If you're in/near Chicago (as your name implies) then your experience mirrors mine.

Peppers (hot or sweet) just don't seem to do well planted in the ground here...

OTOH - My super hots (Bhut and 7 Pod) are in 4 gallon containers and doing great.

You might want to try moving a couple to pots and see if they pick up the pace at all.

That's weird...I have 2 sweet in 5 gallon buckets..and they are bigger
Stems...greener bigger leaves...and much more foliage over all.
And were attacked early on by bugs with most
leaves eaten too stem..but they bounced back..
I planted them like A month before the ones in raises beds
so I just assumed it took that long for them
To start taking off.

How tall are they? Maybe it's just the picture, but they look a little small for pods like that. I pinch all buds off mine until they're about 12-15" tall so the nutrients go towards plant growth rather than both pod formation and plant growth at the same time. Also, the leaves look a little yellow, are you using any ferts? It could be N or Mg deficiency.

I think they are all under 15 inches...some are tiny and big ppeppers on them. I used miracle grow a few times..then switched to organic certs..Mr earth. I may be over watering them too..im gunna slow down

Are they in raised beds? That soil looks fairly dark, but their growth looks stunted. Are you fertilizing with something like a 5-1-1? They need something high in nitrogen, like fish fertilizer. How often are you watering? Usually uniform yellowing like that on the lower/middle leaves means a nitrogen or magnesium deficiency.

Having fruit on them will definitely slow down the vegetative growth - particularly early in the year when they are smaller plants. Also, could be overwatering causing the yellowing. Not sure about any nutrient issues..

Yep, once a plant starts setting fruit, it normally nearly stops growing completely. It will eventually pick back up but it does suspend growth for a while. That is why many snip those early pods. The yellowing could be a magnesium issue but I would make sure that over watering isn't a cause first.
Bruce

{{gwi:1196273}}
Used this once so far and watered in well.
this hear wave and I think I over watered recently.
May be the problem. They all started forming pepped
when they were fairly small
Gunna hold off on water..
Wish they were bigger.

That Dr. Earth has too much phosphorous for the current state of your plants. I personally would clip those pods and any buds for a while, those peppers are sapping a lot of energy from an already small plant and probably slowing growth. If you want your plants to get bigger and fill out more, clip the blooms for a while, and fertilize with a 5-1-1 like fish fertilizer so the energy is put into plant growth, then switch to a bloom fertilizer with about 7-8 phosphorous when it's filled out more, and cut the nitrogen use to once every 3 weeks.

I attached a photo below of one of my scotch bonnets in a 5 gal pot. I clipped the blooms until it was 12 inches tall and prune all leaves below the first fork and any over 5 inches or so, and it's filling out like crazy with a lot of buds. It's now 16 inches tall and 26 inches across and is covered in blooms, with about 15 young pods. I use fish fertilizer every 3 weeks at 1/4 strength and bloom fertilizer once a week, and it's doing exactly what I was hoping.

Here is a link that might be useful:

That Dr. Earth has too much phosphorous for the current state of your plants. I personally would clip those pods and any buds for a while, those peppers are sapping a lot of energy from an already small plant and probably slowing growth. If you want your plants to get bigger and fill out more, clip the blooms for a while, and fertilize with a 5-1-1 like fish fertilizer so the energy is put into plant growth, then switch to a bloom fertilizer with about 7-8 phosphorous when it's filled out more, and cut the nitrogen use to once every 3 weeks.

Here's a photo of one of my scotch bonnets in a 5 gal pot. I clipped the blooms until it was 12 inches tall and prune all leaves below the first fork and any over 5 inches or so, and it's filling out like crazy with a lot of buds. It's now 16 inches tall and 26 inches across and is covered in blooms, with about 15 young pods. I use fish fertilizer every 3 weeks at 1/4 strength and bloom fertilizer once a week, and it's doing exactly what I was hoping.

Spray the leaves with epsom salt 1 teaspoon per quart sprayer you'll see them green over night. Don't put epsom salt in the soil though. seems like you can give them regular feedings of that Dr earth, more than you are, but you should really have your soil tested.

You can add epsom salt to the soil, but you need to test the pH of your soil before adding anything, because that Dr. Earth is a lot of phosphorous for plants that size if you used it as directed. Phosphorous forms insoluble compounds with Al and Fe in acidic soil and insoluble compounds with Ca and Mg in basic soil. Foliar epsom spray will only add Mg to the leaves, not unlock it in the soil.