Peppers I'm growing are a lot less hot than the ones at a store.. Anyone have any idea why? Maybe the packs of seeds I bought from the store are made to be not very hot?
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Peppers aren't very hot?
- Thread starter backyardpepper
- Start date
Growing Jalapenos and Habaneros which are significantly less hot than store bought. I water the plants about every 3 days, the leaves always look healthy never droopy. I live in florida so the sun is always shining on the plants.
I think I'm watering too often because I've seen people on here that only water their plants when the leaves droop and get a little wrinkly, as if they are dehydrated.
What do you mean by "soil conditions"?
I think I'm watering too often because I've seen people on here that only water their plants when the leaves droop and get a little wrinkly, as if they are dehydrated.
What do you mean by "soil conditions"?
CAPCOM said:
How do I know when the plant needs watering or not?
you should NEVER let your plants wilt between waterings!! cant stress that enough, the very fine root hairs are how your plant actually receives nutrients. When the soil turns hard it destroys these hairs. (thats why your cucurbits wilt in the midday sun btw, shallow roots) THis also puts severe stress on the cells of the plant which require water to maintain their structure (why your plant droops) and to circulate nutrients (see transpiration). The reason peppers SEEM hotter after letting your plant dry out is because it concentrates the available capsaicin. So your just reducing the water content and stressing your plant. Most peppers are subtropic forest floor plants, just like tomatoes they like constant moisture. Most likely your plants are just too young, My earliest peppers usually have no heat at all. If the plants are potted water when the top inch feels dry and be sure to wet the entirety of the soil all the way through the pot. If outside, peppers need 1in of water a week roughly and mulch will help maintain even moisture between waterings.
I had my peppers last season on a daily scheduled drip, so they didn't get wilty before watering. However, I have let my peppers get wilty before watering plenty of times the years prior and still had decent production..
Backyardpepper, the variety of jalapeno you bought seeds for are likely not the same variety you're eating from the store. Jalapeno varieties definitely vary in heat. Which variety did you get seeds for?
Backyardpepper, the variety of jalapeno you bought seeds for are likely not the same variety you're eating from the store. Jalapeno varieties definitely vary in heat. Which variety did you get seeds for?
LordHill said:
Same amount of capsaicin but more water means it'll feel milder and actually be milder but, since they're measured dry, it won't rate milder or, for that matter, cook up any milder.
Honestly, I'm not entirely sure that stressing them doesn't lead to greater capsaicin production but certainly more water will make the raw pepper milder without affecting its cooked or dried forms.
here's an interesting study, the findings were that the genetics of a plant determined whether peppers were "hotter" under drought stress. The most interesting thing was that the hotter the pepper the more drought resistant the plant therefore less change when stressed. It did however find that yields were reduced across the board and the less pungent peppers that were effected had low transpiration rates . http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/content/files/impact_of_drought_stress.pdfspicefreak said:
this article talks about using nutrient ratios to increase capsaicin production as drought showed no increase for them. http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=15571
really if you were dead set on using this method to increase the heat, you could just pick the pepper and leave it on your counter for a few days, it will continue to ripen and lose water, therefore concentrating capsaicin and the plant doesn't need to be stressed.
This seems to be grouping MOST peppers into a specific group of peppers and to a specific climate. IMO this is not true. While most peppers do grow in a hot climate they do not necessarily grow in a constant (moisture in the root zone) environment. Most pubescence are a good example of this. high altitude, dry and most likely windy even favoring the cooler side of temperature.Topsmoke said:
I rarely let my plants actually wilt, but I have found they do exceedingly better when allowed to go dry foot than a constant moist foot. And in the off chance they do wilt and sometimes way more than I would like (bordering on mummification) they have never been stunted or harmed in any noticeable way.
my experience is that it does concentrate capsaicin, ripened a bunch of peppers on cut plants, threw off all my sauce recipes because of increased heat to weight ratio. Again my main point was drought stress is bad for plants and personally when i want a hotter pepper i just eat a hotter pepper but the initial question was about why his jappys aren't hot and I said just give them time and not to drought stress them as a remedy.CAPCOM said:
A good rule of thumb is to not water you're plants for 4 days leading up to you're harvest.
To me, your major issue is the seeds you start with. Just keep growing and finding the peppers you like. There are many types of jalapeños and habaneros. The best way is to find "hot" types from growers here and trade seeds with them. I like to buy pods from the growers on this forum to learn about them first hand and then save the seeds if you like them. I don't think water and soil can make a mild pod become hot because it would have to double or triple the heat which I have never seen. This is subjective however, so maybe I'm wrong. Keep growing and good luck on your quest!
