Leggy floppy chillies

[Ms-T]

Good dont feed them yet ,,but do as the others have said...Need to be potted on and up a good bit on the stem.

[Penellype]

I think as well as the trays being too shallow, the seedlings are too close together and that's why they have gone floppy. They have been spreading out sideways to get better light. I agree they need potting up - I would normally pot up seedlings of peppers, tomatoes etc into individual pots once they have 2 true leaves.

I have never found the trays that come with the grow light gardens to be much use - they are quite shallow and also too big for my purposes. I much prefer using pots so I can sow small numbers of seeds and move things around as required.

How long do you have the lights on for? When I first got my grow light garden I tried to mimic daylight hours, gradually extending the lighting time as the days got longer. This was a mistake because the plants were not getting enough light. I now have my lights on for 14 hours a day (plugged into one of those cheap timers), which mimics good growing conditions. I don't keep them on all the time because that is not what plants get under natural conditions even in mid summer, and it gives them a break from the heat of the lights. I've no idea if this is "correct" but it works for me.

[Scarlet]

It's the pots that came with the growlight. About the depth of seed trays. 2 inches maybe? They do look more shallow in the picture

When your seedlings have a couple of true leaves it's wise to pot them all on in single pots. It's very difficult to get the roots untangled without damaging them when you let them grow on in seed trays. You've got a lot of chillies there and those plants need indoor conditions until after the frosts, probably end of May, a little earlier if you are lucky. This will be the same with other tender plants, tomatoes, beans etc. How much window space have you got to grow them on?

[bario1]

Maybe the leaves have got too heavy for the stems because they are getting so much light? In the growlight garden instructions it says the optimum distance from the plant canopy to the lights is 6cm. Also, some of mine got scorched one day last year and they just stopped growing - most never recovered.

[Chris11]

I would take them out & replant them up to their seed leaves, maybe even up to their first set of true leaves..

That would be good advice for tomatoes, but not chillies or peppers.
Tomatoes can form new roots anywhere up the stem, chillies and peppers can only do so up to the level of the seed leaves.
Agreed with other people about needing deeper pots, and planting up to level of just below seed leaves. Any deeper and you're risking the stems rotting.