It's an occasionally occurring thing...no one's been able to pin it down, but genetic/environmental conditions are thought to cause it. One thing that seems to be universally recommended, though it doesn't work for everyone/every pepper, is stressing them by withholding water while fruiting. It's not about keeping them barely alive as much as not keeping them lush with water. That said, this is more of an anecdotal thing that "seems to work" for a lot of people more than something that's recommended based on proof. It seems a lot of people have found that capsicum is either concentrated or the plant is stressed into producing more when it's water stressed.

I would suggest 1/4 to 1/2 the recommended strength MG 15-30-15 every 2-4 weeks. Wish that I could give you exact figures, but most or many of us that container grow with artificial fertilizers do it by 'ear' or perhaps 'eyeballing' describes it better. You will learn by experience how to read leaf color etc for how often to fertilize. It is in my opinion much better to err on the side of under-fertilizing. Put in a larger pot to start with. Try to disturb the root system as little as possible. I would go to a one gallon container or at least half that.

I place my pepper seeds on a thick stack of folded toilet paper soaked with water, in a bowl etc. covered with plastic and then put that in a warm place (on top of my computer, on top of the refrigerator etc). I cooked a set of seeds putting them in window light to warm up so I don't do that any more. The longest it took anything to break from the seed was about 8 days, and then another 5 days for seedling emergence after I put them in potting mix. Most good seed sprout in 4-5 days.

The soil itself breaks down slowly and that breakdown is enough for almost all plants. Dry poweder fertilizer is SALT. Salt kills plants. You go ahead and give them plenty of salt for food and watch them die. Organic fertilizers are usually not salt. But all the dry powder ferts are all SALT. A little salty fert can be OK but the salt builds up in the soil. It takes a lot of rain water to wash out the salt. Organic matter breaks down slowly and provides all the nutrients a plant needs that is why weeds grow without fertilizer. Trees grow huge without fertilizer. People are brainwashed by the companies that sell SALT. The politically correct term for SALT is Chemical Fertilizer. I call it SALT to remember what it really is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer Properly applied, organic fertilizers can improve the health, and productivity of soil and plants as they provide different essential nutrients intended to encourage plant growth[citation needed]. Organic nutrients increase the abundance of soil organisms such as mycorrhiza, which aid plants in absorbing nutrients[citation needed]. Chemical fertilizers have long-term adverse impact on the organisms living in soil[citation needed] and a detrimental long term effect on soil Here is a link that might be useful: Fertilizer