I'm in Zone 5. I start germinating my c. chinese in paper towels on a heat mat on February 15, and the rest of my hot peppers on March 1, and sweet peppers on March 15. They are planted in peat pellets, and put under flourescent lights at 70 degrees. After they start forming their second set of true leaves, they are potted up to 16 oz cups of potting mix, they move into my garage under flourescent lights next to a heater for a lower temperature of 55-65 degrees with a fan so they'll grow nice, thick stems and deep roots. This is for planting outdoors in beds the last week of May. I harden mine off for a couple weeks in May wheeling them outside, starting with one hour, and doubling the amount of time each day, until before planting they are left outside all day.

Growing in pots or containers will probably help you extend your season and give you an earlier harvest. Also, you can look into growing under different types of lights.

Be careful of starting too early with regular flourescent lights, though. Nearly every novice gardener, eager to start the gardening year makes the mistake of starting too early, and they end up with big, floppy leggy plants that don't harden off well, or which start flowering before transplanting. The ideal transplant is around 6 inches, stocky, with a thick, straight stem, bushy leaves, and no flowers or fruit. Everybody has a unique indoor growing environment, and it takes some experimentation to find the starting date which will give you the ideal seedling.

Thank you Euarto!! Excellent information!

Do you find that the peppers continue to produce throughout the season? And is it the same for sweet peppers?

Same here...
I start the Chinense peppers mid-February, and the rest of my peppers at the beginning of March.
After planting in the garden, I cover my plants with waterjugs for the first few weeks at night.

I find that I get two to three distinct harvests throughout the season.

Josh

Yes, peppers continue to produce for a couple months in Zone 5. You can usually start getting some green jalapenos or other unripe c. annuum in July, and can harvest peppers right up to first frost. Some varieties have heavy intermittent crops, some are more continuous. I would never deliberately stagger my pepper plantings since our season is so short. I plant all my transplants as soon as nighttime temps are reasonable.
However, I always grow a few extra seedlings in case of hail, freak storms, or critters that like tender pepper seedlings, so sometimes I end up staggering my plantings anyway. But that is only for putting in replacement plants over a couple week window in late May and early June. It's pretty much not worth transplanting peppers in Zone 5 after June 15.

Central IL here....do about the same as everyone has mentioned.

Last year I started all my pepper seeds in early/mid Feb. Many were bigger than I wanted by the time I planted in mid-late May. This year, I will start the slower growing ones (Chinese) in Feb still, but, the others I will hold off for 3-4 weeks.

Thank you for all the wonderful information! I feel poised for success!

I'm in 5b, central Connecticut. I've always started all of my peppers, tomatoes and eggplant on the same weekend aroung April 1. Even the Bhuts and other chinense varieties do fine, although sometimes I do give them a week or two head start. This leaves me with nice stocky plants about 8-10 inches tall. In my opinion, the most important thing is to have a good root system and plenty of leaves so when you put it out it can really take off. I've always been a bit skittish about setting out too early though, generally never before Memorial day weekend. More than a night or two below 50 can stunt them for a season. Also, it really helps a lot to use a mulch film to get the soil nice and warm before you transplant.

One thing I am doing new this year, for a long season variety, is overwintering.

I dug the plants out, in the fall, put them in a pot and have them now in my cool basement.
I am hoping to increase the yields this season, and maybe try to take cuttings in the spring.

Austin-
I am trying that this year too. I have only tried it with one Bhut plant, but it is working well. We may be onto something here! I too am hoping to increase yields. It also makes for a fun winter project. Good luck.Potted this up in October

Are peppers perennial in warm climates?

Yes. All chiles are perennial.

Josh