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Post by daylilydude on May 13, 2017 20:09:15 GMT -5
Is this true? I've heard that if you don't water your pepper plants enough during the summer, they will produce an even hotter pepper... Is there any kind of truth to this statement?
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 13, 2017 21:18:15 GMT -5
Stress causes peppers to create extra capsaicin, and heat and drought cause stress, thus the extra heat in the peppers in hot, dry summers. Flooding also causes stress, and some commercial growers will flood the rows a week before harvest.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 16, 2017 12:47:14 GMT -5
Yep...heat and water stress definitely increase capsaicin. Try letting your Earthboxes dry out in a Florida summer and rescuing your plants from the brink of death. Next time you pick your peppers. Whooooo!
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 16, 2017 19:53:57 GMT -5
I really haven't considered having to stress my peppers for more heat. Carolina Reaper, Chocolate habs, Gold Bullet habs, and White Bullet habs should have sufficient capsaicin, before I even think about all those Thai peppers!
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Post by daylilydude on May 17, 2017 3:48:30 GMT -5
pepperhead212, if it does then can you imagine how hot your Carolina Reapers and all your habs could/would be??
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 17, 2017 9:55:17 GMT -5
Considering how hot my Anchos/Poblanos get if I get lackadaisical about watering, I could probably grow some nearly lethal Carolina Reapers! I'm not going to, though. I'd probably mess with the plants without thinking about it and then rub my eyes. Owwwww....! One other factor that can increase capsaicin is nitrogen - more nitrogen can cause hotter peppers, at least with some varieties: ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=15571 That may be another reason why my EB peppers are often hotter than I expect. They're very well fed.
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Post by ladymarmalade on May 17, 2017 10:09:09 GMT -5
pepperhead212, if it does then can you imagine how hot your Carolina Reapers and all your habs could/would be?? Once you are in the position of eating things like Carolina Reapers and other hotties, they're all just Crazy Hot! I feel like I probably luck out eating super hots that have been grown here in my area. No doubt, they are crazy hot, but they are not grown in desert-like conditions, and as such, even though I'm tasting super hots, I'm probably tasting a milder version of them. They still BURN though!
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Post by tomike on May 19, 2017 18:22:40 GMT -5
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 19, 2017 22:52:15 GMT -5
Interesting about the nitrogen, Laura_in_FL. Maybe adding a nitrogen "snack" to the Earthboxes weekly, like the Ca snack added for tomatoes, would increase the heat. Maybe I'll try that with the one box with chocolate habs, and leave the box with one chocolate hab untreated, and see if there is a difference. Of course you are probably saying "how could you tell, with them that hot?". It's unscientific, but years ago, when Red Savinas were the hottest, I would chew them for pain, before I had back surgery, and I would cut them in half, and chew them until I could not keep it in my mouth any longer! One plant had the hottest - 80-85 sec until I'd spit it out, while one plant was much milder - 130-140 sec I could usually chew those. This really did kill pain. After doing this I could sleep for 6-6 1/2 hrs, before the pain would awaken me, while 60 mg of codeine would only work for 3-3 1/2 hrs.
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Post by daylilydude on May 20, 2017 4:38:12 GMT -5
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 20, 2017 11:37:54 GMT -5
Interesting about the nitrogen, Laura_in_FL. Maybe adding a nitrogen "snack" to the Earthboxes weekly, like the Ca snack added for tomatoes, would increase the heat. Maybe I'll try that with the one box with chocolate habs, and leave the box with one chocolate hab untreated, and see if there is a difference. That sounds like a worthwhile experiment. Come to think of it, I am pretty sure the years that I had the painfully hot (by my pepper wimp standards) Anchos and "mild" jalepenos peppers I was giving them the calcium nitrate snack. Hrmmmmm....if you do the experiment, please report back on the results. I may need to quit using the snack for my hot peppers!
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 20, 2017 16:06:51 GMT -5
I never gave the peppers the snack - just the tomatoes and eggplants. I will definitely try it, and post my results.
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