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How early is to early to start growing?

reddwood691

reddwood691

I am curious as to when is to early to start from seed?
As of now I am going to be growing ghost pepper, scotch bonnet (yellow), scorpion, tabasco, jalapeno, serrano and habanero.
I am in central Tx. But plan on keeping them indoors under light until my last frost day .


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Never to early, it just depends on your space.
If you have enough space you can start now.
This year I started late , 24 July ( same as 24 Jan for you) , and it was still to early just because I ran out of space.
 
If space is at a premium, hold off on the Serranos, Jalapeños, and Tabascos, as they will produce much earlier overall. Ghosts, Scorpions and Bonnets are pretty late producers, like 120+days according to most sources. My Bonnets produced a few pods far earlier than that, but they didn't really start pumping out big harvests to about 6 months in... Same is true for most of the chinense I have grown, with the notable exceptions on my garden being Paper Lanterns and Jamaican Hott Chocolates, which has a good 6 week jump on most of the rest...

But yeah, your annuums and such are way quicker to fruit
 
Appreciate the info as well folks!! got an order in for a few varieties...going to plant those badboys as soon as they arrive!  Cheers!
 
Thanks for the advice. Going to get a room set up for growing. Will share once we get it started

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What Bicycle808 said on varieties being different timing is a ++.  What everyone said about space also ++.  But gotta really stress light is where you run into problems.  Normal florescent shop lights, the glow lights you buy at Lowes, and the likes just dont cut it after plants are a foot or so tall.  The light they produce just doesn't penetrate the canopy that forms.  The result is that you get plants with bush on top, but dead and falling leaves below. 

I dont know a thing about LEDs (want to learn).  But to get anything over a foot that is still healthy and not deformed, I am thinking you almost have to use HID lighting.  I have been blending high pressure sodium and metal halide with good results but really want to make the plunge to LEDs to save on electric bill.

So yes, I think you can start too early if you dont have the lighting you need to do it.  Between the cost of the lighting and the cost to run it, I think most hobby growers should stick with timing things so plants do not get all palm tree looking.
 
Can T5s get me past a foot or so??  I don´t want to end up in the dogghouse over electric billz....  k´m already in trouble from the total kitchen takeover, with sauce, jelly, pickled peppers, and fresh pods covering most surfaces, and capsaicin residue coating everything else.  She´s pissed. Trying to keep the peace, and MH or HPS lights ain´t going to do me any favors...
 
Maybe three or so LED lights would do it.  One on top, and two for the sides mounted vertically so the light shines at the trunk?  It's an idea that I'm thinking of trying.
 
I should have mentioned side lighting, even more so with the newer fluorescent bulbs.  Yes, the one foot estimate was based on overhead lighting.  The top leaves wind up blocking the sun from the bottom leaves.  The sun moves, lights dont generally do that so you wind up with horrible shaded spots.  Side lighting can help a lot.
any
I have seen folk hang CFLs inbetween plants and in the pictures they work great.  I have put shop lights sideways and it really helped.  Heck, putting them next to a window helps.  Anything to get the light past or around the top leaves.  If the plants are not right up against each other, a white floor would likely help to.
 
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