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seeds Can I still germinate?

R

RafaelAmorim

Hello everyone,
 
My first time planting hot peppers, and I'm going with hydroponic grow using DWC or Kratky method. I live in Portugal, so hot temperatures in the summer and cold temperatures during winter.
My question is: 
 - Will I be in time to germinate/plant my peppers or should I wait for the next year? (which I'm hopping I don't have to)
 
I have no idea what your climate or varieties.  Basically, you figure out when your first frost is and how long the variety needs to fruit.  The you count from the day you plant till the day of your first frost.  Keep in mind, some variety are very fast and some are very slow.  For what ever reason, it seems that the super hots are the slowest.  Habs and below in SHU seem much faster but I am sure this is a generalization.

So when is your first frost & what do you want to grow?
 
AJ Drew said:
I have no idea what your climate or varieties.  Basically, you figure out when your first frost is and how long the variety needs to fruit.  The you count from the day you plant till the day of your first frost.  Keep in mind, some variety are very fast and some are very slow.  For what ever reason, it seems that the super hots are the slowest.  Habs and below in SHU seem much faster but I am sure this is a generalization.

So when is your first frost & what do you want to grow?
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I'm buying from fatalii seeds since their seeds and variety looks good. I'm looking to buy Carolina Reaper, Aji Guyana and 7pot Apocalypse. 
I would say that the first frost will be in like two and a half/three months, maybe four. However I can build a mini-greenhouse for them if I have to.
 
RafaelAmorim said:
 
I'm buying from fatalii seeds since their seeds and variety looks good. I'm looking to buy Carolina Reaper, Aji Guyana and 7pot Apocalypse. 
I would say that the first frost will be in like two and a half/three months, maybe four. However I can build a mini-greenhouse for them if I have to.
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i don't understand why you have to wait.   do it now to gain experience.  save some seeds to germinate later too.  
 
lek said:
 
i don't understand why you have to wait.   do it now to gain experience.  save some seeds to germinate later too.  
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Just because I wouldn't like to waste love, time and money on seeds just for them to die in 3 months or so :/
 
willard3 said:
You can grow chiles inside under lights
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Yes, however I don't want to spend money on the initial cost, neitheir I want to spend tons of money on electricity bills, I'm a college student with no work... Well... Not a paid one at least.
 
RafaelAmorim said:
 
I'm buying from fatalii seeds since their seeds and variety looks good. I'm looking to buy Carolina Reaper, Aji Guyana and 7pot Apocalypse. 
I would say that the first frost will be in like two and a half/three months, maybe four. However I can build a mini-greenhouse for them if I have to.
Click to expand...
I doubt you would have ripe super hots in three months. Im just getting ripe stuff and have been growing since February.
 
I am inclined to agree with Lek. Why not germinate something and get the experience? It doesn't have to be a big production; maybe just a couple of plants to see how it goes. They shouldn't "die in 3 months" as long as they are provided with enough light and protected from cold. If you leave them outside in freezing weather, they will probably die. Depending on your climate, you may need to bring them inside during the winter, which means you will want at least a sunny, south facing window and quite possibly indoor lights as well. Like Willard said, you can grow chiles indoors under lights. The biggest, bushiest plant in my grow right now is a yellow moruga in a Kratky bucket that has been growing indoors under lights for a year. 
 
But yeah, growing chile plants through the winter can be extra work and bother for the grower, and might require you to haul the plants in and out of the house a lot, or even bring them inside and put them under lights for the duration at some point, depending on your climate. That is probably why most growers here in the US end their grow about the time that first frost comes, then germinate all new plants around January or February. I guess you have to decide if the extra trouble is worth it to you. Unless you are able to grow outside year-round in your climate, you are really germinating for next season at this point anyway. It can be nice to have mature plants ready to go in the spring, but understand that it will probably require some extra effort from you. I think that maybe you should germinate a couple of plants, and just get the experience of caring for them through the winter. Just to see how it goes, and learn firsthand what the challenges are. But first you must decide if it is worth the extra trouble to you. If not, then just waiting for next season is probably the way to go.
 
I would recommend using the next three months of Fall as a period of experimentation.

Get your hydroponic setup assembled, and find some cheaper seeds to play with if you don't want to use your expensive Fatilii seeds. You can go out to a farmer's market, and buy a some peppers for seeds.

Unless you build a really nice, heated green house, or build an indoor grow box, you're probably not going to be satisfied with the results during the winter.
 
RafaelAmorim said:
What if I build a greenhouse and put my plants in the greenhouse during the cold months? Will they still die/unable to produce chillies?
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That depends on the conditions in the greenhouse. If the plants are kept warm enough and are getting enough light, they will likely flower and set pods when they are ready. Last year, I was picking fresh habaneros in January. But maintaining springtime conditions inside a greenhouse throughout the winter could be quite a challenge, depending on what your winters are like. You said you didn't want the expense of buying and running indoor lights. Building, heating, and possibly artificially lighting an outdoor greenhouse seems to me like it would be a much greater expense.
 
BlackFatalii said:
 
That depends on the conditions in the greenhouse. If the plants are kept warm enough and are getting enough light, they will likely flower and set pods when they are ready. Last year, I was picking fresh habaneros in January. But maintaining springtime conditions inside a greenhouse throughout the winter could be quite a challenge, depending on what your winters are like. You said you didn't want the expense of buying and running indoor lights. Building, heating, and possibly artificially lighting an outdoor greenhouse seems to me like it would be a much greater expense.
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Not really, that would cost me something like 10€ since I only need to buy the greenhouse plastic because I have a lot of wood and nails here, also like to do my own stuff :P and obviously wasn't even considering heating or having artificial light in the greenhouse because of the costs, I'm too much of a cheapskate :p
 
But yeah, think I'll just set up some local hot peppers next week, build a greenhouse and gain some experience growing something, see if I can maintain those local seeds through winter with the greenhouse... I'm so sad for being to late to grow my hot peppers :(
 
Just saw a map of frosts here in Portugal, and at my region it's very rare to have frost... Damn... Might as well try to go for the real thing, I won't die because of 15€ on seeds
 
RafaelAmorim said:
Just saw a map of frosts here in Portugal, and at my region it's very rare to have frost... Damn... Might as well try to go for the real thing, I won't die because of 15 on seeds
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Just don't germinate them all.
 
Agree with the others,germinate a few now & see how that goes.
 
There are  a lot of vendors here .shop around,  including https://www.semillas.de/shop_en
The owner is also a member here and he has over  700 varieties at very low prices..he sends at least 10 seeds per pack,
which is important to note if you are planning on saving seeds for later...also  had fantastic  germination rate on what I purchased.
 
 Bienvenido al foro   y buena suerte! :P
 
 
 
 
 
RafaelAmorim said:
I'm going with hydroponic grow using DWC or Kratky method.
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`
And what are your "economic" plans for this type of grow?
 
 
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wiriwiri said:
Agree with the others,germinate a few now & see how that goes.
 
There are  a lot of vendors here .shop around,  including https://www.semillas.de/shop_en
The owner is also a member here and he has over  700 varieties at very low prices..he sends at least 10 seeds per pack,
which is important to note if you are planning on saving seeds for later...also  had fantastic  germination rate on what I purchased.
 
 Bienvenido al foro   y buena suerte! :P
 
 
 
 
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Thanks, going to check them out :)
 
The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
`
And what are your "economic" plans for this type of grow?
 
 
 
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I got some nutrients my friend gave me, a tote I have laying around, going to use rockwool held by metal wiring to stop the rockwool to sink (bought large rockwool medium, was like 30 cents each, even cheaper than the smaller ones) and a pump that I had from an aquarium, probably powered by a solar grid if I find one cheap ahah didn't even look, but also 5W pump.
 
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