In feb/march I got into growing chilli's and kept reading a thread on the subject on an other forum, thing is I'm now wanting to grow some more of the rarer or more exotic varieties other users have grown- the big one being Lemon Drop.

Is it now far too late to start a fresh batch of seedlings?

ashyboi5000 wrote:
In feb/march I got into growing chilli's and kept reading a thread on
the subject on an other forum, thing is I'm now wanting to grow some
more of the rarer or more exotic varieties other users have grown- the
big one being Lemon Drop.

Is it now far too late to start a fresh batch of seedlings?

I would definitely say it was too late for 'real' peppers, months and
months too late. But I think chillis grow a lot quicker, so maybe there
is hope, especially if we're due a late autumn. Probably the only way
to be sure is to try it out.

Many chillis, especially those that are widely commercially grown, have a known lead time from potting on till fruiting. Potting on is at the point where you have a seedling with two pairs of true leaves. I think you can find varieties with as little as a 60 day lead time, though 75-90 days is more common. The more exotic varieties favoured by hobbyists tend to be the longer period types. I can't just now locate the chilli seed site I used to frequent that had these stated fruting periods, where known.

Typically it will take you another couple of months to get from a seed to potting on time, so you have an absolute minimum of about 4 months from seed to fruit. So planting seen in mid-June is nonsense.

Trouble is these stated lead times are for chillies grown with the light intensity and warmth routinely available in places like the US southern states and Mexico. In cooler climes, it takes longer, unless you can give them supplementary warmth and, more importantly, light. That is why hobbyists in cooler climates hoping to get fruit off their orange habanero, or whatever, set them off in January hoping to get fruit by October, or go to trouble to overwinter them to get them going early the next year.

On Mon, 18 Jun 2012 09:38:54 +0000, echinosum
wrote:


ashyboi5000;962057 Wrote:
Is it now far too late to start a fresh batch of seedlings?
Many chillis, especially those that are widely commercially grown, have
a known lead time from potting on till fruiting. Potting on is at the
point where you have a seedling with two pairs of true leaves. I think
you can find varieties with as little as a 60 day lead time, though
75-90 days is more common. The more exotic varieties favoured by
hobbyists tend to be the longer period types. I can't just now locate
the chilli seed site I used to frequent that had these stated fruting
periods, where known.

http://www.cliftonchilliclub.co.uk/?


Typically it will take you another couple of months to get from a seed
to potting on time, so you have an absolute minimum of about 4 months
from seed to fruit. So planting seen in mid-June is nonsense.

Trouble is these stated lead times are for chillies grown with the light
intensity and warmth routinely available in places like the US southern
states and Mexico. In cooler climes, it takes longer, unless you can
give them supplementary warmth and, more importantly, light. That is
why hobbyists in cooler climates hoping to get fruit off their orange
habanero, or whatever, set them off in January hoping to get fruit by
October, or go to trouble to overwinter them to get them going early the
next year.