Peppers for this year for sowed 21.5, almost the same date (20.5) as last year. Besides annuum I have also about 5 row meters of baccatum. I didn’t want to waste that much space before I have better idea of the feasibility. They are just that much slower that it might make the difference between getting seeds if the weather isn’t favourable. I do have some baccatum and praetermissum that I got from @polarca that I will have in pots so even in the worst case I should be able to make some crosses using the strongest plants. Of the annuum about half is from last years direct sown, quater half wilds or quater wilds and last quater is mix of F2s from last years F1 grow-out. Last summer was quite average so I’m quite confident that at least some annuums will make viable seeds this summer also, but it’s far from certain. Besides these I have also some plants from transplants and a very small trial (1-3 mature plants) of direct sowing eggplants the same way instead of using clear plastic like my main eggplant trial. This just to see how much difference it makes and if it’s viable in the future. Similarly I have a small patch of peppers with tomatoes just to see how they fare. Failures teach you much more than successes.
I’d say this has potential!
Yes, I think so too. Last year there weren’t any significant outliers, but one can hope. At least got to select the fastest of the fastest.
Both annuums and baccatums had emerged a couple of days ago. Didn’t take significantly longer than last year dispite coolish weather for them. Cloth and biofilm does help more in cool than in warm weather. Seems like baccatums don’t need any more heat to germinate compared to annuums. If anything, baccatums might have been a little better, but they were mostly one mix whereas annuums were different mixes sown different amounts. Some also probably had high amount of inviable seeds coming from last years direct sown trial. Overall looks better spread than last year and probably not going to be any larger empty stretches.
All that is encouraging. 
That is my impression too as I’ve sown some of your Capsicum a while ago in an unheated greenhouse and I sow the baccatums jumping all around when the annuum were growing slowly. Now in the fields the Baccatum grow strongly as some my most vigorous physalis: the floridana and the probably-not-viscosa strains I got, which are super fast growing and luxuriant compared to the usual pruinosas (reference of the discussion relative to those physalis is here).
Just realized that it might also be similar case to eggplants. They are generally faster than peppers, but temperature evens out the differences. I still don’t think baccatums heat requirement is much more than annuums (unlike in chinense), but there still might be some once you get closer to limits. Last year baccatum transplans seemed more vigorous and had healthier looking growth, but annuums in general were faster. Partially it’s different growth habbit, annuums being bred more to produce and baccatums still closer to old “landraces”. That might be reason why they were more vigorous after transplanting; they still have good rooting genes. I suspect that part of the problem with annuums is that they are bred to be rootbound in many cases. In tomatoes it seems that there were some more vigorous rooting right in the F2 generation. Still the roots weren’t anything compared to habrochaites crosses at the end of season. Vigour from transplant was also next level. Maybe there is something like that to be found in wild chilies as well.
Also the ones I sowed as an experiment to bare ground have emerged. Quite well compared to the ones with biofilm and cloth. They took some 30-40% longer, but that should even out the later in the season we get. My experience/estimation is that black mulch and cloth both speed up the growth about a week or a little less depending on the weather, crop and how long cloth is kept on. So these could start to flower in early august. To make viable seeds with some certainty they should flower in july so it’s close, but no sigar. I can still use them to make crosses to wilds in the pots. It’s also a learning experience. Peppers I haven’t seen volunteer like other solanecea even if they could. I suppose not many fruits fall to ground as with those others.
Look at those weeds. They are still so tiny. It’s a testament to how tough the conditions have been.
I’m now starting to learn that with peppers it’s better to give small seedlings some water even if it rains some. It’s not that there isn’t moisture, but it’s a little deeper down. The row on the side seems to be the most moist, hence more weeds, but also slightly better growth on average. If my season was long enough loosing a little time early on wouldn’t matter, but with how much time/heat they currently need I can’t loose any days so I’ll have to make a routine of it in the future. Now I gave them a little water and will give every few days until they can access moisture deep down more easily.
As expected they are behind from last year, but might not be as much as I initially thought. Really hard to compare sizes at this stage. I think they are at most a week behind at this point compared to last year, but it’s likely to be a little less. Also probably not as much as days in the early season aren’t equal to late season when conditions are better for growth. Also last year I removed cloth at the end of june and I can keep it on to maybe catch up a little bit. I’m not too worried. It’s just this time of the year when everything seems to be moving so slow. Granted it’s not as warm as it could be, but with the cloth temperatures should be sufficient for not to cause major delays.
Baccatums continue to surprise. Biggest are just making their 3th true leaves and look to be a little more developed than biggest annuums. I did notice last year that baccatum transplants were much faster to recover from the planting and the reason might be that they still have better rooting. This would make sense as they have not been bred to be grown comercially in limited rooting spaces like annuums. As far as I know, most were until very recently grown by direct sowing and probably still are in their native ranges. I had them in the driest part and so there was quite a variance depending on the spot. Still they looked more advanved compared to annuums in the same and adjacent row.
Some of the best baccatum.
