How is this for a strategy:

I will feed heavy nitrogen until the plants are about 20 inches tall.
During this time I snip emerging buds. After the plant has grown to height,
I reduce the nitrogen and allow it to set fruit.

I am trying to avoid the mistakes I made last year. Namely my plants were
far too small when the summer heat hit (zone 8b). The buds tended to drop
off on their own. And when the heat went away, the nights were too cool for
them and the fruit never really reached its best. I got some nice, but
small fruit and not much of that.

I want to get as much growth on these and have set fruit before July. June
here is usually pretty reasonable for peppers. My peppers are about 9
inches tall at the moment.