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Question about growing in the NorthEast USA

JJBagoose

JJBagoose

Hi,

I am just curious about the best times to start plants in the Northeast. I live up in Massachusetts and I am new to growing hot peppers.

The more I learn the more I am interested in maybe trying to grow some of these exotic varieties so many people here do.

So I guess my main question is when is the best time period to start plants up here? If I plan to keep my plants potted does it really matter? Can I just bring them inside when it start to get cold?

thanks.
 
The best time to start pepper plants for you is probably early to mid-March. I'm guessing you're in zone 6. Pepper transplants do best if you start them 10-12 weeks early. In some cases of super long season C. Chinense or wild varieties, I recommend starting early February. No earlier than that though as I learned the hard way this year. Unless you've got MAJOR lighting to handle larger plants and a lot of time, starting them early can be bad.

Good luck. It's a fun hobby. :)

Chris


JJBagoose said:
Hi,

I am just curious about the best times to start plants in the Northeast. I live up in Massachusetts and I am new to growing hot peppers.

The more I learn the more I am interested in maybe trying to grow some of these exotic varieties so many people here do.

So I guess my main question is when is the best time period to start plants up here? If I plan to keep my plants potted does it really matter? Can I just bring them inside when it start to get cold?

thanks.
Click to expand...
 
JJB,

This is my first year, so I don't have a lot of experience - but I will say this:

If you are growing peppers with a super-long growing season (like Bhut's, Naga's, etc), then you'll want to start them in mid-late January.

I started my Bhuts Feb 14th, and they're barely bigger than a quarter. I could have started them about a month before that.

Jalapenos and Hab's, I'd stick with mid February, unless you have a decent amount of room and a lot of light. Expect them to be 6 inches tall or more by the time they go out in mid May.
 
It all depends on how many plants you want to grow and what type of lighting you use. I try to start my C. chinenses in January and C. annuums and others in Feb/March but I have a greenhouse to put them in for spring.
 
I live in the northeast and started my peppers in mid-January for planting out in mid-May....you need a lot of light and room depending on how many plants you plan to grow...it will seem like they are taking forever and then they hit a growth spurt and double or triple their size overnight. You can control this by pinching them back, which will encourage branching (a good thing) and will keep the plants manageable until you plant out, which will probably be sometime in mid to late-May....and DON'T PLANT OUT TOO EARLY...frost will ruin your plants! Good luck.
 
Thanks for all of the great info as always!

I actually started a mix pack of burpee's about 4 weeks ago. I didn't know anything about growing peppers but they seem to be doing okay. Next year I will definitely start earlier though and hopefully with some of the different varieties mentioned here.
 
I just started some last tuesday in zone 5. We'll see how they do. Started the rest mid-Feb - late March. Those are doing great under lights.
 
I'm not sure I agree. I started super hots in January under fluorescents and my plants are well over a foot high, have tons of flowers, and one even has a small pod. To me, that meant starting too early because it takes a lot of lighting to support bigger plants (and space I don't have).

Chris


klyth said:
JJB,

This is my first year, so I don't have a lot of experience - but I will say this:

If you are growing peppers with a super-long growing season (like Bhut's, Naga's, etc), then you'll want to start them in mid-late January.

I started my Bhuts Feb 14th, and they're barely bigger than a quarter. I could have started them about a month before that.

Jalapenos and Hab's, I'd stick with mid February, unless you have a decent amount of room and a lot of light. Expect them to be 6 inches tall or more by the time they go out in mid May.
Click to expand...
 
The way I determined when to plant is watch the past freeze warnings and the temps. I waited till the nights stayed above 50 s and days are in the 75 for about a week and then see if the ground is warmed to above 50 s
 
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