Growing Hatch Green Chiles in the Northeast

[timboimbo]

Hello,

For the last three years I have grown Hatch green chiles in my garden here in upstate NY (Zone 5A). My plants grow beautifully, but they are not even a little spicy. This year, for example, I grew an extra hot variety from Sandia Seed Company, and they grew beautiful peppers that tasted like sweet peppers. I've also grown a few varieties (Big Jim and Sandia Select) from the NM Chile Institute, and those were also sweet. I think my seeds are good quality.

My question is: what could be affecting the spiciness of my my chile?

I assumed that it might be too wet here to produce spicy peppers. So, this year I grew the peppers under an open high tunnel and severely limited their water. Still not spicy. My soil is very healthy, and I am very restrained in my use of fertilizer. What could be affecting the flavor? I've been through a variety of ideas--nutrients, day length, etc--but none of them make sense to me. Our climate is about 10 degrees colder than NM (our highs in the summer are around 95), so I don't expect my chile to taste the same as what my family gets in NM, but I cannot fathom why my chile doesn't get at all spicy.

For comparison, every other hot pepper I grow is spicy. HELP!

[webmaster]

I used to live in New Mexico. New Mexico green chiles are mild, on the same level as Poblano chiles.

Were you growing the Chimayo Chile that Sandia sells? There are two New Mexican varieties and the Chimayo is the hotter one, about four or five times hotter than the milder Hatch green pepper.

[pepperhead212]

Welcome to the forum, Tim!

I can't tell you much about milder peppers, like that. When I'm growing them, it's for the mild flavor, and sometimes I get a slightly hotter one, but it's always the production and other flavors I'm thinking about, so I can't really recommend any particular varieties. The suggestions by webmaster I'm sure would be more helpful.

Also, what kinds of peppers do you eat on a regular basis? I ask because I know from experience that by the end of the season, especially, I get "less sensitive", STS, due to a friend and I sampling some extremely hot peppers! They never loose all their heat, but none really taste hot, after a summer of sampling.