Hello,
For the last three years I have grown Hatch green chiles in my garden here in upstate NY (Zone 5A). My plants grow beautifully, but they are not even a little spicy. This year, for example, I grew an extra hot variety from Sandia Seed Company, and they grew beautiful peppers that tasted like sweet peppers. I've also grown a few varieties (Big Jim and Sandia Select) from the NM Chile Institute, and those were also sweet. I think my seeds are good quality.
I had assumed that my problem might be that it is too wet here to produce spicy peppers. So, this year I grew the peppers under an open high tunnel and severely limited their water. Still not spicy. My soil is very healthy, and I am restrained in my use of fertilizer. What could be affecting the flavor? I've been through a variety of ideas--nutrients, day length, etc--but none of them make sense to me. Our climate is about 10 degrees colder than NM (our highs in the summer are around 95), so I don't expect my chile to taste the same as what my family gets in NM, but I cannot fathom why my chile doesn't get at all spicy.
For comparison, every other hot pepper I grow is spicy. HELP!
For the last three years I have grown Hatch green chiles in my garden here in upstate NY (Zone 5A). My plants grow beautifully, but they are not even a little spicy. This year, for example, I grew an extra hot variety from Sandia Seed Company, and they grew beautiful peppers that tasted like sweet peppers. I've also grown a few varieties (Big Jim and Sandia Select) from the NM Chile Institute, and those were also sweet. I think my seeds are good quality.
I had assumed that my problem might be that it is too wet here to produce spicy peppers. So, this year I grew the peppers under an open high tunnel and severely limited their water. Still not spicy. My soil is very healthy, and I am restrained in my use of fertilizer. What could be affecting the flavor? I've been through a variety of ideas--nutrients, day length, etc--but none of them make sense to me. Our climate is about 10 degrees colder than NM (our highs in the summer are around 95), so I don't expect my chile to taste the same as what my family gets in NM, but I cannot fathom why my chile doesn't get at all spicy.
For comparison, every other hot pepper I grow is spicy. HELP!