I sampled aa number of peppers today and they seem rather mild. I tasted a fatalli a couple weeks ago and the one I picked today was considerably less hot. Anyone know if the heat levels decline as the season progresses?

Also, I planted some Savina seeds this spring. The plant produced big beautiful peppers that had very little heat. A cross maybe?

Joe

Well, any Habanero / Red Savina variety should give you a fiery hell... What kinds of chilis do you grow today?

I would arte this savina about 3 on a 10 point scale. The fatalli was a 9 a few weeks ago, maybe 7-8 or less now.

I tasted a wirri-wirri (which I would rate 7) a safi (4), Indian pc-1 (4-5) lemon drop (5-6 now, but was about a 7 a few weeks ago), peanut (4), orange hab (5-6). Those are the ones I expected to be hot to very hot, but really aren't.

Could growing conditions influence heat this significantly? Its been getting cool at night - fall is clearly hear, many of the pepper plants are starting to yellow just a bit.

Joe

I've noticed the same thing. At least when I compare the first harvest I got around may and june to the second harvest that I've been eating for a while now. Lemon drops that were painfully hot at first are medium at their hottest now. Some of them have almost no heat at all.

You should check how many seeds the fruits have. If there are few or no seeds at all, the fruit will be mild. (I think) This is because capsaicin is produced in placenta. No placenta, no heat.