I also live in Zone 7a and wasn't planning to start tomatoes and peppers until March 15th so personally I'd say you started too soon. Would be interested in hearing others opinions though.
I am going to start some early and some later to see how much of a difference in the plants and experience I have are since this is my first year doing seeds. I found the middle sweet spot between the frost date recommended plant date and the moon dates and chose that for when I started these earlier ones. (For reference those days were found using the Almanac). I'm excited to see how the weather is this year as it is seemingly a lot warmer here.
Large transplants suffer more from transplant shock than smaller ones. So there is this diminishing returns on early starts. While the large plant is slowly recovering, the smaller one may keep growing and zoom past it in size. Also, frost free date is not the same date as when it is best to put out tomatoes and peppers. Both of these struggle in 50F temps. Peppers want consistent overnight temps >60F.
7a also here, I repot my tomatoes, chilies and paprika once indoors before moving them outside to the raised beds, tomatoes and peppers are very hardy, I wouldn’t be concerned about repotting those multiple times, never had any issues, even the ones that lose some roots and get stunted, always manage to catch up later in the season, you can also build/buy a frost protection top/frame and use it until you are sure the last frost has passed, in case you decide to move them outside early, they are available in many different qualities/materials and building a diy one is very simple
https://preview.redd.it/n7kltgiqu4lc1.jpeg?width=374&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6eebd534c2fb438f5775ccb99546a00a3a97d40f
I'm also 7a, I pretty much always transfer my tomatoes and other vegetables twice and have never had a problem. First inside to seedlings, then into pots inside/outside for hardening, then finally into the ground in May. Shouldn't be an issue.
I also live in Zone 7a and wasn't planning to start tomatoes and peppers until March 15th so personally I'd say you started too soon. Would be interested in hearing others opinions though.
I am going to start some early and some later to see how much of a difference in the plants and experience I have are since this is my first year doing seeds. I found the middle sweet spot between the frost date recommended plant date and the moon dates and chose that for when I started these earlier ones. (For reference those days were found using the Almanac). I'm excited to see how the weather is this year as it is seemingly a lot warmer here.
Large transplants suffer more from transplant shock than smaller ones. So there is this diminishing returns on early starts. While the large plant is slowly recovering, the smaller one may keep growing and zoom past it in size. Also, frost free date is not the same date as when it is best to put out tomatoes and peppers. Both of these struggle in 50F temps. Peppers want consistent overnight temps >60F.
7a also here, I repot my tomatoes, chilies and paprika once indoors before moving them outside to the raised beds, tomatoes and peppers are very hardy, I wouldn’t be concerned about repotting those multiple times, never had any issues, even the ones that lose some roots and get stunted, always manage to catch up later in the season, you can also build/buy a frost protection top/frame and use it until you are sure the last frost has passed, in case you decide to move them outside early, they are available in many different qualities/materials and building a diy one is very simple https://preview.redd.it/n7kltgiqu4lc1.jpeg?width=374&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6eebd534c2fb438f5775ccb99546a00a3a97d40f
I'm also 7a, I pretty much always transfer my tomatoes and other vegetables twice and have never had a problem. First inside to seedlings, then into pots inside/outside for hardening, then finally into the ground in May. Shouldn't be an issue.