Why are peppers small?

I see that I've posted two messages about small plants and one about disappointing tomatoes. Here's the fertilizer history of my garden. Every two years it gets a good spreading of rotted cow manure. Every year it gets a hand tossed spread of rock phosphate and greensand. The plot that produced the small pepper and large cored tomato get a dose of pig manure in 2008. We won't do that again. Way too much nitrogen. Huge leaves in 2009. But in 2010 things seemed back to normal. In addition I give each veggie seedling a tablespoon of Osmocote, for insurance.

Weather was unremarkable after the summer got going. Freezes that I mentioned in another post in May and June didn't affect pepper plants. Probably happened before they were planted.

So why the stunted peppers?

TIA
LAS

what kind of peppers are they?? i have no answer for you but i am sure someone will come along to hell you out.

Have you grown bell peppers in your area successfully before? All peppers require a long season, and prefer warmth, especially the bells. They also do not require a super enriched soil as that will give you all leaf and no pepper. Slow release ferts on peppers grown in even moderately decent soil have, if anything, a negative impact. I have swapped seed with another Maine gardener here who grew my Marconi types (the long thin ones) with good results after not having success with bells. I'd suggest you try those.
Laurel

What type of pepper seed/plant did you use? Asking because I grow a Red Marconi and a sweet Cherry red. Both are smaller pickling peppers that are small, very similar to yours.

Another thought would be where you acquired the seed? Peppers are noted for crossing if not grown separately.

If these seed were shared by someone, it is possible the seed was crosspollinated with another pepper. In the past, I have also purchased ebay seed and found unusual pepper crosses so even a purchase from a private seller could be a possible cross.

Just a couple of thoughts.... pod

I grow bell peppers, hundreds of them. At first, the bell peppers are large. As the plants get older and are loaded with peppers, the bells get smaller. To get larger size from the bells, we thin the peppers. Peppers need ample water when forming or the fruit will be small. I grow Carmen most of the time. It is a nice size without being huge.
When I plant peppers the beds are first given a layer of compost, are fed with kelp, cottonseed and alfalfa meal, a light dusting of greensand and dry molasses.
Also cyclamen or spider mites will cause the peppers to be smaller and deformed.

I bought the peppers as seedlings, not seeds, and I wouldn't have bought any that didn't seem to be large. None were Marconi. But it is something to think about. I was interested in the observation that slow release fertilizers can do more harm than good. MaypopLaurel, do you know why that is?

LAS (Laurel :-) )

LAS14, a couple of the Itialian peppers are meant to be small. Christmas pepper comes to mind: http://growitalian.com/Qstore/Qstore.cgi?CMD=011&PROD=000079

I grow this one and use it on salads as well as pickling.

Do you think maybe you got ahold of an Italian pickling pepper? Maybe?

We grow, can and freeze a dozen or so revolving pepper varieties each year, and probably over a hundred plants, in our kitchen garden. Based on our 30 plus years of experience and research, peppers do not like an overly rich soil, especially one high in nitrogen, which delays flowering and reduces production. General soil conditioning done at the beginning of the season and perhaps a light side dressing for those with a long season should be adequate. Spacing experiments, both ours and those in the literature, have shown that peppers can be planted twelve to fifteen inches apart. Greater distance does not improve yield nor pepper size but does increase risk of sun scald. I plant staggered rows, four plants wide so the plants touch by late June. I have posted before that we no longer grow bells because yields are generally lower per plant and the plants are more disease prone in our garden. Marconis seem more robust and prolific. Cyndiehook, another Maine DGer grew them at my suggestion and was pleased. We often have four foot plants that go 'til freeze and have caged them when the stakes start to buckle. :) I grow my peppers from seed and am a seed saver. Still, I think in your cool, short season climate peppers are going to be more of a challenge than for those in warmer zones regardless of well intended advice. As an added note, most people don't know they can drop pepper transplants two to four inches below the root ball when planting for a more robust plant. If you do this make sure they go straight down and not on their side the way tomatoes are planted.
Good luck.
Laurel