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indoor Starting Peppers Indoors Question

O

obchili

Hi there.  I am in zone 3, Manitoba and have a question regarding starting my peppers indoors.  This will be my second year growing peppers.  I was wondering when is a good time to start my seeds indoors this year?  I started a few in January Last year, and had no supers ripe till the middle of September, with the exception of 2 runt pods earlier.  I would like to get a better harvest this year. 
 
I will be starting this year in coffee filters, then off to 3 or 3 1/2" square pots as well as in Solo cups.  From there they will be going into the ground, or pots as I need.  Home will be in a roughly 20 x 30" greenhouse in a south facing window with no extra lights.  I will be using a fan occasionally to strengthen them up while growing.
 
I was thinking of putting my seeds in the filters in January, would this seem about right, or would I be better off a little later.  As soon as the temperature stays at a steady 50 degrees or better, the greenhouse will be outside on the deck in shade with partial sun, as well as in the garage if need be.  Thank you.
 
keep it in pots and buy some lights, they're not expensive. When your season is ready you can plant outdoors. Lots of people use 3-5gallons and get big plants. 
 
I've had more success starting indoors with http://www.homedepot.com/p/Jiffy-Self-Watering-Greenhouse-313114/100349756 rather than using solo cups, but if you have a method down that works do what works best for you.
 
I personally like to use http://www.wondersoil.net/store/gyg-25-seed-starter-promo.html as a seed starting substrate
 
January is great. maybe even February since you can't plant out for a long time. solo cups / 3.5 in pots are good.
 
obchili said:
Hi there.  I am in zone 3, Manitoba and have a question regarding starting my peppers indoors.  This will be my second year growing peppers.  I was wondering when is a good time to start my seeds indoors this year?  I started a few in January Last year, and had no supers ripe till the middle of September, with the exception of 2 runt pods earlier.  I would like to get a better harvest this year. 
 
I will be starting this year in coffee filters, then off to 3 or 3 1/2" square pots as well as in Solo cups.  From there they will be going into the ground, or pots as I need.  Home will be in a roughly 20 x 30" greenhouse in a south facing window with no extra lights.  I will be using a fan occasionally to strengthen them up while growing.
 
I was thinking of putting my seeds in the filters in January, would this seem about right, or would I be better off a little later.  As soon as the temperature stays at a steady 50 degrees or better, the greenhouse will be outside on the deck in shade with partial sun, as well as in the garage if need be.  Thank you.
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Yeah, that's tough in your zone. January is pretty much what I would shoot for for super hots.But much will have to do with the conditions they will be in for the next 4-5 months. In zone 5 with a late start due to aphids I got roughly 2-3 dozen brown morugas and I still had to bring them indoors by mid Oct to get the last half dozen. Not much considering the amount of plants I had growing. But that late start I mentioned was mid March. The big three that you will need to provide that you cant run out and get for $20.00 on a wim is heat, light and time. If you don't have them, super hots will do close to nothing. 
 
What may I ask are you planning on growing and how many? with good conditions and a Jan start the containers you speak of will quickly be out grown by the time you need to consider outdoor planting.
 
@CAPCOM - Yes you may ask what and how many of each I am growing, as I am looking for help.  This is my list as of now, and may include 1 or 2 more varieties, give or take, but I would really like to grow what I will list.  Also, my intent as of now as well is to grow 2 of each of the following.
 
Milds
Trinidad Perfume
Hungarian Wax
Banana Pepper
Jim Nardello
Sweet Cayanne
Early Jalapeno
Brazillian Starfish
Cherry Hot
Ring Of Fire
Bishops Hat
Numex Twilight
Fresno
Peter Pepper
 
Hot And Supers
7 Pot Douglah
7 Pot White
7 Pot Yellow
Butch T
White Bhut
Chocolate Bhut
Red Bhut
Orange Bhut
Primo
Chocolate Hab
Datil
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
Brown Moruga
Sweet Scorpion
7 Pot Yellow Brainstrain
Black Congo
Brainstrain Red
Super Chili
 
 
Also, is there any benefit to starting later and going directly to the ground with an average root mass, or having the plant root-bound in a Solo cup, or small flower pot?  The greenhouse indoors is the only space I have available, and do not have any other room, other than a small space with no light coming in.  Thank you all again for any help in advance.
 
I started supers indoors under lights this past season in January in 3.5" deep pots. By late March they were too getting root bound and I think that may have set them back some. I did transfer a few to 5.5" pots for the last 6 weeks but I can't say it helped a lot. I'm in zone 6b. The peppers did come around and produces a nice crop, starting in August. If I start a few in 3.5 pots early this coming year, I may move them up to gallons at about 6 weeks, before the plant tries to bud, otherwise  I'm aiming to wait until  8-10 weeks out -about early March for the supers. I have a pair of 5.5" pot that have Manzanos sprouts with their first true leaves that I sowed on 11/9/14. I intend to move them to a 3 gallon pot and maybe even do a little pruning to keep them in check until mid-May plant-out. They take somewhat longer than a super to ripen. Even in 6a it's tricky getting the plants to the optimal transplant size at plant-out with enough time to ripen a crop. My experience is baby peppers don't grow much if the temps drop into the 50°s over night. But even at that, they will usually come around  once they get into warm dirt. I'm not sure I understand your setup, but you can crowd 3 10x20 trays of 3.5" pots holding 18 plants each in a 20x30 area. After a month or so, they would have more leg-room at only 9 per tray. If you could swing a 4-lamp T8 fixture/5700K bulbs (~$70US) with a timer set on 18hrs per day, the plants would really appreciate it. My first pepper year was 2013. I started in early to mid February. Every thing was stunted, probably because of lack of heat and bad soil, and the pots were only 2.5". But they made a decent crop once they got in warm ground. This year every thing was about optimal and the plants got almost too big  too soon for their pots and my lack of space and light. Seems like there is always a parameter that needs tweaking in the growing game. I'm cutting way back this year ( I hope :D) and try to focus and nail down a few things like timing / container size and whatnot.
 
Good Luck for 2015!
You have an ambitious list, but that's the best way to get a good feel for what works and what don't in a given growing environment.
 
Thats quite the list you have there, good luck ! I'm in alberta, i'm growing indoors only about 8 varieties so far for a "test" run. 
 
That is what I said to myself last year as a first year grower.  But when the smoke cleared, I had about 15 varieties.  Just a warning of what is to come.....  And good luck to you there too with your grow.
 
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