Donnie-

What are your growing conditions like for your starts? Do you have enough room for larger plants under lights or do you have a spacious greenhouse? I would hate to end up with seedlings that don't do well if they get root bound, not enough light/nutrients, etc. But if you can give them what they need as they grow larger, I say go for it. Last year, my starts were 3 feet tall with pods on them already when I set them out and I estimate I got at least 600 pounds of peppers from 150 plants. Other option is to grow in containers and bring them inside at the end of the season to finish ripening up.

Good luck!

Aside...what is your seed source for Devil's Tongue? They look like Fataliis...do they have a similar taste?

I am in zone 7 and I start my pepper seeds the end of January and put them out into the garden in mid April. There is a definite advantage to planting more mature plants into the garden as you will get fruit on the peppers requiring longer growing seasons. Remember also, hot pepper plants can be perennials and will survive very nicely in pots thru the winter with minimal care. The next year you can set them out early and get peppers sooner than anyone else. I keep at least one of each of my favorite pepper plants in the house thru the winter and set it out early the following year. They do produce much earlier than starting over.

Wow cronky.thats a whole lotta peppers!What size pots were you holding them in before transplanting?
.I am using an unused bedroom closet for the plants right now and that seems to be working out ok
Do your plants suffer much shock putting them in so large?,,Do you pull off the blosssoms when u transplant them?
Most of mine are kept in pots,but this year i have decided to devote a small area exclusivly for the peppers,but still keeping a few special ones in pots so i can pull them inside as Larry mentioned
As far as the devils tounge are concerened..last year i had ordered a few plants @ crosscountry nurseries and fattali had been one of them.However,they were out of stock ,so they sent me the devils tounge.Having never grown fattali before,i cant really say what the differences were between them,but from what ive seen on these forums,they seem to be almost the same plant...I do know the heat was almost that of the choclate brown habs i have grown,,,if not even hotter
And larry...i did manage to get a devils tounge and a bhut jolakia inside for the winter...they D.T is doing fine,but the bhut doesnt look like its gonna make it...im not giving up hope yet however after reading john.F,s post on his overwintering efforts

I also have a bhut jalokia in a pot in my house. I placed it in a room temperature spot next to a western facing window. I dont water it much and do not use fertilizer until I put them back out in the warm weather and it is doing fine. In fact there were flowers on it when I brought it inside and it is now producing fruit. The same with my peach habaneroes that I brought inside. If you cannot place them near a window, decent light from a lamp or a florescent hanging fixture does fine.

They were in 4" pots and were pretty root bound. I shortchanged them on the hardening off to get them out of the pots quicker, so they pouted a week until taking off. I hadn't been pulling blossoms..they ended up dropping from transplant shock.

Bryce