One of the first modern studies on growing chia seed for commercial use was presented in 1988 at the First National Symposium on New Crops, held at Purdue University.
In it, Howard S. Gentry, Marc Mittleman, and Peter R. McCrohan published this account of their experience growing 6 species of chia at the Gentry Experimental Farm in Murrieta, California.
They report:
...there is no handbook on "How to Grow Chias." We have test planted both groups nearly monthly during our first and second year trials. ...(The seeds of S. hispanica)... germinate in the warm days of late spring, and flower in the short days of September for seed harvest in fall. Water should be held off after flowering.