Nature or Nurture?

19 years ago

Hello!

My neighbor and I bought peppers at the same time, from the same nursery, of the same type.

Fast forward through the season...

Now we are picking. I can grab a handful of his jalapenos and eat them and I barely get a tingling and just a little heat on my lips.

Fast forward one day...

I grab one out of my garden and bite off a small chunk. Two minutes later I am running to the house to get some milk.

The difference is just amazing. Why is it? They are approximately 50 feet apart. Here are the things that I can identify as differences:

* Soil : He is a raised bed (soil). I am a raised bed of 33% compost, 33% peat, 33% vermiculite.

* Microclimate : His are against a shed wall, although they get full sunlight, it could be a bit different.

* Covers : During the colder days and nights earlier in the season I covered mine with a clear plastic drop cloth dome.

I think thats about all the differences were.

Which of these made the difference?

Thanks for any opinions, advice or pointers

Thanks,

Bill

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Comments (7)

lvben
19 years ago
There are many things to consider. One thing to understand is that you can have different amounts of heat on two different peppers from the same plant. Though, The Chile Pepper Institute says that temperature is a big factor in level of capsaicinoids. It is possible that your plants have different temperatures based on what times of day they get sun and how close they are planted together.
shelbyguy
19 years ago
you didnt mention watering cycle.
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wbchmura
Original Author
19 years ago
Thanks to both of you for responding...

1) I can't speak to the watering cycle... I can say that mine was about every other day (for the most part) and his may have been every day but less. I wish I had more information.

2) I can understand different levels of heat from one pepper to another, but this is VERY different and seems to be widespread.

Now that I think about it, he grew some last year (I did not) and they were also pretty darn tame.

3) Did the chili pepper institute mention which way the temp worked? (higher temperature causes hotter peppers or vice versa)?

Thanks for your thoughts!
lvben
19 years ago
They didn't say anything about why higher temperaturs cause heat in the document that it said that in.

Though, I remember reading somewhere else about pepper plants having to use up more energy (sugar stored in the peppers) in higher temperatures to stay alive and then the sugars are replaced with capsaicins, but I haven't been able to confirm this anywhere so it may not be accurate.
lvben
19 years ago
Oh, here is the document: Growing tips

It says: "New Mexican pods ripening at
temperatures between 86 & 95 degrees F have twice
as many capsaicinoids as pods ripening between 59
& 72 degrees F."
naturalstuff
19 years ago
Is his shed wall a dark color? Reason being the sunlight might not be reflecting off the wall.

Sun and water will make the difference. Peppers don't like water like other veggies do. The roots like to get hot and I think that's what makes the fire power in the pepper. He might be watering more than you. And you might be getting that full stronger sun too.
wbchmura
Original Author
19 years ago
The shed is a tannish color - not terribly dark, but not terribly light either.

It says: "New Mexican pods ripening at
temperatures between 86 & 95 degrees F have twice
as many capsaicinoids as pods ripening between 59
& 72 degrees F."

Wow. I am going to have to play with that next year!

Thanks for the article, I think that will be helpful next year also!