Ladylotus, I planted mine in June and they are only about 4" tall as well. I've only been using natural light though so that could be part of the problem. I know a lot of people use artificial and theirs start blooming in no time.

i have no problem deferring on z6 planting times .... but that was not my real point .... i am picturing this tree.. smaller than a pencil ... and how you protect them in 8 separate locations around the garden .... my point was .. all grouped together.. protection is easy .... and then there is the winter dryness ... if applicable... can you keep these SIX INCH BABES properly watered all winter long???? ... or would they be better protected otherwise .... are you z6'ers ... suggesting that a 6 month old.. 6 inch tree.. is equivalent to a pot grown or ball and burlap.. tree of say 3 to 5 years old .... 3 to 5 feet tall ... ???? though i usually lecture peeps that plants are not their babies ... in this case.. THESE ARE LITERALLY BABIES ... and i will stick to protecting them .. this winter ... if you plant .. get rid of any media.. bare root and plant in native soil .... do you have snow cover all winter????? good luck ken ps: best solution.. experiment .... plant 4 .. store 4 .... see what happens ....

Except in rare circumstances, I don't prune peppers unless I am planning on bringing them inside to over winter since my climate won't support perennial growing outdoors. If you have a temperate climate year round, then you probably don't want to do much pruning. I am not sure what the climate in the Philippines is like though. Bruce

I agree that the problem is that you transplanted too early. Tomatoes are tropical plants. I actually had one seedling that did the same thing this year! It wasn't dying, but it just wouldn't grow. It was given to me by a friend several weeks before I planted outside and it got dry a few times. It is growing now but I don't very much expect it to recover all that well. Tomatoes aren't very resilient in my experience. I have heavy clay soil down here and it is really fertile stuff - I had a tomato plant that nearly ate Dallas a few years ago! (you know, the kind that has you looking for unlocked cars in the parking lot at work so you can unload tomatoes onto unsuspecting coworkers!). I wouldn't use fertilizer myself, but it sounds to me like you may be way over-fertilizing them. The best thing you can do is amend the soil with compost. Even side-dressing with compost or watering with compost tea (compost mixed into a bucket of water and allowed to sit for a couple of days), tomatoes love that.