[CH] Question for Texas CH'ers

Jim Graham (spooky130@cox.net)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:36:17 -0500 

This question is specifically aimed at the Texas chile-heads for one
reason:  it's specific to a variety of chile that I've only seen growing
well in Texas (and I'm *TRYING* to add Florida---in a container---to
that list.

Question:  What is it about Texas growing conditions that makes
Chile Pequins (you know the ones...they look like little red berries,
but can be amazingly hot for their small size) grow so well as a wild
plant (that can take over a backyard fence and produce countless
peppers)?

I'm in NW Florida (no soil except what you buy at Lowes and put in
containers...the ground is all beach sand for a good distance
north from the Gulf coast), and while I do get a few of these little
gems, I rarely get more than a 1/4 to 1/2 cup per year.  (Whereas I've
been getting habaneros and cayennes---and tabascos, once they start to
ripen---in units of pounds/week....)

My mom (in Texas), on the other hand, with a little effort (picking
the beasties), could probably pick one or more quart bags full of
these tiny beasties per month during the summer.

So, is it the heat?  Dry?  Wet?  Direct sun?  Soil?  Water (e.g.,
San Antonio's city water is---or at least was when I was last lived
there, and I assume still is---very, very pure, where as here, you
basically either use a filter or drink bottled water---chlorine and,
at times, sulfur...yuck!)

And is it my imagination, or do Chile Pequins seem to want to wait until
the plant looks like it's about to wither away before it suddenly starts
producing whatever volume of peppers it's going to give you?  Based on
what mine has done this year,

   * healthy bushy-looking plant:  no peppers
   * change from above to scrawny vine-like plant:  peppers appear

In Texas, this pepper plant grows wild...and, at least in the outskirts
of San Antonio, seems to grow everywhere.  Nobody has to plant it...it
takes care of that all by itself.

I'm trying to get mine to do that, too.

Any suggestions on what I might be missing?

Thanks,
   --jim

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