List members have given lots of good advice about "the next hotter pepper up from Jalapeno" to grow in Missouri. I agree Serrano is a splendid choice. Hungarian yellow wax are available in the area and can sometimes "out-heat" jalapenos. The hottest pepper you can grow in Missouri is limited by the genetics of the Capsicum genus. You can grow any of them around here, though some require very long seasons (>200 days), or "cool sunshine" for optimum production. We get about 180 to 190 days suitable for peppers and many of these are hot, humid and hazy! My experience in Kirkwood (suburban St. Louis) is that C. anuum varieties grow well here. Serranos grow slowly at first, but begin producing well by August. This is also true of habaneros. The C. baccatum I tried produced fruit in the first year. I did not try to bring them indoors, but did do that with C. pubescens var. "Ecuador" which was a good thing, since they really did not produce until the second year, which appears typical. I start seeds indoors at the end of February (lots of lights - see archives) and put the plants out after hardening off around the first of May. I use seeds to grow the varieties that cannot be found around here; among the healthiest and most productive plants I had this year were jalapenos bought from a nursery. Most of the plants go into containers (ca. 5 gallon), but some go into the garden. This year, circumstances dictated planting April 25, a bit dicey for my conservative tastes, but the weather cooperated. The season ended for me with the frost around November 7. It was a good pepper year. Mention has been made on the list that 1998 midwest US peppers were a bit hotter than usual. Mine seemed hotter as well, all across the varieties I grew, including long green (Sandia and New Mexico 6), Ancho 101, jalapeno, de arbol and serrano. George Nelson 70431.3065@compuserve.com