me. I usually wait until the week prior to Memorial Day (the end of May) to plant out. I guess I'm just feeling the effects of Spring Fever.