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How early can I start outdoors - Really

D

dragon49

I've always followed traditional wisdom and planted out no earlier than the 3rd week of May, to avoid night frosts.

If you see the end of my glog - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/29098-dragon49s-2012-grow-log/page__st__100#entry735169 - I have some plants that have survived a Hurricane and a Snow Storm and are still producing pods.

Are the young small plants much more sensitive to cold and am I better waiting until the last week of may, or can I start a month earlier? Also, If I keep pushing back the start dates, is there some cutoff where the bees aren't around yet, so that would cause me problems?
 
We had a real warm February and March this last year and I put my plants out on the 15th or so----big mistake. We had big winds in later March and it ripped out the ground cloth and DE-leafed the plants as well as freezing some---so they all had to start over again in the beginning of April.

So I say not before 15 April
 
Yes, young plants are more sensitive to cold and wind. You have to harden them off, so if you do get some warm days, it's good to take them outside (albeit in the shade at first) to start that process. But yes, plan on hauling them in and out for a while, and pay close attention to the forecasts. If you have a lot of plants, of course, hauling them in and out will quickly become a PITA, but for fewer, it's not too bad. Just depends upon your own tolerance level.
 
I was able to plant outside in zone 5 in mid-April by using a number of season extending strategies and brought in a full crop of Annuums and a couple of Orange Habaneros. All were started from seed indoors under lights.
 
I like that: "... by using a number of season extending strategies..." Most strategies I've heard of either involve hauling the plants in and out (like I do), or building a greenhouse or similar shelter which is then heated. Care to elaborate on your "number of season extending strategies"???
 
geeme said:
I like that: "... by using a number of season extending strategies..." Most strategies I've heard of either involve hauling the plants in and out (like I do), or building a greenhouse or similar shelter which is then heated. Care to elaborate on your "number of season extending strategies"???
Click to expand...
Well, the detailed answer is in my 2012 glog, but the short one is that I started the seeds indoors under lights in an electrically heated grow tent, When I planted out in mid-April I prepared the bed with amendments, covered the soil with black plastic thermal mulch and made a low hoophouse over it with ten foot sections of half inch PVC pipe for a frame and 4 mil poly sheeting over that to make a sort of cheap mini-greenhouse. (The PVC is re-usable from year to year, and with care the poly sheeting is good for a couple of seasons) After setting up the hoophouse I waited for a week or so to let the sun warm the soil thoroughly, punched holes in the black plastic and planted directly in the soil. The tricky part was to monitor the temps inside the hoophouse and open the ends on sunny days to let out excess heat, and remember to close it up again at night to hold in the heat radiating from the soil. Cheers
 
I agree that a greenhouse and heat catching tricks can greatly help.
Start more plants than you need, just to be safe...

Good luck

Datil
 
Thanks for all the advice.

I need to be careful, as I am am not going to set up anything special in the soil or do anything else other than plant them out. I'm also not going to be bringing them in, then back out. At this point, I'm thinking 3 weeks earlier, a month max. I'm not going to plant everything out early. I'll experiment with a few plants to see how it works out.
 
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