Comments on: Bhut Jolokia: From Seed to Harvest & Beyond

By: Helen

Helen — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:11:51 +0000

Hi, A friend gave me a fully loaded Bhut Jalokia tree. It has tons of peppers on it. I have two questions: 1)It’s not very bushy. Should it be pruned? 2) I’m in Florida and in the winter we get some temps in the 30’s at night. Should I bring it in? Picture available! It’s a beaut!

Helen in Tarpon Springs

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:27:43 +0000

I’m afraqid all of my Jalokias aren’t going to turn orange or red before we get hard freeze. How cn I harvest the greens one and make them ripen?

By: New Orleans Honey

New Orleans Honey — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:40:51 +0000

Today was first time I saw this forum and may I say “Eliab you must be a master grower”. I tried to grow ghost peppers w/o much luck. My sons love hot things, they say nothing is too hot! I’m going to try to grow Ghost peppers again since reading your hints. I was doing just about everything wrong. First I need true Ghost seeds. We ordered from @ different places on internet and our peppers looked nothing like yours.Can you give me some info on finding TRUE GHOST PEPPER seeds.Oh I recently read that naga viper was crowned hottest pepper and then another article said another pepper is now the hottest. I can’t find that article to tell you the name. But maybe you know it already, if you do and if you know where we can get seeds PLEASE let me know.You can email me if you like with info.I can’t wait to tell my son how many things we did wrong with our hot peppers. No problem with our bells, all 3 colors did great.But I think peppers love New Orleans’ weather.Thank you for any info or help you an be.

By: eliab

eliab — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:55:45 +0000

You’re almost there! I’d say within 15-21 more days til they’re ready.

By: Bill W

Bill W — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:05:12 +0000

I purchased a mature bhut jolakia plant and now have nearly 20-30 fruit. The first of them have been on the plant for a month. I’m waiting for them to turn color. How long can I expect to wait? I am eager to try them.

By: Eliab Lozada

Eliab Lozada — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:27:03 +0000

It takes 5 months for inflorescences to set. These are not bellpeppers–these are buch-variety chillis, which are longer-season plants. they spend a considerable amount of time in veg, usually about 5 months, before any produced flowers are viable for fruiting.

give it time.

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:53:25 +0000

well It’s been a while since I posted here. I started the seeds back in September. 5 each of Bhut Jolokia and Red Caribbean Habanaro. 2 plants each grew up and now I am getting flower buds but they drop off before they open. I have to figure out a way to warm it up to above 80 degrees, stays about 75 to 78 right now. I will post new pics of everything today I hope, might be late tonight. I wish I could post pics straight to the forum but it does not look possible. Email and website are in my profile. Merry Christmas everyone.

By: Preston

Preston — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 20:32:22 +0000

I found these Bhut Jolokia in purple and grew them this year. They are as pretty as can be and as hot as they get. I actually have some for sale at my site

By: Eliab Lozada

Eliab Lozada — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:34:03 +0000

5 months of veg before flowers set fruit. Vegetate at 18-6 (or longer) during that time. # of set pods depends on many factors: increase P to boost pollen production. Fight the urge to hand-pollinate or yourblooms will abort. All they’ll ever need is a mild breeze from an oscillatingfan. Anything else is too rough on the pistils. Flowers set naturally, and their numbers will increase in subsequent waves. Although Jolokias produce flowers constantly, they usually set in waves and not continuously, so don’t freak out if your new flowers are just falling off while your plantis laden with fruit to ripen. It’s just too much work. 50 peppers per plant per wave is not a shabby number at all, especially for a plant that you can continue to reveg and flower for a few years!

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 05:42:13 +0000

I am looking for information as to how many Bhut Jolokia pods I might expect from a harvest? I purchased seeds from the New Mexico institute so I am pretty sure the plant will grow true to name. I am growing indoors and will hand pollinate. I am just curious how many pods I might get and in what kind of time frame? Will I harvest all at once then get another flowering or is it more of a continuous flow?

Thanks in advance for the info,
Brad