It will be tough to find specific information for your varieties for your growing zone. I would post the varieties you plan on growing and someone one here will be able to give you some concrete guidelines to follow.

But keep in mind that light, fertilizers, soil, temps and a host of other factors will go a long ways in determining how big your plants will grow over a specified time period. For instance, if you start and grow your seedlings in the basement in 60 degree temps, your plants will grow a lot slower than someone who is getting them 80 degrees and 6 hours of sun every day. Not that growing in the basement is bad, but it does alter the growing rate generally. We dont all have south facing windowed rooms with room for 30 pepper plants.

But, judging by your growing zone 7, I would think now would be fine to start your Chinense plants. You should be able to get them outside early April and that is about 2.5 months from now. Maybe wait until the first week of February to start your anuumms and others. Here is a photo of mine from 2 seasons ago after growing 9 weeks from date of planting the seed. Yes, I still had a long ways to go before I could get them outside and yes, they were significantly bigger when I finally did get them planted outside but like you, I didn't know when to start as it was my first year. But plants this size are perfect for transplanting outside.
Bruce

I am also new Tim, still I keep learning from the other forum members. I cannot help you, some of our members probably can help you.

Bruce I have a couple of questions about your plants and containers.

Why all of your containers were wrapped aluminium foil?
Is there any benefit of using aluminium foil?
Is it aphids prevention step?

What are the size of these containers?

Are these containers for temporary or final?

Sorry for all these direct questions.

Regards,

Caelian

My rule of thumb is roughly 6 weeks from last frost date, which generally means I start in mid-February.

Caelian: As for the aluminum foil, I for the life of me cannot recall why I wrapped them in aluminum foil. Being my first year, maybe I thought they would get too hot in the sun. I don't know. As for the size, they are standard 3.5" seedling containers. I wound up having to transplant to 6" nursery pots soon after this photo was taken. So, no, they were not final. In reality, neither were the 6" nursery pots. Once I got them outside permanent, the final containers were 7 gallon planters.
Bruce

Hi Tim last season I planted more varities than in previous. Started all the last week of Dec. This season middle of Jan. I found Cayenne and Bell pepper were quickest to grow even in the basement under T12 floro lights. They were about 3 - 3 1/2 feet tall while the Ghost and Habs were about 1 - 1 1/2 feet tall by the time the weather was warm enough to harden em off. I do think as Bruce suggested basement slows the growth because of lower temps. I am sure if it was 75-80 and I started in Dec I would have 4-5 ft Ghost and Habs and full grown cayenne and Bell's come April/May. Hope this helps.

Mark

Thank you Bruce for the info.

Caelian

would anyone recommend using a small heater to heat up the room where my plants are growing? my plants are indoors, however the temp is around 70-75.

Would getting the room up to 80 - 85 help?

Yes, the heat would help. But I just think it is not worth it unless you are heating a real small area. Heating a 12x12 room for a dozen or so plants isn't worth it in my opinion. But, I do suggest a fan blowing over the plants while growing indoors even if it is just room temperature.
Bruce

My general rule of thumb is it's hard to start TOO early. Even if it starts to get too big for a 3" pot, Pot up to a 5 or 6. If a blossom or 2 starts to develop and your still a month from going outside, just pluck them. Just keep 'em warm and lighted and potting up.

Tim, you did great last year! Just keep on keepin on.

Kevin

Thanks for all the information guys, but what I really need help with is determining the species of the plant. (Chinese, annum, etc.) That way I know how long it takes to produce. Sorry I wasn't more clear with my question. Do I need to look up each plant, or is there a data base with information for most chile plants? Thanks again.

Tim

Kind of both. You need to look up each plant's name to find its species designation, but there are databases out there. Which I thought I had bookmarked on my iPad but no, that was my other computer. Check the packets, some packages tell you right on them. Or post a list here, maybe others will be able to quickly tell you which are which.

Hi Tim.

As a very general rule, the super/extreme hots are Chinenses and the sweets are Annuums. In between those two is a mix. Annuum seeds generally germinate in 3 - 14 days and grow quickly. That's why folks usually start them later than the other species, around 8 weeks before average-last-frost-date for your zone. Chinense can germinate slower, anywhere between 7 - 30 days or longer. They also grow more slowly than Annuums. Folks usually start Chinense (and others) around 12 weeks before a-l-f-d.

Here's a few links to help your figure out what you've got. Plus, you can always ask here. There are lots of knowledgeable folks on this forum.

Rick

Capsicum genus - Species definitions

Databases to search for varieties:

thechileman.org
g6csy.net
petterssononline.com

Awesome. Thanks guys! Rick, this is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again.

Tim