Hot Pepper.

Several factors play a large role in determining pungency or 'heat' of a particular pepper. Aside from genetics, environment plays a major role in determining chile pungency. The same variety can vary wildly from year to year or even plant to plant. According to Dave Dewitt, author of The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia, "soil, fertilizer, and stress from over or under watering; excessive summer heat, winds, and solar radiation; excess or lack of humidity; as well as ambient insecticides and air pollution" can all increase the pungency level of fruits. This was proven to me by accident when Susan Belsinger grew one of my white habañero peppers in her Maryland garden while I tested one of its brethren in my own garden. She reported that her harvest yielded fruits that were hot but nothing she couldn't handle. Upon trying a small piece of one from my garden she declared, with watery eyes, that they were much hotter than hers. Attempting to rate and compare heat levels is therefore difficult at best and at worst a little silly. For comparison's sake I have put together the following chart. As pointed out, your results will vary. From high to low pungency:

Supporting tomato plants helps control disease and makes it easier to harvest the fruit. The support systems I have seen for sale at garden centers are generally laughably short; a contraption three feet high and a foot around is not going to provide much support for a six-foot plant three feet in diameter. My grandfather favored large home designed tomato cages made from concrete reinforcing wire. The cages were 6 feet high and nearly three feet in diameter and provided support for lush growth and heavy yields. The cages had some drawbacks, however; they were heavy, hard to move, and they took up a lot of storage space. My father started out with stakes made of stout pieces of wood, but found they could be snapped easily when a strong, wet wind blew against a mature plant. He used 1/2-inch diameter by 10 foot long metal, electrical conduit for a number of years and found it worked well for tomatoes as well as eggplant. I usually cut the conduit into 8 foot lengths. It's light and easily pushed into garden soil, and is easily stored. The metal conduit lasts for years with virtually no maintenance. To tie the stems of tomatoes and eggplants to the conduit, I use plastic stretch ties (available at the nursery). Old pantyhose or cheese cloth work well also.