Jalapenos not spicy...

[Whoaru99]

Picked a sample pepper from my Jalapenos (Burpee, Jalapeno M variety) and there was no heat at all. Granted, they may not be fully grown at about 2.5" of expected ~3", but they should have some zip, shouldn't they?

What might cause no heat?

[water rat]

Jalapeño's seem to get hotter with less watering and less hot with more water...I generally only water once the plant shows me it needs water,my peppers are HOT!

[Whoaru99]

Yeah, that's what I've been doing when the water they receive is in my control, i.e. little/no rain.

[CANOPY SAM]

With no "heat" at all I'd kinda wonder if someone mislabeled the plants? Happens way too often with local nurseries, but I wouldn't expect this from a big box catalog company. But ya' never know.

What water rat says above is also very true. Same thing holds for radishes as well. No water and they'll get hotter than blazes. Too much water and they have almost no flavor at all.

Don't give em' anymore water, and just let em' finish out the season. Once they're fully mature perhaps they'll put on more flavor? The heat we're in for over the next few weeks will help a lot as well.

[flipper]

They should get hotter as they get more fully mature, mine seem to have plenty of zip this year.

[Kyle]

mine had zero zip right away as well. What you're reading about watering is true. Also, you can pick them and let them sit on your counter for a few days to get them hotter.

[Kyle]

mine had zero zip right away as well. What you're reading about watering is true. Also, you can pick them and let them sit on your counter for a few days to get them hotter.

[masoct3]

The color red is important with this pepper.

[flipper]

Also, I like to wait until they show some corking before I pick them.

[harvey lee]

+1.

[Whoaru99]

I'll just leave'em go then. Unfortunately only two days after I had to water them we got rain.

They're still blossoming quite a lot. They were a bit slow to get going since I raised them from seed. The cooler spring didn't help that either.

[RumRiverRat]

The color red is important with this pepper.

How so?

[corncob]

I suspect your peppers were immature , not ripe enuff to have developed their true heat level.

[otterman91105]

You should only have to water a couple of times a week with these peppers maybe less if you want hotter peppers.

[Whoaru99]

They are in containers and require watering about once per week. When they start to droop I saturate the soil and they're good to go for about another week, although now that peppers are coming on pretty good that may change.

Last time I grew peppers it was cayenne and they turned out hot, hot as can be (yes, I understand they're inherently hotter than jalapeno, but these were above and beyond).

[CANOPY SAM]

Jalapenos don't turn red, do they???

Whoaru, you saying you started them from seed is the answer here. I've started hundreds of pepper plants from seed, but with the cool summer we had this year, I'm sure your plants are behind by quite a bit. Like you said above, I'd wager if you just let em' go now, don't even water em' unless absolutely necessary, they'll turn out just fine by the end of Sept.

Keep em' from freezing as long as possible, and growing and maturing until as late as you can keep em' going. I'd bet you'll get a peck of hot, spicy Jalapenos!

The wife and I just finished canning 14 pints of pickled onions! Do em' pretty much like pickles, with a little canning salt, vinegar brine, little dill, slices of jalapeno, and crushed peppers onto jars packed with sliced onions. If you guys aren't doing this each year YOU GOTTA START! These pickled onions are easy, and absolutely delicious!!