zxcvbob wrote:

I grew Chile de Arbol in my garden last year and was not impressed. The
fresh peppers were hot but had very little flavor and the yield wasn't
all that good (yield might be better in the South.) I might as well
just buy dried de arbols. Has anyone tried growing chile japones? Are
they good, or a waste of time?

I used to eat both dried Japanese chilis and
arbol chilis a lot, and I never noticed much
difference except the arbol chilis were longer.
A Hispanic checker where I bought them insisted
arbol chilis are hotter, but I never noticed
that. It is true that the Japanese prefer
mild chilis, and use them mostly for flavor.

I've heard that growing conditions strongly
affect flavor, in particularly hotter conditions
are alleged to result in hotter chilis, but
I've never successfully grown chilis.