Your nitrogen is to high. You should look at a low nitrogen high potas NPK.

Thanks for the input and your experience here. A few things:

– We mention that the grinding level is not a difference between the two. There are different levels of crushed seeing across commercial products.

– The difference, as you specify, is more between crushed red pepper and chile flakes (not “red pepper flakes”.) Chile flakes (or chili flakes) are from one pepper alone and tend to lean into flavor of the chili itself. Due to this they tend to remove the flakes and pith in the making of the flakes (to enhance flavor as the pith adds little but heat.) These tend to be labeled by a pepper’s name, like “Aleppo pepper flakes” or “chipotle flakes.” Red pepper flakes (as in “crushed red pepper flakes”) are more often than not the same as CRP. They may use multiple chili types and most contain the pith and seeds. But sometimes they don’t. I’ve seen jars sold in stores for both names that don’t appear to contain seeds.

– The seeds in chilies have very little capsaicin, if any. The heat in CRP is due to the white pith of the pepper being dried and crushed along with the fruit. For named chili flakes, it’s the pith (and the seeds attached to it) that are removed before crushing.

And the difference here, in my experience, Crushed Red Pepper is the whole peppers, seeds included; in contrast, Red Pepper Flakes are just the fruit of the pepper, without seeds. And most importantly, This Is Not A Subtle Difference. The seeds are where a lotta the capsaicin remains, and thus they add a lot of heat.

Again, this is in my experience, and your mileage may vary. The author’s points are otherwise very accurate; they are the same spice conceptually, the method the peppers are dried and crushed is the same, and any differences are either by chance or based on manufacturer choices. But in my experience, whether the seasoning still has the seeds is the main difference in those names. And that would cause a major difference in heat.

I got Cowhorn seeds as a gift from Totally Tomatoes and started them back in March. I’m ready to put them in the garden here this week. Your comment about aches and pains makes me happy. I suffer RA and OA.

Scotch bonnets are nowhere near hot enough to be among the hottest peppers. It’s 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville heat units, which we consider extra-hot, not super-hot on our hot pepper list. If you want to see where it sits on the Scoville scale, check out our full list. This page starts with chilies nearing or over 1,000,000 Scoville units.