My peppers grew like crazy under LED light, for what that's worth. *Way* faster than my outdoor peppers. That is, until their roots got infested by some bug. :P I pyrethrined, but the plant still continues to lose leaves. It's really sad, and I'm not sure what to do. All of my other plants are fine.

But, back to the lights: The best deal for them is on Ebay.

Have you looked at the leaves closely for aphids or mites? Indoor peppers are very prone to infestations, and will start to drop leaves or experience leaf curl from the infestation.

Sometimes changes in light can also cause the leaves to drop, and soon your pepper will look like a green stick.

Yeah, I haven't treated the leaves -- only the soil, since that's where the bugs were before. I should probably get the leaves, too, just in case, and give the roots another treatment. Perhaps a nice horticultural oil spray on the leaves, or perhaps both horticultural oil and pyrethrin.

Actually, looking around at what can cause these symptoms, and the fact that I had no signs of pests on the leaves, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a nitrogen or magnesium deficiency. The insect stress could have made it worse.

I'll give it some fertilizer and epsom's salt this evening and see how it responds.

After researching the lighting more, I'm thinking that 2 400w HPS would be sufficient to provide enough light for all my peppers.

The question is should I just use 2 HPS bulbs or use 1 HPS and 1 MH bulb. Also are the coolstar ballast any good, I want something that is very reliable. Is there another manufacturer that is better?

Here is where I bought my setup from:
http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47981

Good service,prices,and shipping.I bought the hps grow light system and a ceramic metal halide lamp. The link I provided you is a hps ballast,hps lamp,mh conversion lamp,and hood. As far as what light you need depends on what stage your plants are in mh-vegetative hps-flowering for the most part although alot of people believe plants will benefit from having a mixed spectrum. I was a little worried about using these hoods from htgsupply but they are actually decent hoods for the price. I have mine in a conditioned basement and so far with 2 400 watters I havent had any temp issues. For the most part a ballast is a ballast unless you start talking digital vs. magnetic,alot of manufacturers try to hype their design and whatnot but they all contain the same guts probably from the same manufacturer. Keep up updated.

Thank you for the link. How long have you been running this setup?

Is the ballast hot to the touch? Just curious.

My plants basically are all mature plants that need a little extra light and warmth to make it through the winter. Once it is warm enough again they will be back outside.

Last winter I successfully kept 2 Jalapenos alive through the winter, with no extra light, it wasn't pretty, but they were still alive. I lost a few other peppers during this experiment. For this winter, I want to up my odds and over winter more peppers with a little more added light.

Do NOT bring them in, you will be bringing in all manner of pests that you will NOT be able to control.
Start with seeds, and something like a peat based potting medium, that comes in compressed bales. in canada it's called pro-mix. see the thread the person above you posted growing peppers indoors with lights on 24/7. start your seedlings indoors now, and you will have LOTS AND LOTS of peppers this fall and winter etc forever, instead of plants covered in spider mites and aphids and you will be cursing like H377,
i know because i took cuttings from outside rosebushes indoors in the fall, and every manner of pest has left its eggs on them, which hatched, spread like wildfire, and came close to killing off the whole works many times over. finally when the cuttings went back outside, the natural balance of nature took over, with natural predators to eat the pests, and i have a really nice rose hedge to admire.
Repeat: do NOT take plants in, grow new ones from seed!!!

this will explain how to grow peppers.
thread is in growing under lights forum.

I know all about the aphid and mite problems associated with bringing plants back inside for the winter. It's not that big of a deal bringing them under control. I had 2 jalapenos that are on their second year after being over wintered. Sure the aphids showed up but a few showers took care of them.

Sorry for the delayed response,sometimes I can't remember where I posted to respond. Yes the ballasts do get hot to the touch,it is the design of the ballast that causes it though. They have nice rubber feet on them to isolate them from whatever they are sitting on but good practice is to not set any hid ballast on anything flammable. I have been running the setup for around 3 months I think (getting old). I am very happy with my current setup as far as production goes and temperature control. You would definitely want to look into it further but I believe you can cut a lot of the foliage off the plant and store it in the basement over the winter and set it outside next growing season and it will sprout new growth,once again let me reiterate the need for you to look into this more as I have never done it. Of course if there are flowers or unripe peppers on the plants setting them under hps lights will give them the ability to set/ripen fruit indoors. Keep us updated.