Stefanie Galgon wrote:
>I have a question for you. To put it simply, I have heard that one
>should
>not plant hot peppers up wind from mild peppers in the garden, for they
>will cross-pollinate and the mild will produce hot. Developmentally
>speaking, what is your opinion on how this happens, when the "hotness"
>of
>the peppers is in the placenta?
I had never heard this bit of folk wisdom. I've done the experiment
numerous times, intermingling hot and sweet peppers in my gardens, both
in New England (where growing hot peppers is a challenge) and here in
Texas (where they grow like weeds). I've never noticed sweet peppers
getting hot. If the peppers that were cross pollinated were hot, the
"heat" would be in the seeds, and this may be where the idea got
started. Anyone else ever heard of this? Am I way off base?
Julia Frugoli
Dartmouth College
visiting grad student at
Texas A&M University
Department of Biological Sciences
College Station, TX 77843
409-845-0663
FAX 409-847-8805
"Evil is best defined as militant ignorance."
Dr. M. Scott Peck
