We have no idea where you are, what kind of soil/conditions you have them growing in, or what fertilizer you've applied. Also, we have no idea what you mean when you say "they're not growing very well". If you want some help here, you're going to have to be more specific.

We are zone 6b. We started them indoors and they were slow to come up but seemed to do well once they did. Transplanted them into our garden. I fertilized with a 12-12-12 before planting in the spring and hit them with some miracle grow all purpose food once planted. They get good sun in the morning and evenings, during mid day they are covered by an oak tree. It has been hot for Missouri but they seem stunted since I put them outside. They have been outside since the first week of May. My thought is I maybe giving them too much water. I do have a couple of store bought sweet peppers in a different section of the garden that are doing well. Those are in a raised mound. Hope this helps you a little more. Thank you

Thank you. First of all peppers germinate very slowly. That's just what they do. But I'm not sure I understand what you mean by stunted. Compared to what? The plants are short? The leaves are abnormally small? They've been outside in for a month and a half, so I'd like to believe they're a foot or two tall. But be aware that peppers grow very slowly until it warms up a lot. You compare them to "store bought sweet pepper" plants, but you haven't told us what kind of peppers you're finding to be "stunted". Are they some unusual kind of pepper? Chili peppers grow into smaller plants than sweet bells.

We have maybe 40 plants. Cayenne, jalapeno, bell and banana. Maybe four out of the forty are doing well (maybe a foot tall) The others aren't even close to that, half a foot maybe. A few blossoms. It's been very hot the past couple weeks. (90s / heat index into the 100s) They're green / no signs of a virus/bug/bacteria but just look the same height as they did a few weeks ago. Leaves seem correct size given the overall plant size.

Are you perhaps comparing hot pepper plants to sweets? Very different growth patterns in many varieties of both and hot pepper plants are often smaller than sweets.

Watering with peppers can often be an issue as they prefer much less water than many other plants and rather than the consistent soil moisture levels preferred by say tomatoes, peppers prefer to dry out between waterings.

In your poor drainage area have you noticed the plants dropping their leaves? If so then I find that is always a sign of too wet soil either from poor drainage or too frequent watering. Even if not dropping you may still have a root development issue if the soil stays wet for too long. The only solution in poor drainage areas is to cut way back on the frequency.

Feeding with peppers also differs from many other plants as they don't need or want lots of N but they do need and use extra P and K so you might want to look into a feeding of something in the 0-5-5 +/- range.

Since plants in the other part of the garden seem to be doing well I'd be inclined to bet it is the drainage that is the issue. Something as simple as only watering them every other time you water the rest may be enough. Or you can always let the questionable ones go until they begin to wilt and only water them then. That would give you a good indication of how often they actually need it.

And don't fixate too much on the hot temps. What is uncomfortable temps for us is heaven for pepper plants. They won't set fruit but they will grow in that heat.

Dave

PS: if you'd go to your Profile page here and fill it out including your zone and location then that info will be automatically provided every time you post just as it is with the rest of us. :-)

Thanks, we're going to adjust/cut back the watering schedule (which was the initial thought) . The cayenne peppers are the only, so far, that show fruit.