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seeds To all Aussies - when to start seedlings

MiLK_MaN

MiLK_MaN

Hey fellow Australians and all other foreigners,

Being in Melbourne, when's the right time to start seedlings? I'm guessing late June, or early July? I'll be growing them under a CFL light until transplanting into the hydro setup I have.

Also, one other question. I noticed on willard's growing page for this year that he was using jiffy pellets inside rockwool cubes. I reckon that might be a pretty good idea, because I find that the seedlings outgrow the jiffy pellets quite quickly, but I dont think are quite 100% ready to be put straight into the 10" hydro pots Im using. Anyone have any negativity towards this?
 
I will be starting my seeds this sunday. so they have a good 3 months before they go in the ground in spring. I live in adelaide.
 
Well hopefully about 6inches. Not to big, just that i want a really good headstart, and a very productive season, remember, that some seeds can take upto 4 weeks to germinate. And i have alot of those rare ones.

And once they sprout, take another 2-3 weeks before they get their first true leafs. So you can sometimes waste 1 1/2 - 2 months just with that...
 
I dunno, I reckon it's too early. I started germinating with a heat pad Oct 16th last year and transplanted two months later with 15cm seedlings (they went under x2 18w Grolux fluoros once germinated). the heat was a big shock for them and they suffered. I reckon if I get them started August I'll get a better crop and more heat tolerant plants once summer starts. I can have the seedlings in the ground late Sept/early Oct and be harvesting pods by New Year (I hope).

I think if you're starting germination now you may have to repot once or twice otherwise you'll get rootbound seedlings. I hope you've got a good light setup and the ability to keep your plants warm. just MHO - I hope your plans work out - a man's got to have a plan!
 
Going to get a Heat'n'Grow TPS 030 heat mat, it has a thermostat, so I can get the seedlings started no problem. I already have a CFL light soure, but just need a light shade for it.

I was aiming for about mid-late September for moving the plants out of my tent into a soil pot setup, and then moving the seedlings into the tent. If I look at say having the seedlings growing for 12 weeks before putting in a grow tent, that makes it about early-mid July to start.

I just wanted to know when others in Aus tend to do theirs. There arent many chilli growers in VIC given the weather.
 
For me, its not really about seedling transport to the tent timings, its the moving of the plants in the tent currently into pots with soil outdoors.

According to some website I just found on google, last frost in Melbourne is late September, so I'll aim for early October to get things rolling.
 
Yeh see where i am in adelaide, spring is pretty good for us, but like you MM, i have a 400 Watt HPS light once my seedlings get big enough, that they dont really use the Fluros anymore.

So i can grow my plants pretty early, and with spring i can plant out around the start, well thats hoping its not some freak spring here with bad temps, and frosts.

Got me thinking i might wait untill June...
 
Thats a bit late i think.... Some grow so slow that you dont notice much for a long time after they have sprouted... im going to go for Mid June, see what happens. :)
 
so what did everyone do? when did you set down your seeds?

I kicked mine off early September and today planted them all out. I'm about 50 days ahead of where I was last season and I had pretty decent results then so I should get a few more pods this season. you can see my blog for exact dates etc. next year I'm going to start my seedlings off 3 or 4 weeks earlier - early to mid August. I think if I get them in the ground too early the cold nights will wipe them out. we had hail last weekend already...
 
I started my seeds 1st of July (couldnt bloody wait), and have some pods formed on some of the more mature plants already. I didnt get real good results with putting seeds directly into jiffy pellets, so I decided to do the whole baggie trick, followed by directly into soil once I saw the tap root, and got much better results.

Thai Red is doing the best at the moment, then some of the chinenses are flowering pretty well. The plants I cut back mid August are starting to flower too. This is my first proper season, hopefully everything goes well.
 
why did you need to cut back your plants? were they overwintered?

each year I have to control myself but I always start earlier the next season - I already have plans to get my seeds down early August 2009 LOL
 
I'm in Christchurch NZ (about the same Lat. as Melbourne) I've got about 15 plants germinating now.

From Jalapenos to Habaneros. Waiting on my 7 Pots to sprout and I am not sure if my Dorset Naga's are going to fly - they need a higher temp to germinate - but they do take their own sweet time to do it.
 
chilliman64 said:
why did you need to cut back your plants? were they overwintered?

each year I have to control myself but I always start earlier the next season - I already have plans to get my seeds down early August 2009 LOL
Click to expand...

Well, I had 12 plants that I originally had in my grow tent, and being under lights they were big and bushy. I needed to make way for them in the tent so the new seedlings could go in, so put the plants outside. They started dropping leaves all over the place, so I thought I might as well cut them back so they focus on growth during early Spring and should be heavily flowering by end of Spring.

And yes, I'm already working out what I'm doing for next season. I've just gone and purchased a bunch of seeds from fatalii.net, 6 varities of pubescens, as I reckon they grow real well down here in our cooler climate. Also invested in some Rootrainers (seedling trays) from Scotland, will see how they go.
 
I sowed my seeds in early August and had them under 2 x 18Watt Grolux fluoros once germinated, the same as chilliman64.

I put them in the ground 2 weeks ago after conditioning them to the outside..

They are going strong with some of the Cayenne's having 3 inch pods. The super hots are still only 4 inches tall but they are strong so all is good.

I put my tomatos out about a month ago.....
 
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