You should start your plants in pots. You can keep growing in the pots or wait until the ground is good and warm before planting in the ground. Planting in the ground too early can set them way back or kill them.

I think it is. I grow mostly in pots and still have had plants stunted by very cool early summer temps. I now don't put them outside full time in their larger pots until mid June. Prior to that I harden them off outside and leave them out as much as possible but bring them in when temps dip.

John

if you leave earlier, you get there sooner :)

i'm a believer in starting early, because the zone 5 season is so short. but my frame of reference is hydroponic or container gardening, where i can put the plants in the garage at night if the temps get too low. i also have h.i.d. grow lights so my plants dont get stretchy.

if you can leave them in containers, and bring them in at night, there's no beating the warm spring days under the sun.

natural predators might not be present very early in the season so watch out for bugs. i could really use some ladybugs or wasps but its too early for them to be out.

the ground must be 55f or you will chile the roots and it does as potawie say set the plant back and does give you a bad yeild. i am in zone 5 too start them inside in 3inch pots so you can as the others say take them in and out in the spring.i do it every year and grow over one hunderd and forty plants (120 are chilis)
dan
let it burn

Skyclad,

I have found that peppers do not do well until temperatures stay sufficiently warm - as in above 70 F. I have experimented with early planting which for me was third week in March as opposed to my normal planting sequence of first or second week in April. I'm in Zone 8.

It is my theory that the 50-60 F temps at night stunt the plants and that they never really recover in such a way to flourish and be bountiful. They don't die, mind you, but they don't flourish.

I mainly grow chinense varieties and it could very well be that other species (like the baccatum) would be less prone to stunting.

It's my theory and I'm sticking to it. I have found that it's better to be a little late than a little early.

I agree, the temps must be above 50 degrees or plants will be stunted. We don't plant the final plants outside until mid May due to night time lows dropping regulary to below 50 degrees. This won't kill the plants but will severely stunt them and they will take weeks to recover and start to grow again. We start seeds around this time and any plants that I buy direct as plants I don't have delivered until April (like Cross Country Nursery).

Kendra

Many responses have been related to field (outside) planting conditions but I find that you need to still gage your seeding date by pepper variety and cultivar. If you want your peppers to be at a similar size at transplanting time you need to start some seeds as much as 4-5 weeks earlier than others.

Typically I start ornamental types in mid-January, 18-20 weeks before I expect to sell potted plants with colored fruit which is usually the same time I'll be transplanting production peppers. Of production types the Habaneros are seeded a few weeks following ornamentals. First, they take a week longer to germinate; then they tend to grow more slowly than other hot types and their stature is such that they are still manageble to transplant when the time comes.

I tend to have more problems with leggy cayennes, Anaheim and Hungarian wax peppers so those are among my last of the hots to plant. The sweets are always planted a few weeks behind hot types for similar reasons; they germinate fast and grow large rapidly.

So even if you plan to transplant all of your pepper plants in one day based on soil temp. and weather you still should consider earlier seeding be up to 6 weeks for some types. Take notes for a few years and you can soon figure out your best planting dates for the varieties that you grow.

Another consideration is how you handle the seedlings. You can over harden seedlings to the point where they will perform poorly. Some people focus so much on hardening off plants that they fall into this trap. Plan your schedule so that the plants are transplanted before they become like wooden sticks.

Last year I started my plants Feb 15th and set them out JUne 15th. It was the first time I've gotten a worth wile crop .Doing the same thing this year with 3 times the number of plants.

Peppers need a soil temp of 60F (or when you can sit in your garden comfortably with a bare bottom)

( soil thermometer is less embarrasing, and less itching)

Maybe others are having different experiences, but if I planted Nagas only 8-10 weeks before set out time, I'd have VERY small plants. Some of these super hot varieties grow SLOW!!! However, I do not grow in a greenhouse setting. That's a whole different story.

Chris

You know, Byron, you gotta stop taking off your trousers in the garden....it brings the cops eventually.

I always get a jump. But like said above, leave em in pot till the soil is warm enough and fear of chilly temps are gone. South facing window works great and just set em outside for periods of time .

Thanks for the great question skyclad, I was about to ask that...and thanks for the info Byron...I'll keep that temp in mind. Nice to see this garden board has a sense of humor.

Gram999 aka Gami

Byron wasn't being funny, he was serious! Thats how he tests
his soil! LOL! Temp + light= growth.

ButchT

Thanks for the info ButchT. I know Byron from another board and I can see, well now actually see, but imagine him doing that.

Last year we had such a dry summer. Even tho I watered with a pipe down to the roots, my peppers didn't do very well. I thought I'd try the pot method this year. I see several of you are dong that. But, if I decide to put them in the ground, the soil temp needs to be 55-60--as far down as the roots will be? Then the sitting on the ground method wouldn't work.