Well, I believe I have figured out what happened. In between sowing my Keystone Giants and my Cali Wonders (separate containers), I left the room for a moment, and my son (3 years old) got into my starter mix and my seeds. He had made a huge mess with the seed starting mix, putting it everywhere. Either I had spilled a few cabbage seeds when I sowed them (just before the Keystone Giants), or he spilled some of them. Anyway, I scooped up the spilled mix, and put it back in the bag, then I used the mix to sow my Cali's. I must have put most of the spilled seeds into the container with the Cali's. And 4 days later, they started sprouting. I didn't notice how similar the seedlings for my cabbage and "peppers". The first leaves of many plants look very similar. I wasn't studying them, I was just excited that my "peppers" were up. I didn't think that anything was wrong. Anyway, I just looked at my cabbage and my "peppers" and I couldn't tell them apart, without the labels. Well, I guess it's because they are the same. I will be able to really tell very soon. I am putting the "peppers" into my cold frame and letting them go. If they can survive, as the cabbage should, they should start to get very cabbagy.

Are you sure they aren't "Flea Beetles?" They act / look a lot like flees (jump all over the place etc), but they do love plants - specially egg plants. I had some on my peppers last year, but wasn't infested so they really didn't do much damage. But if you have a heavy population, they can riddle the leaves with holes. If you do a search for flea beetles you will see many discussions surrounding controlling the population (and I believe "GardenSafe" is one of them, but can't remember off the top of my head).

The "white" peppers (those that are cream colored when immature) are very high yielders, but hard to ripen. "Alma Paprika" (mentioned earlier in the thread) is one of those, as is "Feyer Ozon". Both are very compact plants that bear heavily. I've also grown several high-yielding European varieties, "Suptol" and "Taltos". The photo below is of a single plant of "Taltos", pulled just before frost & stripped of leaves: With some reservations, I agree with those that recommend "Cubanelle". It has very large peppers (some 7-8" long) and is incredibly high yielding. So high yielding, in fact, that it requires support to keep the peppers from pulling the plant over, and they are packed in so tightly together that it is hard to pick one without damaging others. Rot can be a problem too, and because it starts from the inside, the peppers might appear normal (for a time) until they are cut open. I've been trying to save seed this year, and it has been frustrating to see so many full-grown peppers begin to change color, only to suddenly turn to mush. To get the full benefit of the huge yield, I recommend picking them green. While I have not grown "Carmen" personally, a gardening friend does, and her plants are loaded, with many ripe. "Sweet Chocolate" (not to be confused with "Chocolate Bell") has elongated bell-like peppers. They tolerate cooler weather, the yield per plant can be huge, and they ripen quickly to a brick red/brown. Thinner walls than a bell though, more like a frying pepper. This one too requires support, otherwise the high pod yield will pull the plant over, or break branches. One of my favorites is another European variety, "Elephant Ear". It has conical peppers 6-8" long that resemble the "Giant Marconi" above, but wider at the shoulder & tapering to a point. The walls are as thick as bells, and the average weight this year has been over 5 ounces per pepper. This has not been a great year for peppers here, but about half of the "Elephant Ear" peppers have ripened, and most of the rest are changing color. I am getting about 8-10 peppers per plant. But for fresh eating & great salsa, I like the "cheese" peppers. They are pumpkin shaped, have very thick walls, and ripen earlier than most bells. "Tennessee Cheese" ripens early, and has a pretty good yield of 2 1/2" wide peppers that are deep red when mature. The walls are often over 1/4" thick, and have less juice than most peppers, so they don't turn to mush when chopped... one of my favorites for adding body to canned salsa. "Greygo" is probably the largest cheese pepper, 4" wide X 2" deep, and average 4 ounces or better. This is my favorite ripe pepper, DW & I eat them like apples... delicious. While the OP is about sweet peppers, even some hot peppers can be sweet under some conditions. That is the case for "Pizza Pepper", from Territorial. The plants are loaded with very large jalapeno-like peppers, 3-4" long & up to 2" wide, with walls nearly 1/4" thick. They can be spicy if harvested during warm weather. When it gets cool though, especially close to frost, most of the immature peppers become almost completely sweet, with a very crunchy texture. Harvested under those conditions, this is my favorite pepper for fresh eating, truly gourmet quality. They also have remarkable storage qualities; I keep them in buckets in an unheated garage for a month with few losses, and in the refrigerator for two months. Over the Labor Day weekend, I visited Heritage Farm (SSE's Iowa headquarters) and walked through most of their trials & preservation gardens. The pepper plot was really interesting - it was how I discovered some of the European peppers that I grow in years past. Saw some great prospects for the future, including "Melrose", a frying pepper sold by several companies. The plants were loaded with 5" long X 1.5" wide peppers tapering to a point, very deep red when mature. It was the last days of August, and not only were nearly all of those peppers ripe, they were shriveling & drying on the plant!!! Early, heavy bearing... looks to be worth trying.

Thanks for taking a look at the pics, y'all. The dark-purple/blackish fruits are not mature, so I don't know if / how much they're stunted. They're actually still growing, even though they're that color. I may have been a little too harsh about the description of their softness. I was comparing them to the one I have that's almost ripe. ( My first time growing peppers, if you couldn't tell. :) When I compare their firmness to other ones around the same growth size but the shiny green, their softness is about the same. I have been feeding them nutrients with every watering. I water them about every 3rd day. Any longer and the leaves would start to wilt. Been basically following the Fox Farm nutrient schedule. I've also been adjusting the pH of their water and nutrient solution to roughly 6.5. Temperature with the lights on gets to just above 80F during the day. At night, it gets down to about 70 to 74F. Ceiling fan on high constantly circulating air in the room 24x7. My jalapenos are doing great indoors, and my ghost pepper plants are extremely hard to pollinate indoors, but otherwise healthy. Out of tons of blooms, I've only got 3 ghost peppers growing on 2 good-sized plants. I've been manually doing the work of the birds and the bees with cotton swabs, a soft-bristle paintbrush, and even the metal tip of an electric toothbrush. Worked 3 times and now I don't know what the magic was that made it work for them and none of the others. Thanks again! David