Wow lots of interesting stuff here! I think there are multiple issues here, and, since the health of the plants isn't great, I would deal with all possible problems rather than hunt down one specific one. If it were me I would do the following, since doing them would fix any of the most likely problems that you may be having. I would change the mix to a free draining one. I would check the roots, and pot into a container that is only a little larger than the rootball. I would put them in a partially sunny position after the repot until they get used to their new mix and pot. I would then move to a sunny location once things started to settle. I would make sure the room had plenty of humidity with gravel trays or a humidity. I would make sure the room was warm, and provide bottom heat to the pots if possible. I would inspect for bugs. Mites and scale seem the most prolific - possibly mites in your case. Webbing is a telltale sign, and sometimes hard to spot, but not always present. I would treat with Toni's spray regardless (she can tell you the ingredients, or you can search previous posts.) If you do spot bugs, use Toni's spray or a suitable one for fruiting plants from a garden centre. I would water these (after the repot) only when the new medium was closer to dry than damp. In a new medium you won't have to worry so much over watering - if it is the right medium it is unlikely you will overwater unless you go nuts with it. Fertilize only very lightly until the tree is back to health, then feed with a high nitrogen feed every couple of weeks. Citrus bounce back, but they take time. These are not by any means the be all and end all of things you should do, they are merely what I personally would do :) Danny

And ME ! Good description, "I picked 8 recipes I found online and read and reread them, trying to decide which to use. Bobby Flay had a recipe for it, as did Emeril Lagasse. There was one from Saveur and one from Food & Wine Magazine. The rest were touted as authentic, one going so far as to make fun of the additions that chefs have put in their recipes. Ultimately, I decided on a melding of a couple of the authentic recipes." I could say that about everything i search and look up on-line. : ) Probably hundreds of recipes depending on what is available, even the 'authentic' ones are probably based on availability of ingredients. I don't have a favorite combination of flavors. I tend to 'wing it' and often very satisfied. My sister sponsored a Thai refugee when she was working in a camp as a nurse. Helped him immigrate, now in Philly and married with a family. He spent a few years with us at holiday time and made some great dishes using what he could find at local groceries. I learned a bit just watching.

Keep the plants away from an evening night source may help with not attracting the parent moths to lay eggs there. The only way I like seeing a horn worm is when the parasitic wasp gets ahold of them. I plant flowers that attract benificial insects to help me out, that's another possibility to protecting your peppers.

Spraying Tums on the plant is a silly myth. It's food grade calcium carbonate, same as egg shells or limestone, without the sulfate and other impurities. Yes it has calcium but also carbonate, a salt of carbonic acid, and higher land plants have no transporters for bicarbonate (HCO3−) or need for it. (humans and ocean plants do.) So the carbonate dries on the leaves and like dust on house plants, it blocks the stomatal pores of the plant and can't absorb carbon dioxide or expel oxygen. If you want to make your own sprary change the source of calcium to calcium chloride or calcium nitrate. Chloride and nitrate are also salts but the plant can transport and use them. You can crush those tums and add to the soil for the calcium but most causes of BER is from irregular watering especially in container grown tomatoes and a drip irrigation system is the best cure for that.