Will these likely be hot or mild?

OneDahlia · November 7, 2011

I bought some red "cayenne" peppers from a farmers market last week and we really liked them. They had very mild heat and good flavor (and I'm pretty wimpy with hot peppers, so these were really mild). I saved a bunch of seeds. Went back this week to check on what they are, thinking maybe I heard wrong or maybe the guy working the cash register was just helping out and didn't know the varieties that well. They said those really were regular cayenne peppers. They thought some heavy rain had made them mild ... said the same plants gave hotter peppers earlier this season. They all seemed to have talked about these peppers before -- seemed that they were surprised by the mild heat.

So those seeds I saved ... would the plants grown from them likely be mild like what we ate, or hot like a regular cayenne? I'll plant a big patch of these next spring if I can expect the mild heat, but definitely don't want that many if they're hot.

I'm guessing the genes are what they are and they'll be hotter than what I ate, though I didn't think rain could make THAT much difference in the heat level.

November 7, 2011	#1
OneDahlia Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: 7a NO. VA. Posts: 202	Will these likely be hot or mild? I bought some red "cayenne" peppers from a farmers market last week and we really liked them. They had very mild heat and good flavor (and I'm pretty wimpy with hot peppers, so these were really mild). I saved a bunch of seeds. Went back this week to check on what they are, thinking maybe I heard wrong or maybe the guy working the cash register was just helping out and didn't know the varieties that well. They said those really were regular cayenne peppers. They thought some heavy rain had made them mild ... said the same plants gave hotter peppers earlier this season. They all seemed to have talked about these peppers before -- seemed that they were surprised by the mild heat. So those seeds I saved ... would the plants grown from them likely be mild like what we ate, or hot like a regular cayenne? I'll plant a big patch of these next spring if I can expect the mild heat, but definitely don't want that many if they're hot. I'm guessing the genes are what they are and they'll be hotter than what I ate, though I didn't think rain could make THAT much difference in the heat level. Last edited by OneDahlia; November 7, 2011 at 07:14 AM.