Customers often ask, can I plant my seeds directly to soil? The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is, you have to wait for temperatures to be suitable to do so. And this is the long of it…

When considering whether to start your chilli grow early indoors or late outdoors, here are the things you need to know. There are pros and cons to both.

The benefits to late season starts and planting seeds directly to soil is that there is no need to harden off the seedlings that emerge. So, lets call it simpler. Mother nature takes care of this. Seedlings will emerge and will continue growing un-interrupted. There is also pluses on the cost side of things, as you do not need to spend money on equipment to create the right environment for your seeds to grow indoors through winter.

So why do growers go through the rigmarole of an early season start? The simplest answer is for an early head start on the season. By starting early, you will be in for an earlier harvest and all things being well more flushes before the end of our grow season. But, there is also something very satisfying about pampering your plants indoors. It’s more hands on and this brings most growers more joy in those cold winter months.

When opting to go with an early season start and germinating indoors we recommend starting germination a good two months before intending to plant out. The first weeks of October are usually the timeline given for early season planting out in South Africa. This means that you should begin your germination indoors around July/August. After two months of growing indoors with artificial lighting, your seedlings will be large enough to take outdoors. But your seedlings will need to be hardened off to acclimatize them to the hash UV of the sun. This process can take anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks.

The other benefits to Early Season starts is that as you are growing indoors in a controlled environment, there is a reduced chance of loosing plants. In the garden, there are many factors that can account for plant losses. Weather, pests and pathogens. That is not to say, there are no losses to growing indoors, but these can be controlled and will be zero if you have the skills.

When considering a late season start, we recommend planting seeds straight into soil outdoors. As a rough guideline, this should take place in the first weeks of October, when outdoor night time temperatures have risen above 10°C.

We would suggest that customers who have missed the train on an early start this season, should consider opting for a Late Start early October by planting straight into the soil. After all, this is how mother nature has been doing it for millenia.