Tulsastorm, You're welcome. It took me years to figure out that peppers produce less well if they get too cold too early in their life. When I lived in Texas in zone 8 where the air and soil warm up about 4-6 weeks earlier than they do here, I could transplant tomatoes and peppers at the same time, most likely because once it warmed up, it tended to stay that way. The peppers and tomatoes would flower and set fruit at the same time. After moving here in 1999, I learned I couldn't plant them at the same time here because tomatoes are a lot more cold tolerant and can handle our wildly fluctuating spring temperatures here, but peppers cannot handle the recurring cold nights. Tomato plants will tolerate temperatures in the 30s (as long as they stay above freezing and are free of frost, which can form at temps as high as 38 or 39 degrees under some conditions). Peppers, though, if exposed to soil temperatures below 55 degrees for even just a few days, can be damaged. You may not see any visible damage on the plant, but the plant growth often will stall and then once the plant begins growing again, it just never really kicks into production very well. I am very careful to keep my pepper seedlings inside when the weather is cool, and even if I carry them outside to soak up the sun every chance I get, I still carry them back inside on any night when the forecast low goes below 55-60 degrees. I get huge yields from my plants and I believe that's because I never let my pepper plants get cold. I also harvest peppers amazingly early....last year I got the first big harvest of sweet bell peppers on June 22nd, when I harvested 6 lbs. and the first big harvest of jalapenos on June 15th, when I harvested 10 lbs. 2 oz. Last year, I stopped weighing the pepper harvest at some point (probably early August) because I just thought to myself "enough is enough" but I know I had harvested well over 75 lbs. of hot peppers and over 30 lbs. of sweet peppers by late August and continued to harvest from in-ground plants until the first frost in October. I harvested my last pepper from container-grown plants that I was overwintering (in the garage at night, out on the sunny patio on days when temps were above 40) in January, and then the plants in the garage froze this week. I'm giving you those numbers to show it should be easy to get good pepper yields from plants transplanted into the ground in late April or early May after the soil and air temps are in the right range. Peppers are prone to many kinds of diseases including those that make the leaves puckered, twisted and mottled. Pepper Mosaic Virus is often the cause of these issues. You also will see yellow or brown splotches on the leaves, and these are caused by many different bacterial and fungal diseases. Also, if you have sandy soil or sandy loam, root knot nematodes can cause the plants to stunt and be unproductive. One way to know if you have root knot nematodes is to check your plant roots when you pull up the plants in the fall. If you see knots and galls on the roots, you have nematodes. You can do everything right in terms of meeting the plants' needs, but if you have root knot nematodes, you may not get many peppers. I am confident that if you make sure your young pepper plants never are exposed to cold temperatures early in their lives, you can get a really good harvest from them. Dawn

Grew: 4- Trinidad Scorpion 40- Ghost (Red) 1- Cayenne 2- Boring Green Bell pepper(wife's request) 2- Orange Habanero 1-Jalapeno Scorpion was a yr old b4 I put it in ground. They took off during summer. Still growing now; however, not near level of summer. Late start of Ghosts; however, they grew based on sun vs. shade of plant. I had to plant them a little closer together, that I wanted, b/c of garden size. Starting to get good output now. ~35 of the 40 have mature pods. The other pretty much your typical output a/ growth rates. All have since deceased as they were not includes in green house when constructed. Am hoping green house can keep the Scorpion a/ Ghosts alive a/ continue producing for me. Gotta make hot sauce!!! Based on our last seed swap, I am looking to add another 8-10 varities this year.

Tom although most of the NM types all originated from the same sources they have changed due to the various climates,length of growing seasons and taste preference along with other reasons. So each variety I grow has it's own unique quality. But the one thing they all possess is the ability to with stand the wind and heat and their tolerance of drought conditions. Or as one old grower in NM used to say our dry arid conditions. I grow lots of them as I really like them. I like to grill and freeze them and then eat them all winter. And they do better here than a bell type does. What I find funny is on the forums and chat sites I visit some members have said so you grow an Anaheim type of pepper. I reply no the Anaheim originated from the NM chile. I grow a few bells but I can buy better bells cheaper than I can grow them. Likewise I grow better NM chile types that I can buy. This will be my first year to grow the Heritage varieties. I just hope they are as good as or better than the Colorado selections I'm growing. I have grown other NMSU varieties but not the Heritage series. Like you I have alkaline soil. And it is natural for the NM chile types to do well in it as that is what they've been raised in and adapted to for years. I usually have good to great germination rates. I don't always use a heating pad. But a heating pad will speed up germination. I try to put them in the warmest room in the house. 10-14 days is common for germination times for me. I have some that take up too 24-30 days. I just plant them and check on them once in a while. I use seed starting trays with the cells that will break off into either 4 or 6 cell units. I break them off as they germinate and move them under the lights. Leave the rest in the warm room to germinate. Many of the growers along a canal in NM where I grew up seeded their peppers direct every year. And they always did great. Some of their kids still do. It depends on the DTM of the variety you are growing. Although I'm on the end of my window to plant I should harvest a nice late crop. I never transplant chiles till around Memorial day anyway. And those plants are just now blooming and setting. If you ever want to try anything I grow please let me know. Jay

Mary, Well, my eyes saw 'Juniper' and thought "Jupiter', so I guess it all worked out. :) Sheri, Fooled You is terrific if you don't want ANY heat. Even I, pepper wimp that I am, like some heat. So, if you want to grow one of the milder jalapenos, Texas A & M University has developed two that are relatively mild, in comparison to other jalapenos. They are TAM Mild Jalapeno and Jalapa. You might try to make your salsa with a mix of either of the mild jalapenos and Fooled You so you could have some delicious flavor from Fooled You and mild heat from TAM Mild Jalapeno or Jalapa. Or, you could make your salsa with Fooled You and add a small amount of canned jalapeno peppers, diced (wear gloves!) for some heat. Canned jalapenos are not as hot as fresh ones. And, if you ever want to make something really, really unbearably hot, use dried jalapeno powder! Several years ago, Texas A & M announced they were developing a mild hybrid habanero pepper that would only be 2,000 to 3,000 Scoville heat units but would have that great habanero flavor. That's one I'll try when it finally makes it onto the commercial market. Scoville Heat Units are approximate only. The more stress (of any kind, but especially heat/drought) a hot pepper plant is exposed to, the hotter the peppers it produces. Here are some Scoville Heat Unit Numbers: Bell Peppers 0 Pimento, Pepperocini 100-500 Anaheim 500-1,000 Poblano 1,000-1,5000 Rocotillo 1,500-2,500 Jalapeno 2,500-8,000 Serrano 10,000-23,000 Aji (most, there are some that are milder), Cayenne, Tabasco 30,000-50,000 Chiltepin, Thai 50,000-100,000 Jamaican 100,000-200,000 Habanero, Scotch Bonnet 100,000-350,000 Red Savina Habanero 350,000-575,000 Hope this info helps in the selection of types to grow. Dawn