RE: [CH] OH MY JALS
thepepperman@cs.com
Tue, 24 Jul 2001 11:59:51 -0400
Hi all,
The year before last I had some habs that nearly drowned. They sat in 2 inches of water for a good 12 hours and dropped all their leaves. The pods on them continued to mature and were some of the hottest peppers I've ever eaten. I think they were so stressed that they sought revenge in the only way they could.
It is a commonly held belief that stressful growing conditions cause increased capsaicin as a defense mechanism. The worse the weather/conditions, the smaller the pod production, so the chances of reproduction are less. Therefore, you've got to protect the ones that do grow. I got into his whole discussion on a chat with Paul Bosland a couple months ago, and he felt that this was pretty much how it worked, and I generally take his word on matters of the pod.
That could also be applied to Chileheads in extremely hot weather. Their chances of reproducing are decreased (It's too hot!) therefore they become cantankerous, ill tempered, and hot under the collar.
We're knuckledraggers... All of us!
Jeff