if they were seeking water I would expect them to go down, not up into the air! No idea why they would grow upward - can't say I've run into that.
Tuck them back under the soil and see what happens.
Just to stir up the mess even more: I visited an Indian grocery yesterday and almost all of the hot peppers (dried and powdered) were called "chillis".
In the end, though, as long as we all know what we're talking about, it's good with me.
But it's still chileE 🤪
NMSU is one place I would trust more than most on this subject - it's the home of the Chile Pepper Institute and they take chile very seriously around there.
Well, keep in mind that peppers are from Central America so I doubt you get that warm! Also they grow quite well in places like Southern California, New Mexico, etc.
6 hours would be the minimum amount of direct sun for best results. Mine get up to 13-14 hours on sunny days depending on season...
I have too many to harden (until I finally get the hoop house functioning) so I've never done it. Guess I've been lucky - can't say NO losses but never much loss.
Might be worth trying an experiment to compare how well they do post-transplant with and without though.
The spelling "chile" is entered into the 1983 congressional record by a New Mexico senator. Granted he was specifically referring to NM chiles, but that's my heritage so I'm sticking by it. The other spellings refer to the stew made from chiles. Or people who don't know chile. :)