yup, 'twas me who posted such.
stressing has more to do with watering if the heat is there. the plant should actually just begin to go limp or drop some flowers before you water again. the problem is if you go too far it really just dies or takes forever to flower and fruit again.
did you know that a lot of pollen becomes inactive above 90 degrees? veggies like tomatoes just won't pollinate when it's that hot.
my first few years of growing hot peppers weren't very hot, just as many are experiencing. i read about the stress technique, and had subsequent good years of jalapenos, hot cherry, and even red savinas.
this year, we've had a lot of rain, so all of my hot peppers are wimpy.
i'm hoping that by letting them go longer on the plant, they'll get hotter. unfortunately, that darn little pepper weevil is back and is destroying much of my crop. i'm tempted to spray, but i won't. it's not worth adding the chemicals for what's gonna be a wimpy crop anyway.
getting back to the topic: the only other factor could be soil composition, but that gets kinda tricky. you need soil that drains well, in keeping with the watering idea.