Ground&Pound

I've read in two separate gardening books that claim if you grow hot peppers (say jalapeno) in a garden next to sweet peppers, that the sweet peppers will become hot and ruin their taste.

My understanding of science tells me that hot peppers are hot and sweet peppers are sweet because of their genetic make up.

How could the hot pepper somehow change the sweet pepper's DNA?

Am I missing something?

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Spider

Osmosis.








(Just kidding. I don't have a freakin' idea.)

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Black-n-Red

I found this interesting. I don't have the foggiest idea how this could happen, either but this is what one website claims:

Step 3
Separate your chili pepper plants from other plants when you grow them. Pepper plants have a tendency to transfer their heat characteristics to nearby plants. A traditional green pepper (0 rating on the Scoville chart), if planted next to jalapenos or habaneros, can come out of the garden with a slight heat kick of its own.

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Your ignorance is painful to witness.....

arm-spin

I don't know... but I do know some organisms take on some characteristics of their food (ie a grass fed cow might taste different than a grain fed cow). Maybe the sweet peppers are ingesting some of the detritus from the spicy peppers through their roots?

RYou

Insects like bees tranferring pollen plant to plant maybe?

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Brrrrrrrrr It's cold outside !

M Richardson

Aha! That's it! Damn illegal pollens crossing the border. I knew it!

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M Richardson

Ermmmm. Sorry. Knee-jerk Southern Californian reaction.

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Ken Shirtaugh

This has nothing to do with anything, but I am growing something. This is a Japanese Maple "Fireglow" it's my baby!!

M Richardson

I love Japanese Maple. Unfortunately, they don't like our heat. I've killed a couple of them learning. They are beautiful!

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gg121and2

I had never heard of this phenomenon before, but it has never mattered because my peppers have always been lousy (not literally). This year seems to be a exceptional growing season in east central Iowa and my peppers (and tomatoes) are going crazy (as are all of the ornamentals we've planted). Both my jalepenos and my green peppers are flourishing right next to each other. I'll report back on any flavor issues.

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2011 NAIA Wrestling Championships, March 3, 4 & 5, Cedar Rapids, IA. I'll see you there.