I need some advice for next year. I grew Jalapeno, Thai, Cayenne and 1 other
hot pepper from Sarawak. None of them are spicy. They are growing fine,
ranging from 16" to 24" tall with plenty of fruit. I grow them in raised
beds, use alpaca poop fertilizer, consistently water them.

It's too late for this year. I want to investigate and prepare for next
year. I don't know what I did wrong, but my assumption is the soil is
broken. Either missing some nutrient, maybe the Ph is incorrect or something
else? I'd appreciate any advice on how/what to investigate. Any pointers to
good website on how to grow peppers?

thanks,
Mike
Portland, OR

In "Mike Cormack" writes:

I grow them in raised beds, use alpaca poop fertilizer, consistently
water them.

Peppers often need to be stressed to get good levels of heat. Let them
wilt before you water them next time.

Regards,
Greg

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I've read repeatedly that lots of moisture waters down flavor in many
fruits, vegeatables and herbs. Specifically for peppers, it reduces
heat. So the same variety grown in Mexico will be hotter than when
grown in Portland. Back off on watering significantly. Wait longer,
let the ground dry out, not just at the top but stick your finger in
the soil and see if it is drying out at the roots. To compensate for
higher moisture in your region you may want to shop around for the
hotter seeds.

I'm in the northeast where we had near record rains for May and June.
I grew cayenne anaheim and jalapeno for the first time. They were all
nameless varieties. The first cayennes of the season were really mild
(I always scrap the seeds out). The jalapenos (eaten with seeds and
pulp in) were firey hot, too hot for me! Way hotter than the
cayennes. Now my recent cayennes seem hotter. Maybe they benefitted by
growing significantly after the wet spring. My anaheims were totally
heatless. Next year I'm skipping the cayennes and going for 2-3x as
many jalapenos. Although I'd like a milder jalapeno and a spicier
anaheim.

"Mike Cormack" wrote:

I need some advice for next year. I grew Jalapeno, Thai, Cayenne and 1 other
hot pepper from Sarawak. None of them are spicy. They are growing fine,
ranging from 16" to 24" tall with plenty of fruit. I grow them in raised
beds, use alpaca poop fertilizer, consistently water them.

It's too late for this year. I want to investigate and prepare for next
year. I don't know what I did wrong, but my assumption is the soil is
broken. Either missing some nutrient, maybe the Ph is incorrect or something
else? I'd appreciate any advice on how/what to investigate. Any pointers to
good website on how to grow peppers?

thanks,
Mike
Portland, OR


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
1st Year Gardener

In our last fun filled episode, Fri, 12 Sep 2003 07:52:42 -0700,
"Mike Cormack" proclaimed:

I need some advice for next year. I grew Jalapeno, Thai, Cayenne and 1 other
hot pepper from Sarawak. None of them are spicy. They are growing fine,
ranging from 16" to 24" tall with plenty of fruit. I grow them in raised
beds, use alpaca poop fertilizer, consistently water them.

It's too late for this year. I want to investigate and prepare for next
year. I don't know what I did wrong, but my assumption is the soil is
broken.

If your plants are healthy and producing peppers, there is
nothing wrong with the soil. As a couple of people have
already pointed out, the problem is more likely over-watering.
It could also be that you're harvesting them too early, let
a few get red if you haven't tried that already. And lastly,
consider that there are scads of varieties of jalapeno and
Cayenne peppers. (Thai peppers are just a variety of Cayenne.)
The heat range goes from no heat all to pretty darn fiery. You
might want to spend a little time investigating different pepper
varieties before you plant next year.

I planted 4 Fish peppers this year, to give you an example of
what too much water can do. They're an African-American
jalapeno-type heirloom from the Chesapeake Bay area. The early
peppers off all four plants were pretty wimpy, but I'm in what
has, this year, been the Eastern Monsoon belt. Then it suddenly
turned into a tradition Southern August around here. Hot, hot,
hot, and the rain dried up for a few weeks. Suddenly my Fish
peppers are something to brag about, nice and hot and yummy!


Pam







--
"Maybe you'd like to ask the Wizard for a heart."
"ElissaAnn"

I put in 3 jalapeno plants this year which came out very tasty and
plenty hot. I have to say that watering them too much does not dilute
the taste cause I'm growing in a hydroponic system and I run my pumps
24/7. The chiles are still on the plants and are ripening to a deep
red.

It's the membrane inside where the seeds are attached that give the
pepper heat, not the seeds and not the skin. I think you may have
picked up some milder version of jalapeno, or maybe just bad seed with
no good genes.

For a real tasty wonderfully hot variety maybe you could try "Fresno"
chiles. When they ripen a beautiful red they are one of the best
varieties around, but the seeds may be difficult to find.


On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 07:52:42 -0700, "Mike Cormack"
wrote:

I need some advice for next year. I grew Jalapeno, Thai, Cayenne and 1 other
hot pepper from Sarawak. None of them are spicy. They are growing fine,
ranging from 16" to 24" tall with plenty of fruit. I grow them in raised
beds, use alpaca poop fertilizer, consistently water them.

It's too late for this year. I want to investigate and prepare for next
year. I don't know what I did wrong, but my assumption is the soil is
broken. Either missing some nutrient, maybe the Ph is incorrect or something
else? I'd appreciate any advice on how/what to investigate. Any pointers to
good website on how to grow peppers?

thanks,
Mike
Portland, OR

Edward Roberts wrote:

I put in 3 jalapeno plants this year which came out very tasty and
plenty hot. I have to say that watering them too much does not dilute
the taste cause I'm growing in a hydroponic system and I run my pumps
24/7. The chiles are still on the plants and are ripening to a deep
red.
Well I've got to assume that hydroponics isn't simply sticking a plant
in a jar of water, so I would say there is a significant difference
between overwatering a plant which can increase likelyhood of molds,
disease and be inappropriate medium for some plants and running your
pump 24/7.

Overly wet soil can reduce the amount of air available for the root to
breath. It can also flush out nutrients. A plant that experiences the
stress of a drought is going to undergo something slightly different
than one with abundant water. That is where the difference likely is.
I believe it affects many things in ways science simply hasn't
bothered to explore appropriately. An interesting example is a friend
who is raises honey bees. One year the honey came out incredibly light
colored and better tasting than previous years/or since. That year had
a big drought during the spring and summer. Since the hives had been
there for years nothing around had significantly changed. I think the
stress on the plants caused changes in the nectar gathered by the bees
and showed up in the resultant honey. WHie there are always unseen
factors and many changing variables, it would make sense that watering
is going to affect fruit production in size, flavor and other factors.

It's the membrane inside where the seeds are attached that give the
pepper heat, not the seeds and not the skin. I think you may have
picked up some milder version of jalapeno, or maybe just bad seed with
no good genes.

For a real tasty wonderfully hot variety maybe you could try "Fresno"
chiles. When they ripen a beautiful red they are one of the best
varieties around, but the seeds may be difficult to find.


On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 07:52:42 -0700, "Mike Cormack"
wrote:

I need some advice for next year. I grew Jalapeno, Thai, Cayenne and 1 other
hot pepper from Sarawak. None of them are spicy. They are growing fine,
ranging from 16" to 24" tall with plenty of fruit. I grow them in raised
beds, use alpaca poop fertilizer, consistently water them.

It's too late for this year. I want to investigate and prepare for next
year. I don't know what I did wrong, but my assumption is the soil is
broken. Either missing some nutrient, maybe the Ph is incorrect or something
else? I'd appreciate any advice on how/what to investigate. Any pointers to
good website on how to grow peppers?

thanks,
Mike
Portland, OR


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
1st Year Gardener

how many varieties of peppers & how close to each other. the reason i
ask is that 1 year i grew sweet and hot next to each other and ended up
with hot sweet and sweet hot , i suspect they may have cross pollenated
(if there is such a happening) anybody recall stuff of this nature?

(Carol Hill) wrote:

how many varieties of peppers & how close to each other. the reason i
ask is that 1 year i grew sweet and hot next to each other and ended up
with hot sweet and sweet hot , i suspect they may have cross pollenated
(if there is such a happening) anybody recall stuff of this nature?

I grew three varieties on one trough container. They grew into
eachother. Jalapeno - Anaheim - Cayenne. THe Jalapeno were fiery hot,
the anaheim were nothing, and the cayennes were not as hot as
expected. I think the jalapenos were just about as hot. Although I let
the cayenne ripen to red, while the jalapenos were green. Ripening
usually sweetens the flavor which can mask some of the heat.
DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
1st Year Gardener

Carol Hill wrote:

how many varieties of peppers & how close to each other. the reason i
ask is that 1 year i grew sweet and hot next to each other and ended up
with hot sweet and sweet hot , i suspect they may have cross pollenated
(if there is such a happening) anybody recall stuff of this nature?

One year I planted japenos, cayenne and bell peppers. All of the were as
hot or as sweet as they were supposed to be. I saved some seeds from the
cayenne, planted them next year, and got a big surprise.

They had hybridized with the bell peppers. The hybrid plants all had
different heat values. Some had big and fleshy and slightly hot peppers.
Some were thin fleshed and pretty hot. The fruit of every plant was a bit
different in appearance and fire. I kept the seeds of the one I liked
best - a medium hot, relatively thick fleshed type. Unfortunately, it's
offspring weren't very prolific. After that I went back to packaged seeds
for cayenne.