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Cayennes not hot!!!
- Thread starter pepperpro
- Start date
Could be something simple such as a heatless variety?? Or a hybrid not growing as anticipated?
Obviously I don't know anything about the grower/supplier so I'm not making accusations, but sounds like it's *possibly* a bad on their part. Does the tag state that they are supposed to be hot?
Just out of curiosity too, what kind of a tolerance do you have with peppers? Have you been eating them for a long time? I can eat plenty of the mainstream varieties available here that are supposed to be hot without detecting any heat at all.
Yeah, growing conditions can play a role in heat too. But you shouldn't have to "stress" a pepper to at least get some heat.
The plants came from a big box store. They are suppost to be hot. I don't eat very many hot things do I should be able to detect the heat of a cayenne. As far as being stressed, I took very good care of them and watered normally every couple of days. I just think its very strange and wish I could get to the bottom of this problem. Can you guys tell me how to post pictures please. That way you can see the plant.
Thank you!!
Thank you!!
I'm having the same issue. I bought my cayenne plants from a nursery. The first peppers they produced about a month ago were as hot as they were supposed to be, but the latest have virtually no heat. It's been very hot here, so I was watering them at least once a day. I think that's my problem, so I'm going to cut back on the water and see what happens. At least they looked pretty.
Water only when needed.
One of the most common reasons for peppers being far less hot than expected is over watering. Hot peppers are often originally from hot and dry climates and they will produce their best peppers when these conditions are simulated in the home garden.
Water hot peppers only when the leaves start to show the first signs of wilting. Watering more frequently will lead to a more mild pepper than expected!
Excess Nitrogen
Many commercial fertilizers contain high levels of nitrogen that is readily available to the plant. This nitrogen causes the plant to grow rapidly and put much of its energy into growing the plant and not the peppers. The end result will be a larger plant with an often-lower yield of less hot peppers.
The best way to fertilize pepper plants is to use natural fertilizers such as compost. These fertilizers are very balanced and not very high in nitrogen. The nutrients in natural fertilizers are slow release and do not over whelm the plant.
Add Sulfur
Commonly commercially available fertilizers and even many natural fertilizers lack sulfur. Sulfur is used in plants to create compounds, such as protein chlorophyll and various enzymes. Sulfur is used at about the same rate as nitrogen by plants, but is still considered a secondary nutrient because it is often available in most soils.
Adding extra sulfur to the soil and the foliage of Hot Pepper plants will help the plant build compounds that lead to a hotter pepper. Dissolved Epson salts sprayed on the soil and foliage of a hot pepper plant twice a season should be plenty of addition sulfur.
Proximity to Mild Peppers
Most pepper plants will freely cross-pollinate with each other. The results of a mild pepper (such as a bell pepper) crossing with a hot pepper often could be a more mild hot pepper. The resulting seeds from these hybrid peppers will be quite variable from hot to mild peppers as well.
Keeping mild and hot peppers, and even different heat levels of hot peppers away from each other helps eliminate the cross-pollination of peppers.
Conclusion
While all of the above techniques will help to produce hotter hot peppers, environmental factors also affect hot peppers. Hot temperatures are needed by many hot peppers but control of the weather is not possible, yet at least, so by controlling the amount of water a plant gets, not allowing excess amounts of nitrogen, adding sulfur and keeping mild peppers a good distance away hot peppers will be encouraged to produces the hottest peppers that they can.
One of the most common reasons for peppers being far less hot than expected is over watering. Hot peppers are often originally from hot and dry climates and they will produce their best peppers when these conditions are simulated in the home garden.
Water hot peppers only when the leaves start to show the first signs of wilting. Watering more frequently will lead to a more mild pepper than expected!
Excess Nitrogen
Many commercial fertilizers contain high levels of nitrogen that is readily available to the plant. This nitrogen causes the plant to grow rapidly and put much of its energy into growing the plant and not the peppers. The end result will be a larger plant with an often-lower yield of less hot peppers.
The best way to fertilize pepper plants is to use natural fertilizers such as compost. These fertilizers are very balanced and not very high in nitrogen. The nutrients in natural fertilizers are slow release and do not over whelm the plant.
Add Sulfur
Commonly commercially available fertilizers and even many natural fertilizers lack sulfur. Sulfur is used in plants to create compounds, such as protein chlorophyll and various enzymes. Sulfur is used at about the same rate as nitrogen by plants, but is still considered a secondary nutrient because it is often available in most soils.
Adding extra sulfur to the soil and the foliage of Hot Pepper plants will help the plant build compounds that lead to a hotter pepper. Dissolved Epson salts sprayed on the soil and foliage of a hot pepper plant twice a season should be plenty of addition sulfur.
Proximity to Mild Peppers
Most pepper plants will freely cross-pollinate with each other. The results of a mild pepper (such as a bell pepper) crossing with a hot pepper often could be a more mild hot pepper. The resulting seeds from these hybrid peppers will be quite variable from hot to mild peppers as well.
Keeping mild and hot peppers, and even different heat levels of hot peppers away from each other helps eliminate the cross-pollination of peppers.
Conclusion
While all of the above techniques will help to produce hotter hot peppers, environmental factors also affect hot peppers. Hot temperatures are needed by many hot peppers but control of the weather is not possible, yet at least, so by controlling the amount of water a plant gets, not allowing excess amounts of nitrogen, adding sulfur and keeping mild peppers a good distance away hot peppers will be encouraged to produces the hottest peppers that they can.
As much as I love a good dig at the Americans, that was a bit rough, wasn't it, ABG? (or maybe not.... 
)
Can't vouch for them myself (as being here in Oz, I've obviously never ordered from them) but Cross Country Nurseries appears to have a pretty good rep:
http://thehotpepper....eview-by-mgold/
There's always the option of starting from seed too? Always do your research first before buying from anywhere though to avoid the sharks... sadly, the waters are full of 'em. A good place to start for reviews is the Vendor Vault here on THP:
http://thehotpepper....7-vendor-vault/
)Can't vouch for them myself (as being here in Oz, I've obviously never ordered from them) but Cross Country Nurseries appears to have a pretty good rep:
http://thehotpepper....eview-by-mgold/
There's always the option of starting from seed too? Always do your research first before buying from anywhere though to avoid the sharks... sadly, the waters are full of 'em. A good place to start for reviews is the Vendor Vault here on THP:
http://thehotpepper....7-vendor-vault/