A Scoville number on a seed packet is a tasting-panel average, not that plant in your pot. Three published jalapeño bands overlap. That overlap is the story. Stressing a plant will not push it into another species. Read the grower notes next to the cited bands.
Worked example: jalapeño
Ask three hosts what a jalapeño is and you get three honest answers that refuse a single SHU. IFAS treats it as a mild-hot garden pepper with cultivar bands. UF/IFAS gardening language stays in types, not lab units. Penn State says you cannot force heat by drought or neglect. Believe the overlap. Print a range, or print nothing.
| Host | What they print |
|---|---|
| IFAS TR010 / peppers pages | Cultivar bands. Jalapeño as a mild-hot garden pepper. |
| UF/IFAS Peppers | Garden heat language for common types. |
| Penn State Growing Hot Peppers | Heat as a range you cannot force by stress alone. |
Chile Pepper Institute at NMSU is the cultivar and heat-range cite. If a listing prints one number as if it were your fruit, ignore the number and keep the species name. Planting windows sit on Growing hot peppers in Central Florida.