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Sweetening agents for peppers

6

6StringFire

Does anyone here use products like Flora Nectar, Carboload or molasses with the intent to sweeten or otherwise add flavor to your hot peppers?

I'm trying to resist the urge to sink $20 into a bottle of Flora Nectar for my tomatoes and peppers. Looks great on paper... do you have any experiences?
 
My opinion is that adding sugars to the roots, in whatever form, will not make the peppers sweeter. It`s a bit like saying that feeding chickens extra sugar will make the meat sweeter. 
 
Things like Molasses have lots of micronutrients, and so do things like Flora Nectar. However, the sugars are for feeding the soil bio-organisms, allowing them to grow and act in a way that provides more nutrients to the plant`s roots. 

As far as I remember, most plant roots are not even able to take up sugars any more complex than glucose and even that uptake is limited. 
 
Plants utilize CO2 as their primary carbon source and convert it to sugars, among other things. Photosynthesis is great!
 
Nigel said:
My opinion is that adding sugars to the roots, in whatever form, will not make the peppers sweeter. It`s a bit like saying that feeding chickens extra sugar will make the meat sweeter. 
 
Things like Molasses have lots of micronutrients, and so do things like Flora Nectar. However, the sugars are for feeding the soil bio-organisms, allowing them to grow and act in a way that provides more nutrients to the plant`s roots. 

As far as I remember, most plant roots are not even able to take up sugars any more complex than glucose and even that uptake is limited. 
 
Plants utilize CO2 as their primary carbon source and convert it to sugars, among other things. Photosynthesis is great!
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My thoughts exactly.  Flora Nectar is almost the exact same thing as Blackstrap unsulphured molasses.
 
6StringFire said:
So, does that mean that you can't influence the flavor of your peppers?
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No, it doesn `t mean that, at least in a general sense. Growth conditions influence both flavor and heat in peppers. It`s the same with Tomatoes. More heat/light at the right time gives the plant the right conditions to produce more sugar in the fruit and give a more intense flavor. I guess it`s all about how your plants are grown. 
 
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