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seeds Zone 5a - What date should I have my seeds started by?
- Thread starter shadrack
- Start date
keep the above in mind when you pop seeds.... ideally you should not have plants beyond like... the solo cup - 1 gallon stage untill after the last frost.... lest you be forced to drag inside large containers.
at least till the end of february
You have plenty of time if you were to start now. I start chinense mid-march in zone 5 and can harvest in the first two weeks of August. There is no benefit to planting out before Memorial Day,frost or not. I think we had a frost May 27 last year. Your plants don't want to be hanging out in 40° rainy temps.
I'm also in zone 5a. You may not get big, bushy plants if you start your Chinense varieties now, but you'll still get a harvest. No matter what size the plant you set out, it still takes the same amount of time to grow out the crop. Bigger plants usually mean a bigger harvest though. I've been growing Trinidad Scorpions and Bhuts for the last couple of years here with no problems, so you should be able to as well. The earlier you can get them transplanted outside the better. I get mine outside in mid-April by planting in Infrared Transparent plastic mulch and then setting up a low row cover with 4mil poly sheeting over that. The combination means that you'll have to open up the ends to vent excess heat on sunny days and button them up at night.
Runescape said:
Correct. I'm looking to find out the absolute latest date I can start sowing seeds in my area for the plants to have enough time to produce ripe pods before frost.
Good info. That's another factor I need to consider. I have limited space to work with in the house so I won't be able to handle much more than solo cup sized containers before the plants are sent outside for the summer. I should have about a 100-125 plants depending on the germination rate.queequeg152 said:
keep the above in mind when you pop seeds.... ideally you should not have plants beyond like... the solo cup - 1 gallon stage untill after the last frost.... lest you be forced to drag inside large containers.
Nice setup. Last year was the first time I dabbled with growing a superhot (Scorpion) and it was later August before I had my first ripe pod. I got maybe 10 pods off the plant before the growing season was over so I'm trying start as early as reasonable.stickman said:I'm also in zone 5a. You may not get big, bushy plants if you start your Chinense varieties now, but you'll still get a harvest. No matter what size the plant you set out, it still takes the same amount of time to grow out the crop. Bigger plants usually mean a bigger harvest though. I've been growing Trinidad Scorpions and Bhuts for the last couple of years here with no problems, so you should be able to as well. The earlier you can get them transplanted outside the better. I get mine outside in mid-April by planting in Infrared Transparent plastic mulch and then setting up a low row cover with 4mil poly sheeting over that. The combination means that you'll have to open up the ends to vent excess heat on sunny days and button them up at night.
Wife will break out the rolling pin on me if I have 125 gallon containers in the house!
