You are trying to grow hot peppers and you find they just don’t have enough heat. What are you doing wrong? What can you do different to grow really hot peppers?
People who love the heat from hot peppers are almost religious about making them hotter and hotter and this has resulted in a lot of online suggestions – many of them are just myths but some actually work. It’s time to separate fact from fiction and check the science to see what makes a pepper hot, and what can be done in the garden to make them hotter.
The older the pepper, and the more stress the plant has been under, the more white lines you’ll see, and the hotter the pepper will be. The smoother the pepper, the younger, less stressed, and milder it is. Left on the plant (and even after picked) green jalapeños will eventually turn red.
Location of the Plant
Research has shown that fruit from the second node is hotter than fruit picked from other nodes.
One common tip is to reduce watering so that the plants are stressed. This is normally done just after fruit set and some suggest giving plants a drink only when the leaves start to droop.
UC Cooperative Extension has been testing ways to make jalapeños hotter. Research in hot climates like Mexico, Spain and Thailand have shown that water stress can increase hotness, but testing in California showed that water stress made them milder.
Other researchers have found significant increases in capsaicin due to water stress.
Watering peppers less may produce hotter peppers but these plants are sensitive to water levels. Water stress should not happen until after fruit set to ensure the flower is properly pollinated and fruit starts growing. Waiting until leaves droop is probably too extreme.
Avoid Cross Pollination with Sweet Peppers
The logic goes like this. If you grow sweet and hot peppers together the sweet peppers can pollinate the hot peppers, resulting in fruit that is less hot. This seems very logical, but it’s wrong.
First of all, peppers are mostly self-pollinating which means a flower pollinates itself. It rarely uses pollen from another plant.
Secondly, even if the flower is cross pollinated, the fruit will have the characteristics of the mother plant, not those of the father plant. Any collected seed from a cross like this will have properties somewhere between the parents.
Cross pollination will never cause hot peppers to be less hot or more hot.
Can hot peppers knock out cancer?
FAQ
Do peppers get hotter as they ripen?
Are older peppers spicier?
Do peppers get hotter as they dry out?
Are peppers hotter when they turn red?
Do hot peppers get hotter as they mature?
Hot peppers also get hotter as they mature. Peppers can be eaten at most any stage of development, but if you want to be picking peppers that are as hot as they can get, wait on your hot pepper harvest until they are red. As mentioned, you can begin picking peppers that are hot at almost any stage, just be sure that the fruit is firm.
What are the benefits of eating hot pepper?
Scientific evidence suggests that hot pepper helps with nasal congestion, speeds up metabolism, decreases migraines, relieves arthritis, and may have benefits in fighting cancer.
How to grow hotter peppers?
One tip on how to grow hotter peppers is to not overwater the plants. Indeed, the gardener might be a bit stingier with the water than usual and give the plants a drink only when the leaves start looking a bit droopy. This works best when the plant is just setting fruit. It’s almost as if too much water puts out the fire!
Are hot peppers easier to grow?
Gardeners in warmer weather regions will generally have an easier time growing spicy peppers than those in cooler regions. There is also evidence showing those at higher elevations may also have an easier time growing hotter peppers. This is due to the higher prevalance of the Fusarium fungus.