Agree. You really can't compare pepper growth to tomatoes. Peppers prefer much warmer soil and air temps than tomatoes before they really take off. Especially soil temps. That is one reason why many of us don't plant peppers out until 2-3 weeks after tomatoes. They will kick into high gear about the time tomatoes begin to hate the heat and drop their blooms.

Dave

Wow Dave, good stuff. It's taken me ages to realize that I should start my pepper seeds before my tomato seeds. Now your suggestion to plant the peppers later really makes sense too. Especially, when my pepper seedlings are usually so darned small at plant out......

Linda

Ok thanks. It's just that it's reasonably warm right now. Upper 70s and low 80s

70s and 80s are "very warm" to northerners. Not to peppers.

Peppers take a long time to acclimate after planting. Much more important than air temp is soil temp as Dave said. They want it very warm. But that aside, they are just plain slow. Give them time and most importantly leave them alone. They will not tolerate excess fertilizer or water. Unlike tomatoes which want much more of both... they don't make the best of pairings.

I do see those are Bonnie's peppers, and I have had bad luck with them and their eggplants. They tend to be rootbound. And are not varieties suited for Northern climates, but you don't have that problem. But more importantly, were they in peat pots, and did you remove them? They do NOT decompose as advertised.

Except in most places I can think of with USDA plant hardiness zone 9a, soil temps will pretty much always be amenable. Certainly now. Air temps may vary.

Not all that much difference in DTM for most peppers and tomatoes. For the hottest peppers, many of which are 90+ DTM and which are slowest to germinate starting 3 weeks early works best. After 10 weeks those plants are still manageable (only 4-5" high) and the love household day and night temperatures. There is no rush to plant those outside until they are 12 weeks old.

For the smaller fruited peppers and early bells in the 60-70 DTM range start at the same time as tomatoes and keep inside a few weeks longer and you can likely pick peppers at the same date as you would the same DTM tomatoes.

I grew over 2000 pepper plants last year (450 in a high tunnel and 1600 in open field on plastic mulch). Just like tomatoes they thrive best if grown on black plastic mulch that warms the soil. If you want high production peppers you just need to manage them slightly different than tomatoes in some areas- keep them a little warmer, let them dry out a bit more between waterings and intentionally stress the plants to get more fruit set.

Thank you all for your help! (And yes Peter I removed the peat pots)

Peppers, unlike tomatoes, can be stunted with cold temperatures. Anything under 45 degrees can stunt the plants and reduce the potential yield for the year. I use to live in an area where cotton was planted. They are the same way, needing warmer temperatures. Sometimes the farmers would replant the cotton if they had temperatures in the 30's. I have noticed that peppers planted later many times will out produce the earlier planted peppers. Tomatoes are the opposite, the earlier planted will almost always out produce the later planted ones.

That's useful to know, Gary. I am well aware that (non-freezing) cold does NOT stunt tomatoes, though many people will swear that it does. But I was never sure about peppers.