It's best to start your own seeds, imo. Most of the problems I've had this year were from seedlings others started. Chili thrips and Bacterial Leaf Spot in particular.

Then at the end of the season keep and overwinter your best and most favorite plant varieties to get a head start for next year and sow however many new varieties yourself.

PS I'm the worst at taking my own advice. I must resist purchasing that interesting looking little pepper down at the grocery store! I know I'll regret it! ;-)

This post was edited by mecdave on Wed, Dec 24, 14 at 15:34

Hey great that makes sense. I wanted to keep 1 or 2 of my best plants, but also try some new ones, so I'll overwinter my favourites and start some new varieties from seed. Thanks for your response and all the best for the new year.

My take on your questions, YMMV:

Is it always best to start you new years crop from seed

While there is no best way this method gives you the opportunity to try varieties not offered by local nurseries. Be prepared for the elation of emerging seedlings & damp off, outgrowing it's cotyledons and legginess, beautiful seedling ready for transplant and the time, attention & work needed for hardening off.

buy young plants from a nursery

I buy common ones I grow that are offered by Bonnie Plants locally and have had great results. Another plus here is why waste money, time, care, and limited seedling space on easily acquired varieties you only want a limited number of?

overwinter your exiting [healthy & productive] plants

I overwintered a large Pequin for a number of years with nothing more than bringing it indoors and it produced profusely every year, but these are noted for that trait and I've had limited success with others. I had started this year with Serrano, Jal, Ornamental & Traditional Thai's, Golden Cayenne & Hab and so far the Hab & traditional Thai have bit the dust...& I still have 3-4 months to go! Mind you, my below 32ðF temps (0ðC for your side of the pond.) lasts from late Sept. through early April, a minimum of six months.

any specific reasons in favour of any of these methods

All three have their attributes and failings, experiment freely with each.

I wanted to keep 1 or 2 of my best plants, but also try some new ones, so I'll overwinter my favourites and start some new varieties from seed.

Sounds like you're off to a great start as an emerging ChileHead!

Personally, if I could find the plants of the varieties that I like to grow, I would rather buy them instead of starting from seeds.

Overwintering is a whole different ball game. First you have to have room for them. Have to provide proper lighting, provide care for 6 months or even longer. So to me overwintering is not an alternative.
YMMV

Seysonn

And if you can't find good-n-hot pepper plants at your local nurseries, there's always mail order!>>> World of Chillies...

I am trying overwintering one of my plants. It lagged behind the others and I thought I'd give it a second chance. Still not sure about this as I just won the battle with gnats and aphids by finally turning to using homemade insecticidal soap.

I have started my seeds for next spring. And I must admit that I find these seedlings the most fun. I do not use small pots or cell trays. I simply use soil blocks on trays and the sprouter/survivors then go directly to a big pot when they're big enough.

I have never really found a store bought plant here that offered any "unusual" variety. Guess our climate is too cold for these plants to become popular.

I do have oodles of room indoors if needed and have now started building my own lighting to save some bucks.

There is a world of variables in this that depend on the person, and the conditions that they have.

As for me we have two short seasons here with a long hot summer in the middle of them. Our winter weather takes many as just plain strange. It can be 75 and sunny at 5 PM. Then drop like an anvil from the sky to single digit temps in under 4 hours. Then three or four days later it is warm again.

I am overwintering 4 plants this year. Space is a factor in that. I have them in my closet that I am also using to germinate seeds in as well. The larger plants go outside on warm sunny days, and are brought in at night. They stay inside if it is going to be cold that day.

For starting seeds. I stick to the ones that I can not get from the garden centers for growing from seeds. The ones I can get I buy. It is less trouble for me. The best producers I had last season were the ones that were in the basket planters that were 2 to 3 gallon pot sizes. Once I planted them they took off. I got tons of pods off of them. Each one gave way more than my money's worth back in pods.

For the overwintering part I kept one that was a huge producer. It is hanging in. (Large Jalapeno) I cut it way back. One is a Thai that I potted down, and cut way back. Two are scorpion peppers. One of those still has pods on it two months after bringing it in. One is a ghost pepper that also still has a couple of pods left on it. I Potted it up, and trimmed it back. The thing is I have room for them so I am saving them.

I am doing it due to the fact that in this area if one wants a large harvest they have two choices. 1: Start with a large mature plant. Pod set starts early, and will continue until the heat shuts it down. Once temps drop it will start up again. Choice 2: Plant more plants, and hope for the best. (This tends to give a few in the early part of the season. Then stops once the heat kicks up. Plants grow in the heat. Just no fruit. Once temps drop they set pods like crazy mad.) The late season is crap shoot for getting ripe pods as once the heat breaks the first frost can happen any day between then, and Halloween.