Sounds more like inadequate light with sparse info given. But if you must, repotting might help.

Dan

They are in the basement getting 16 hours under the floressence lights per day.

Soil, heat, light, water... I know last year when i had up my greenhouse, my seedlings did awesome. Not so much this year. We also had a much warmer spring so maybe that was it.

How close are the lights to the top of the plants?

Along with greg's question, what is the temp in the basement?

Dan

They would look like a 6" thread if it was a light issue. It's probably too cold but I don't see how they germinated if so. Possibly a combination of both?

The top of the plants are about 2 inches from the lights. I germinated them under heat mats upstairs (air temp of 68deg) and then when they germinated, I took them into the basement and put under lights. I would say it is 60 degrees in the basement.

Do you think I should put them back on the heat mat?

I thought seedlings do better when they are exposed to cooler temps?

Should I pot them up and bury their stems?

No they don't need a heat mat. 60 is fine. You can pot them up and bury the stem. We really need to figure out what's wrong with them though.
Mine are just over 4 weeks and some have 7 sets of true leaves. Our conditions are similar also.

What kind of soil did you use?

Poor seeds, maybe?

I used Jiffy Seed Starting Mix. I have not fertilized. Would this be the problem? I didnt fert b/c I was going to wait until the first set of true leaves appear.

No fert needed until the cotyledons dry up and fall off.

Pictures please!!

Mine are at ~4 weeks and much larger as well. I make my own potting soil so can't speak to commercial mixture.

Dan

When you say 4 weeks, is that 4 weeks from the time you planted the seeds? If so, how long did it take them to germinate?

It sounds like you've done everything right at least close enough. In my experience seedlings that manage to only grow up as runts never really do well in the long run.

I think I'd restart the tomatoes and maybe bite the bullet and buy peppers from a nursery. I'm not saying the peppers won't come back but they'll probably never thrive.

Give them fertilizer and give them some sunshine if possible. As far as repotting I think I'd tap a few of them out and see what the roots look like first.

Greg

thats a little weird. sounds like they are being taken care of! by are under the same conditions as you(in garage about 60 degrees F, heat mat on until about week after germination, 14-16 hours of light), they are now 2 months old and almost a foot tall. It may not be your fault, if they dont do well just try again! last year my peppers grew about 1 inch and never grew anymore(they were 1 inch at about 4 months old!!!!), but this year i started some again and they seem to be doing alot better!

So I decided to repot my peppers and tomatoes last night since most of them now have tiny true leaves. Most of the seedlings had 5 inch roots sticking out of the bottom of the peat pots!!!!!!! I am assuming this was the problem. I hope they make it. I transplanted into solo cups with potting mix and it them with a little fish fertilizer.