It's an occasionally occurring thing...no one's been able to pin it down, but genetic/environmental conditions are thought to cause it.

One thing that seems to be universally recommended, though it doesn't work for everyone/every pepper, is stressing them by withholding water while fruiting. It's not about keeping them barely alive as much as not keeping them lush with water. That said, this is more of an anecdotal thing that "seems to work" for a lot of people more than something that's recommended based on proof.

It seems a lot of people have found that capsicum is either concentrated or the plant is stressed into producing more when it's water stressed.

Were these pods forming during the cooler months? If so, "winter" pods are notorious for having much less heat, if any at all.

Nip all the older pods and my bet would be that the newer ones that form will have the heat you're looking for.

If that don't work, try growing some of the superhot varieties. They'll ALWAYS have plenty of heat. Same thing applies though -- winter pods seem to just lose some kick.

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Sun, Jun 30, 13 at 13:35

Yeah, I've had plants that started out with the weakest heat. But after that first couple of batches of peppers were harvested they started getting hotter. Hopefully, that's your case. Gave me a painful surprise!

Hot peppers seem to not develop the heat desired if grown in a soil that is too well supplied with nutrients. Benign neglect is better if you want hot peppers then tender loving care.

Maybe you planted 'Fooled You', it's a jalapeno we've grown for 4 years now and there really is zero heat in the fruit but they produce well and have great flavor.

Replying to kimmsr...

you may have a point there...I fed that pepper tree the same way I have the rest of my garden...lots of organic matter... bat guano, azomite, worm castings, seaweed, fish fertilizer, compost teas, home made compost (from manure, straw, coffee grounds, leaves, veggie scraps...the works)...

Maybe they're too well fed!

to west9491...

my wife and I picked off all the small peppers that were produced in the cool Florida winter...we have picked 2 batches at the "normal" size. So lets see what batch #3 will turn out like....I've taken the liberty of planting 4 chocolate habernero peppers plants...they're in the early stages (about a foot tall) and are starting to produce already, albeit in small amounts...

lets see what happens....thanks for the tip...