I have a 400 watt light above and 4 bushy pepper plants. I have been using one 12watt 630nm on the taller one its about 5ft. and a 655nm 5watt led on the medium sized about 3ft plants canopy. and then i have 2 small pepper plants that look like they belong on the side of the road.they are about 1 foot each. the tops seem to be doing great. but how can i get the bottom growning. Should i prune the bottom leaves or is this bad to do. or maybe use aluminum foil? i dont have mylar and cant afford it. but i do have aluminum foil. is it worth using? its already a white painted closet. will the leds even do anything? also the larger ones seem to be taking forever, but are different strains of pepper. do larger peppers or different strains take longer to flower and produce fruit. and how long should the flower process take for each one? is it plant dependent? or is it the same all around. I was reading in my botany book that plants usually have a flowering life of 12 weeks. I know this is probally the wrong section for this post. but i rarely have time to peruse the site. please dont flame me. I do come here though because you mates are the best around that i have seen. Thanks in Advance. JS.
ive read that pruning the bottom stuff will focus growth on the top. i dont know how much more it would benefit without. i would just add supplemental lighting in the bottom, a few cfls should do nice.
no dont use aluminum foil, it can create hotspots that burn your leaves. If you can't get mylar then just leave the walls white or like the person said above get some cfls down there. im not sure about the LEDs. differents strains of peppers have different flowering times depending on the kind of strain. flowering takes about 8-12 weeks on average. when you change the light schedule each plant goes into flowering.
try finding a pepper guru on a gardening forum. im sure you would have more success in a forum more focused on your topic. i grow my peppers outside so i cant really help anymore than a simple "trim/tuck/tie some foliage or get some supplemental lighting" never did a fruiting vegetable inside...only plants like herbs and spices.