I have been battling what I consider premature pepper development since I've put my peppers in the ground or pots. None of my plants are over 12" tall yet, and I've already had buds on my Fresno, Jalapeno Ole, Naga Jolokia and Trot Amaroso. I keep pulling them and have considered shifting to a higher ratio of nitrogen in my fertilizer to promote growth. I didn't have this problem last year, but I only had three types of peppers and set them out very late. Everything I have read has recommended to pinch the blossoms so that the plant will devote energy to growth. I don't have any experience either way yet, but have opted to pinch.
It would be great if someone could chime in and offer a recommendation for preventing the premature blooms.

Scott

Plants growth can be stunted by cold weather, and some can never recover from this and are destined to stay dwarfed depending how long they were exposed to it. Peppers prefer temperatures of 70+ daytime and 50+ night time. The pot size has little to do with how large they will grow when they are still that small of size. I would pick off they peppers/flowers just once, give them a shot of fertilizer and ensure they are getting plenty of sun and warm temperatures. Once they start growing you can repot them as necessary.

Root-bound seedlings often bloom and set very early pods. You can permanently stunt plants by keeping them root-bound for too long a time.

I let my plants just bloom. I had my Jalapeño flower when it was only 10" tall with very few leaves on it. I have all my plants inside as I grow hydroponic. I have no bugs, no water shortage, I control the temp, the air flow, the PH, how much nutrient it gets, and things work pretty good. In fact, I think peppers are the easiest indoor plant to grow.

My Jalapeño is now 2 1/2 feet tall and has 10 growing peppers, and about 20 blossoms on the way. It has tons of leaves. The leaves grow faster with more sunlight.