Scotts is what gave me some of the weird random objects in the soil. Had a candy wrapper and a package from some off-brand fruit snacks in one of my bags of soil. Pretty certain it wasn't compost material...
But yea, seeds do have a tendency to wind up in the weirdest spots. Had sunflowers...
As the others said, pick the fruits off and repot. It may not get as tall but it'll surely bush out nicely and give you a much better yeild in the long run.
Soil would also be my first guess. Is the soil very heavy? Does it cake up when wet? And the buckets don't look filled very much, especially with 2 inches of rocks on the bottom.
If the soil's too thick or wet, it'll cause lotsa issues.
There's a good many ant killer solutions and sprays and whatnot.
Another option is that you can always bake the soil. That usually kills most eggs and seeds of any weeds that get in there. On a hot day you can use foil or reflective material to focus the heat on soil and get it nice and hot...
Got my first pepper coming in. Off the same plant that started last week and just dropped off. It's one of my mystery plants but it looks like it'll be either an Indian PC or Chili D'arbol.
My bhut jolokia is continuing to respond well to the new, less-waterlogged soil. As are all the other...
Yep mine are staying outside too. It's bad enough hauling them during possible hailstorms, they can handle a night in the 40's. And with how wrong the forecasts have been, it might not even get that low.
Don't give up on em! They may fight back. I had quite a few get demolished in rain and wind, but they're still fighting and have come back pretty strong.
I've crushed a few this year... on accident.. All but 1 has come back strong. They're a little shorter though.. If you break the stem, they'll bush out more so long as you don't go overkill on it.