Best time to start chillies

[jonny the plant pot]

I've recently bought some carolina reaper seeds and intend to grow them for next year but not sure when's the best time to start them .

[Scarlet]

Have you got a propagator? They need constant warmth for good germination and can take a couple of weeks to sprout.

Start them around Christmas! No later than the 1st week of feb.

[BUFFS]

if you have the room to grow them on indoors I would start them in Feb, to give the maximum growing time, although I have not tried that particular strain. if otherwise employed I start some as late as the end of march and hope for a good summer....its too dark here til the end of march to get great growth but they do start slowly, speeding up as we get the light..

[Scarlet]

March is ok for cayennes etc but the super hots like Carolina reaper really need a long growing season. I consider end of feb getting late to sow those. I started black nagas end of Feb 2015....they took 3 weeks to germinate(so I lost nearly a month) and there just wasn't long enough to get any pods to ripen. I had to overwinter them,they fruited early summer this year.. that's a long time to wait for any fruit.

[allyby]

I'm buying a heated propagator this year and starting the super hot's on the 1st January.

[jonny the plant pot]

I've got a garland super 7 propergator so will start them 1st of Feb thanks for the replies

[Small pumpkin]

Jonny you've started me thinking ( that's never good! ).
I'm considering starting next years super hot chilli's in November. In the usual manner heated propagator then in the window, growing them on till they can go out to the polytunnle. I'm looking into grow light so they don't get to leggy. I'm doing this because my super hots have only just started setting fruit and we are losing light and temperature fast up here. What do you think? I'm I being even more crazy than normal?

[Scarlet]

Trip uses lights, I think he starts in December. Remember they will need to be under those lights for sometime and they will grow big will you have enough room for them all before you need to start moving them out?

[Tripmeup]

Trip uses lights, I think he starts in December. Remember they will need to be under those lights for sometime and they will grow big will you have enough room for them all before you need to start moving them out?

Yep I use lights and find they ate great for getting a head start...once you have somewhere indoors to keep them as they grow, then should be fine...Start the hottest one first as they seem to take a lot longer to germinate and get going...

[Small pumpkin]

That's the plan Trip just start off my Dorset & black Naga's, Scorpion, ghost and Fatalii Gourmet Jigsaw In November then start my habaneros and scotch bonnets in late December. Everything else as normal start of February. Nothing will be getting potted on into anything bigger than a 1lt pot till they go into the Polytunnel.
I'm looking into the LED grow lights as running costs will be lower.

[Scarlet]

OMG! I'll need to get ights soon...I'm going to be soooo jealous!

[Small pumpkin]

Ask Santa scarlet. Tell him to look on eeebay

[BUFFS]

Its not the early start but keeping them indoors so long that creates friction with other half,we have Hungarian wax, jalapeno, some apache and 3/4 types of sweet pepper,so we make do with using these, a couple of carrier bags already in the freezer and more to come, and that is all from a mid march sowing..

[gardengeordie]

That's the plan Trip just start off my Dorset & black Naga's, Scorpion, ghost and Fatalii Gourmet Jigsaw In November then start my habaneros and scotch bonnets in late December. Everything else as normal start of February. Nothing will be getting potted on into anything bigger than a 1lt pot till they go into the Polytunnel.
I'm looking into the LED grow lights as running costs will be lower.

Sounds like a nice mixture of heat :-) I better get my seeds ordered so I am ready to!

[Small pumpkin]

Its not the early start but keeping them indoors so long that creates friction with other half,we have Hungarian wax, jalapeno, some apache and 3/4 types of sweet pepper,so we make do with using these, a couple of carrier bags already in the freezer and more to come, and that is all from a mid march sowing..

How do you manage that??? Tell me your secret. The only things I've got producing ripe chilli's are a white and a chocolate habanero and filius blue. That's because I brought them already in 1/2lt pots at a show in March. Everything else is producing nicely but not started ripening yet. At this rate I'm not going to have a chilli selection for the VVS!!!