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seeds When to seed?

oldsalty

oldsalty

Any advice on when to start my seeds would be greatly appreciated!! :)
I live in Murrells Inlet SC on the shore, not sure first time starting from seeds.
Thanks
 
whats your plan for transplanting? space limitations?
do you have greenhouse so you can plant sooner?
whats your last frost date?
 
for me it was about 10 weeks for 6-10in plants in 3 inch pots.
then if you top them add another 4+ weeks.
so minus that from your last frost date and plant then.
 
good general starting date is first part of january for many of us in us.
 
at 21 weeks old my untopped habanero plant is 2ft+ tall, too big for my shelf.
 
If you're starting in trays indoors, right now is a great time, considering that my fataliis and scorpions are still working on putting out their first harvest. They flowered very late, and they were started from seed in February 2014
 
You got to take in count for seeds to sprout time and for them to mature.Some 90 days to 120 days and seeds can sometimes take their time to sprout.My took a month to grow and I started in May.They did put peppers on,but I could have had more.Now,they are getting overwinter. December and January are good starting points. It's better to be to early,then to be to late.  :party:  :drunk:  :drunk:
 
     My best advice would be to avoid putting all your eggs in one temporal basket. There are so many factors to take into account when starting seeds in hopes of achieving a healthy plant that is at just the right maturity stage for plant out at just the right time. 
     It goes way beyond your particular frost date and the days to maturity for the variety in question. The temperature of your house, amount/quality of light you can provide, pest/pathogen-related setbacks, growing space, hardening off conditions/schedule, size of containers, tolerance of your wife… all play important roles in how much time you will need to provide for your starts.
     If you plan on starting multiples of certain varieties, I would recommend starting them in batches a week or two apart. Pay attention and take notes on their development - this will make it easier to remember what worked so you can do that again next year and hone your skills.
     The last few years, I started all my peppers shortly after January, 1. I have found that this works pretty well for chinenses in my particular climate. Since chinenses always seem to start slowly, they appreciate a few extra weeks to fill their pot with roots. Annuums, on the other hand, seem to take off right away. They shoot right up and don't waste any time starting reproductive growth. This led to crowded, root bound plants as well as a bunch of wasted time pinching buds. And since I never top my plants anymore, my only choice was to pot them up which is expensive and unnecessary, compared to just starting them 3-4 weeks later.
 
Yup agree to what is said above. Being that this is your first time, take notes on everything you do. That way you will have a solid foundation on what not to do next year. :rolleyes:
 
seriously though, don't get discouraged. You learn new things every year and for people like me, I remember less of what I am told and more of what I experience first hand. Like Hybrid said, Annums grow differently than Chinenses do so don't try to compare the 2. Keep seeds moist but don't drown them and keep temps stable.
 
As juanitos said, you need to consider space limitations and more. This is going to vary from one grower to the next. My max hot pepper grow was 48 plants, started January 1. That would have been fine if I still lived in TX or So CA, but I lived in (and still live in, for the time being) OH. It would also have been fine if I had more room inside my house - I have an unheated, detached garage which gets too cold in the winter for chile plants to survive, so inside the house was my only option (and still is) until about the middle of May. 
 
I start seeds between damp coffee filters placed in clear plastic tubs - no space problem for 48 seeds. As soon as they sprout I move them to the little plastic Solo bathroom cups with holes cut in the bottom - still no space problem. When they outgrow the bathroom cups, I move them to large Solo cups, again with holes cut in the bottom and again with no space problem. After that, though, things started getting tight. Some were clearly outgrowing the Solo cups, so got moved to 1-gallon pots. I didn't really have room for more than 10 of the 1-gallon pots.
 
Consider that you need not just space, but appropriate space - when you water them and possibly some water will still leak out of the drain holes, do you have a place where you don't care if it gets wet, or do you have saucers of some sort to catch the water? And does your allotted space have sufficient light, or will you  need to get lights? Air circulation is very important, so do you have a space (or even multiple spaces) where you can also put a fan in such a manner that the plants get good circulation from it? How are you going to water the plants? Watering Solo cups is no biggie, but once you start getting them into larger containers, do you have a sink or tub that you can put them in to let them drain?
 
If you find that you started too early, you can do things like reduce light, watering, and temperature to help slow the growth down. You're in SC rather than OH and likely don't have as long of winters as we have here, but again, the number of plants you have will make a big difference. I didn't realize how spoiled I was when I was living and growing in TX and CA. Now that I'm in OH, it's a whole new growing world.
 
geeme said:
As juanitos said, you need to consider space limitations and more. This is going to vary from one grower to the next. My max hot pepper grow was 48 plants, started January 1. That would have been fine if I still lived in TX or So CA, but I lived in (and still live in, for the time being) OH. It would also have been fine if I had more room inside my house - I have an unheated, detached garage which gets too cold in the winter for chile plants to survive, so inside the house was my only option (and still is) until about the middle of May. 
 
I start seeds between damp coffee filters placed in clear plastic tubs - no space problem for 48 seeds. As soon as they sprout I move them to the little plastic Solo bathroom cups with holes cut in the bottom - still no space problem. When they outgrow the bathroom cups, I move them to large Solo cups, again with holes cut in the bottom and again with no space problem. After that, though, things started getting tight. Some were clearly outgrowing the Solo cups, so got moved to 1-gallon pots. I didn't really have room for more than 10 of the 1-gallon pots.
 
Consider that you need not just space, but appropriate space - when you water them and possibly some water will still leak out of the drain holes, do you have a place where you don't care if it gets wet, or do you have saucers of some sort to catch the water? And does your allotted space have sufficient light, or will you  need to get lights? Air circulation is very important, so do you have a space (or even multiple spaces) where you can also put a fan in such a manner that the plants get good circulation from it? How are you going to water the plants? Watering Solo cups is no biggie, but once you start getting them into larger containers, do you have a sink or tub that you can put them in to let them drain?
 
If you find that you started too early, you can do things like reduce light, watering, and temperature to help slow the growth down. You're in SC rather than OH and likely don't have as long of winters as we have here, but again, the number of plants you have will make a big difference. I didn't realize how spoiled I was when I was living and growing in TX and CA. Now that I'm in OH, it's a whole new growing world.
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Broke it down to a science for me. Thanks. Trouble for me getting he seeds to sprout. After that I think I got it down. Just getting inpatient and moving my set up around. Last night I redid my tray and just placed the zip lock bags on top of the heat mat. And today I got a indoor outdoor thermostat and the temperature was 123 (f). Way to hot so a bunch of seeds darken. Is that mean they are bad. Found some sprouts but all dried out. How do you tell if the seeds are bad? Or dead due to my mistake? Now forced to do a restart. Thanks for the added insight brother. Now looking to redo my seed set up. I'll post back with an update.
 
oldsalty said:
Any advice on when to start my seeds would be greatly appreciated!! :)
I live in Murrells Inlet SC on the shore, not sure first time starting from seeds.
Thanks
Click to expand...
 
MUST.....GROW.....PEPPERS!
 
Don't worry OS, it happens to all who dwell at THP for any length of time. That almost primal urge.....to grow peppers lol. It's fun and rewarding, but can be addictive, even obsessive.
 
Your frost data is here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/freeze-frost-dates/index.php?q=29576&submit=Go
 
246 frost free days is great. You should be able to pick fresh peppers for months!
 
Some very good tutorials for growing peppers can be found here: http://www.thechileman.org/guide_home.php
 
 
My guidelines for when to start things:
 
All peppers EXCEPT Annuums: 12 weeks before last frost
Annuums: 8 weeks before last frost
Tomatoes: 6 weeks before last frost
 
If I lived in Murrells Inlet, I'd target April 1 as my plant-out date. So, I'd start all my pepper seeds (except Annuums) by Jan 1; I'd start the Annuums by Feb 1 and I'd start tomatoes by Mar 1.
 
Growing peppers from seed is only as complicated as you want to make it. At the end of the day, they need some dirt, some water and some light. It's that simple.
 
The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy it.
 
Yes, heating pads often fry seeds. Definitely get a thermostat to control the temp. Also, keep in mind the heating pad is only needed for germination - once they pop out of the seed casing remove the heating pad or your risk them becoming too leggy.
 
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