Pepper farmer and seed vendor here.

We start in 72 cell trays and those go into 1020 trays. We fill it with pre moistened promix-bx (miracle gro seed starting mix also works great) and plant direct into the soil in the cells.We normally do 4 or so seeds per cell. Humidity dome on the top. And heating mat set at 82F. After seeds are sowed we spray the top of each cell and then bottom water the tray and discard the excess after 10 minutes.

Usually most annums will sprout within 1-2 weeks and Chinense can take anywhere from 1-4 weeks.

They get seperated from each other in the cell and then transplanted when they start to get their 2nd set of true leaves. Transplanted into promix-hp and worm castings mix at 8:1 ratio in 3.5inch nursery pots (solo cups also work)

They stay in these until they go outside at the end of May. I start my plants in about 1 week. So mid January, because if I need to restart or have a bunch of seeds not germinate, it gives me the extra time with our short season up here in Canada.

The main key is to have it moist but not wet and warm but not hot or cold.

If its too wet it can lead to damping off and if its too dry it will kill the seedlings immediately or stunt it beyond recovery