Your homegrown peppers may not be as hot!!

[shayneyasinski]

we all grow hot peppers and we all hope what they produce will be what we read but they most likely will not be as hot .
why????
well alot of what we grow come from parts of the world that we cannot replicate with our indoor grow lights and greenhouses.
I have grown peppers like jalapenos and cayenne that one year were very hot and the next could be eaten with a little ranch in a salad with no heat .
so your dorset naga bla bla whatever seeds may look like there cousins but they may not be as hot as you think.
this year I will be growing alot of superhots and I hope they pack the punch that they should...
have fun

[rainbowberry]

My Cayennes last year had no heat at all and tasted like an uncooked pea.

[Omri]

Well that depends on your growing skills.
I'm sorry to say, but you can't complain that an environment where you can control everything, is not what the plant needs to produce hot pods. :neutral:
Have you ever thought that maybe (but just maybe) the results aren't the same, because your "replication" of conditions is not good enough?

[POTAWIE]

If you want hotter pod than you may need to stress your plant. I leave certain hotties in the greenhouse and let them dry out somewhat and this produces hotter peppers although non stressed peppers are hot enough for me and most people.

[tony05]

grow lights?

[AlabamaJack]

Here in North Texas last summer, we had an extremely wet season (I think it was 5th all time rain fall for the year). I think that too much water kept my peppers from getting really hot. They had fire to them but not what I expected. The hottest one I grew was the Caribbean Red Hab...

[QuebecFire]

I'm pretty shure with the good light, room & fertilizer you can grow hottest pepper than outside ....just imagine how big juicy and hot a pod of naga can be under a 1000w HPS in a aero/ultrasonic grow room :hell:...probably a lot hotter than one in the nature !

[POTAWIE]

Indoors/hydro you can control many variables but nothing beats real sunlight in my opinion.

[Omri]

Indoors/hydro you can control many variables but nothing beats real sunlight in my opinion.
But you can! it won't be cheap, but you sure can. :hell:

[GrumpyBear]

I too am of the opinion that sunlight is best, but with enough money you can come pretty close indoors while controlling other important variables. the only thing is if you don't have that money to spend then you never will get the extra heat out of growing peppers in, say, a canadian environment.
but a naga will never be a jalapeno. this could actually be a reason why we have to keep breeding hotter chile, so that when we grow them at home in our less then perfect conditions what we get still has decent heat.

[Omri]

If you have a lot of money, or maybe you get free electricity (like the Electric Company employees here), Xenon arc is the way to go! :party:
50KW (or even more!) of pure light! just remember to put your sun glasses first. :cool:

[QuebecFire]

Indoors/hydro you can control many variables but nothing beats real sunlight in my opinion.

ok ok not for cheap ...but If you put 10x 1000w (with cool tube)in a room of 4x4x6foot with 1 plant inside the room it will probably beat the sun light !? of course , this is totaly stupid to do it because it will cost you a lot of money and probably burn your house:oops:...but it's just an exemple

...for me the sun is just a source of light and heat so I don't know why you can't beat it with an artificial light ?

[GrumpyBear]

If you have a lot of money, or maybe you get free electricity (like the Electric Company employees here), Xenon arc is the way to go! :party:
50KW (or even more!) of pure light! just remember to put your sun glasses first. :cool:

i have neither of those things...

[Canuk Pepperhead]

Maby I got lucky but my peppers were hotter than store bought even my japs were pretty hot for what they were..

[Omri]

For most pepper plants I think even a 400W/600W (single) bulb would do the trick.

[rainbowberry]

My Cayennes last year had no heat at all and tasted like an uncooked pea.

Well that depends on your growing skills.
I'm sorry to say, but you can't complain that an environment where you can control everything, is not what the plant needs to produce hot pods. :neutral:
Have you ever thought that maybe (but just maybe) the results aren't the same, because your "replication" of conditions is not good enough?
I don't doubt you there Omri at all but it was my first attempt at growing anything (apart from cress on loo roll as a kid) so even to get a pod that tasted like an uncooked pea was an achievement for me last year.

[Omri]

Try and err will get you there, but I'm more of a planning guy.
I believe everything can perfected with detailed plans.

[rainbowberry]

My Habaneros were grown in the same room though and did really well, you'd think Annuums would do better with the summer we had in England last year. I'm still picking ripe peppers off my Hab plants a year later. It's definitely trial and error, more error with the Cayennes last year though.

[Daisy7117]

I've always found that seeds I purchased from a reputable supplier/nursery were as hot or hotter than store varieties. This may be due to the fact that they selectively breed their seed plants, so you are pretty sure you will get something similar to the mother plant. If you buy peppers in a grocery store and try to grow the seed, there is no telling what the mother plant was pollinated with, and you can end up with something entirely different from the mother plant....just speaking from experience.

[GrumpyBear]

well that's just it, stuff that's grown for grocery stores are selected for crop size and reliability not quality. it's the same reason why store bought tomatoes taste like nothing while the ones you grow yourself have actual flavour...

[rainbowberry]

I think also last year it might have just been me, both the cayenne and habanero seeds came from Thompson and Morgan.

[cheezydemon]

I don't buy that logic at all.

As has been stated, a stressed plant will be the hottest, not a happy one. Peppers are likely to be hotter in less than ideal conditions. The logic being that the heat is a defense mechanism. Peppers are just seed protectors.

If the plant percieves that growing conditions are poor, or that it will only have energy to produce a few pods, those pods will be hotter, because they may be the plant's only shot at procreation.

[GrumpyBear]

that's logical, but what we consider 'ideal conditions' for peppers are the ones that give the hotter pods so the pepper plant considers these conditions not ideal - they still grow but protect their peppers with more capsaicin. i guess what we're calling ideal isn't what a typical vegetable grower would call ideal, we're looking for that stress sweet point where the plant still thrives but give the heat. some places clearly provide that 'sweet spot' naturally...

clearly rainbowberry was then too good at providing for her plants.

[Daisy7117]

I agree that the growing conditions play a big part in productivity and quality of fruit....while I do fertilize my tomatoes often, I rarely fertilize or water my chillies and they seem to thrive on these "harsh" conditions...but only to a point, if they start to look unhealthy they obviously are in need of some help (water, fertilizer, insecticide, etc.)

[POTAWIE]

I don't think you should stress a plant intentionally in the growth state, only when pods have formed and only if you want to sacrifice some productivity for extra heat.

[Daisy7117]

I don't think you should stress a plant intentionally in the growth state, only when pods have formed and only if you want to sacrifice some productivity for extra heat.

True, I agree....to be more precise, I start young plants out watering and fertilizing (manure and fish emulsion), use good soil with compost and trace minerals added, careful about pests and disease,...but after bloom and the pods are set...I do cut back a lot with the care...with excellent results...I should also add that I grow most of my peppers in pots in full sun on the hot asphalt...it may be that the extra heat helps them....
Note: I live in the North and what we consider hot up north is not the same as hot down in the Southern states, I am merely trying to provide as much heat as I can.

[lennyk]

it could also be that certain hybrids do not grow true children
this is very common with some produce which have been engineered for consumption like bell peppers, corn etc

[Daisy7117]

it could also be that certain hybrids do not grow true children
this is very common with some produce which have been engineered for consumption like bell peppers, corn etc

Very true, that is why I've gone back to growing heirloom organic varieties of veggies....they are less disease resistant, but they taste better and you pretty much know what you're getting if your looking to save some seeds for next year.

[cheezydemon]

Heirlooms will cross pollinate just as quick! Don't be cocky!

(but I love crosses and mutants anyways)

[POTAWIE]

Cocky? I think Daisy is bang on. Hybrids have no chance of becoming exactly like their parent where heirlooms or open pollinated varieties most likely will.

[Daisy7117]

Heirlooms will cross pollinate just as quick! Don't be cocky!

(but I love crosses and mutants anyways)

Cocky? I think Daisy is bang on. Hybrids have no chance of becoming exactly like their parent where heirlooms or open pollinated varieties most likely will.

*LOL:lol:*--not the first time I've been accused of being cocky!

I agree with you Cheezydemon, on liking the crosses between different varieties of plants...but like Potawie says,...F1 hybrids (I'm talking the genetically engineered hybrids) have great difficulty reproducing the same way mules and hinnies are almost completely sterile offspring of donkeys and horses...the chromosomes that result from these crosses are almost incompatible with the rest of the species (whether we're talking plants or animals)

Genetically engineered hybrids = Bad:hell:

[cheezydemon]

Got you! I thought you meant that Heirlooms were unlikely to cross pollinate somehow.

[Philipperv]

Living in a tropical climate I have found that all I need to do is drop the seeds in and kick back and watch them. At 1st I was babying them and found that I was actually hurting them more than I was helping (i.e. over watering, over fertilizing).

The problem here is that the nice tomatoes, corn, etc. that u guys enjoy won't grow here due to the heat. Omri, do u have that problem where u live? I was just sent some Israeli tomato seeds and 1/2 didn't come up and 1/2 of what did promptly died. Was told that they did well in hot climates but I guess I was misinformed.

[rainbowberry]

Living in a tropical climate I have found that all I need to do is drop the seeds in and kick back and watch them. At 1st I was babying them and found that I was actually hurting them more than I was helping (i.e. over watering, over fertilizing).


I live in England so obviously I haven't got the heat but I did find myself over-watering as soon as it got warm, which was rarely. I usually fertilize once a week no matter what the weather is. But I did really pamper them far too much.

*Love your name, can't quite work out if it's Philip perv or Philippe rv :)

[GrumpyBear]

i like to fertilize 'weakly weekly' but i let the plants get thirsty before watering so sometimes that turns into more than a week. i satisfy my need to dote on them by futzing with the growing setup and talking to them constantly. once the tomatoes and eggplant get started i'm better cuz i can baby them and they like it...

[Pam]

I agree with you Cheezydemon, on liking the crosses between different varieties of plants...but like Potawie says,...F1 hybrids (I'm talking the genetically engineered hybrids) have great difficulty reproducing the same way mules and hinnies are almost completely sterile offspring of donkeys and horses...the chromosomes that result from these crosses are almost incompatible with the rest of the species (whether we're talking plants or animals)

Genetically engineered hybrids = Bad:hell:

F1 does not denote a genetically engineered hybrid, it just denotes a first generation cross between two unlike parents. If a lab jumps fence with a beagle, their pups would be an F1 cross. The pups would certainly be fertile, and the only genetic engineer involved was Mother Nature.

In plants, if I remember correctly, commercial breeders take two fairly homozygous, established varieties and cross them to produce a desired hybrid, the F1 plant. The same cross must be made each year as an F1 cross is not stable. With traits that follow simple Mendelian genetics, the seeds from two F1 plants will usually be about half like the F1 parent, a quarter like one homozygous parent, and a quarter like the other homozygous parent. So, once again, the F1 designation does not mean the plant is sterile or has been genetically engineered beyond a bit of hand pollinating.

There really aren't that many varieties of crops on the market that have been genetically engineered in the truest definition of the phrase. The most famous, or infamous, are crops like Round-up Ready corn and soy beans or BT corn and potatoes. I don't know of any peppers or tomatoes on the market that are true transgenics.

[GrumpyBear]

don't forget canola! we love our canola up here in canada. then on top of that they came up with round-up ready canola. double whammy!

[Philipperv]

*Love your name, can't quite work out if it's Philip perv or Philippe rv :)

Closer to the former. :P

[cheezydemon]

Even unstable natural hybrids are interesting to me. I guess I just like surprises. That must make me an optomist.

[LUCKYDOG]

You sure your not King Moon Racer from Land of Misfit Seeds

[cheezydemon]

......Moonracer......does not compute.....:banghead:

[moyboy]

I am growing some hot peppers in 15 inch pots next to a steel fence and hey get good sun most of the day and then heat radiates off the fence for a few extra hours and these peppers are bigger and hotter that the same variates in the garden getting the same sun. they are all in the same type of soil.

I can only think that the extra heat that the potted plants are getting is helping the heat of the fruit.

I'm sure there are lots of other factors involved but i think my fence theory (Patent Pending :P) is a winner!!!

Cheers

[teh purple penguins]

i've never had a problem out spicing the supermarket or even the local farmers market stand. when i grew some orange habs seranos thais kung pao and cayennes last year they were all hotter than the market

[rainbowberry]

I've always found that whatever type of chilli I've bought from the supermarket has never been that hot. Just one Scotch Bonnet I bought from Tesco was out of this world.

[GrumpyBear]

this is why i started growing chile to begin with. we get exactly three types of pepper in the stores here: hungarian wax, jalapeno, and orange habs. they're usually wilty and the orange habs are so pathetic i can put a half a dozen of them in a stir fry and mom wouldn't mind, mom can barely handle the pickled ginger at sushi restaurants.

[POTAWIE]

Cubanelle peppers are common too. Jalapenos are usually green heatless mush. Thats also why I started growing peppers, and tomatoes.

[teh purple penguins]

that is the reason i continued growing chiles, i thought it would be cool to grow a couple chile plants a few years ago and then i tried going to the market to get some habs when i didn't have the plant anymore and i figured i would only need 1 or 2, and i get home and am bassically just eating the damned thing it was so mild :| safeway grrrr

[Canuk Pepperhead]

This makes me wonder..My carrabian reds were hotter than hell and I loved them but my japs were alot hotter than usual..After all this reading could my japs been cross polinated??Ive never had japs this hot..it was good.Im doing the mix this year so we will see

[POTAWIE]

Cross-pollinating won't make it hotter or different, only the seeds from those pods will create hybrids. Jals from our grocery stores are bred to be mild so most that you grow yourself are going to be hotter.

[Canuk Pepperhead]

Well that awnsers my question thx potawie

[Caustic Casey]

I get my pepper plants (starters) from the same place every Mothers Day-- and they are always hot as hell.
My Tabascos last season were wicked-- Can't wait for the season to begin here in the northeast!!