Question
I have 3 varieties of hot peppers and 1 bell pepper that I started from seed.  Everything seems to be going well,  they sprouted, they are green and look healthy but they have not developed and aditional leaves other than their original set.  Also, they are still rather small even though they were planted about 3-4 weeks ago.  What am I doing wrong?


Answer
Hi Christopher,
Thanx for your question.  Peppers are notorious for starting out slowly.  Actually, if you only started them out 3-4 weeks ago, you're doing well.  A little liquid fertilizer and half strenght every 7-10 days will help.  Also, if the peppers are indoors, take them outside and place them in a protected place (as long as there is no danger of frost) where they will not be exposed to extremes in sunlight, heat, cold, rain or wind and leave them there for 7 days and make sure they don't dry out.  After that, they will have acclimated and you can place them in direct sunlight where they will take off.  Initially, peppers like to cool off after sprouting at temps between 70-85 degrees F.  Temps in the mid 60s often increase their rate of growth and then they slow down again when they're ready to bloom and set fruit.  Peppers will not set fruit well when the temps stay consistently above 90 degrees F and there is no major cool down at night.  Sometimes the blossoms will abort (fall off) and no fruit will result if temps remain above 95 for long periods of time.  I hope this helps.
Tom