Yes,John, our Bhuts look like your pics! Was your seed also from NM State University here in Las Cruces, NM? Though we have nearly 100 regular green (no name!)chile plants in our plot here in Albuquerque (they are over 3 ft. tall now & still loaded with fruit even after two pickings), we have only a dozen or so plants of the Bhut - just to see how they grew, heat, etc. here in high desert zone 7 this year. The seed was slow to germinate, plants slow to grow & late to blossom but are now putting on quite a few fruits. Can they be roasted like the regular green chile that we grow here? Hubby planned to dry & grind it for powder. Guess the seed x this year's will be crossed with the regular green, though most of the green had already been pollinated when the Bhut bloomed.

Interesting plants!

Thanks for everyone's input!

- vieja

vieja,

I ordered my plants from Cross Country Nurseries. They arrived in perfect condition and were very mature for seedlings.

Not sure why I didn't try and get seeds for them. Lazy I guess. If I had then would probably be a month or more from ripe pods so turned out well.

jt

I'm not growing Bhut Jolokia but they are the reason I have a re-newed interest in growing peppers again after a couple year break. I'm ordering seeds for next year's garden soon and getting my seed starting equipment/supplies out of storage now to get ready for a February start indoors under fluorescent lights.

Back when Naga Jolokia was first being mentioned along with its indian military designation of PC-1 some seed sellers were selling a Frutescens variety as Naga Jolokia/PC-1 to grabs sales off the hype in chile head circles. It wouldn't surprise me at all if a few seed dealers were still selling that same frutescens type pepper under the PC-1 label.

I also purchased my plants from Cross Country.The plants take forever to mature.The are also very suseptable to insect attacts,which limits there yeild.We recently harvested our first pod of the season.It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth the wait!The next day was not as much fun!

Adding to my posting ...

Our Bhut chile were slow in growing but are now over 3 ft. tall plants with loads of those wrinkled pods, three to a cluster (axil?) & they also are not a dark green but instead a yellow/green & turn orange right now. Hot? you betcha!! And the seed was from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. We live in Albuquerque where the Bhut was grown for the first time by us as a curiosity.

-vieja

Vieja have you made efforts to isolate your Bhut Jolokia plants from the other varieties you grow? If not then you have a hybrid pepper. The peppers in your pictures show a much different shape than all of the pics I have ever seen of Bhut Jolokia.

Ravi

I grew two of these plants from Cross Country and have many hundreds of peppers on them. I have picked about 100 of them so far that were red or deep orange. Most are going to a hot sauce, like tobasco, but some are going to hot sausage and fresh salsa. Makes very good, but very hot salsa. Even had a co-worker eat a red one whole. He survived. That was fun. I probaly have another 150 to 200 on the plants and if the weather holds up they will turn red and I can put them to the hot sauce.

One red pepper makes two quarts of the hottest salsa. I wouldn't go more than that unless you really like it hot. No one has reported a problem the next day, including the guy that ate the whole pepper. I doesn't have the same next day effect that many other hot peppers have. It is different. But they are the hottest pepper anyone here has eaten.

I have had no problems growing them. They have done really well. I may expand next year if the sausage sells and the hot sauce is good.

Ravi

Veoji got her seeds from New Mexico State. I am sure they are growing true. Now she grows them in her yard and a few might cross with some of her other peppers. However, for growth this year and taste, they will be the same. It will not be until next year growing the seeds from this year and a few plants might show a cross. For this year all her plants and pods will be just fine.

Even if she saves seeds almost all the plants grown from the seeds next year will be true plants and only a very few will be hybrids. Maybe none will be hybrids. First the Bhut is a c chinese and the New Mexico she grows are c annuum so there is a very very low chance that they will cross. also if they were to cross the plants should be easy to identify. For example the annuum have one pod per axial and the bhut apparently has 3. the pods are different. the leaves etc. the flowers etc.

And for all we know the hybrids, if any should appear next year, might be nice to eat also. In fact I can bet they would be very nice peppers to eat.

I would save seeds and plant them next year with no worries.

c. chinense crosses quite prolifically with c. annuum.

Dan, I read the New Mexico State article on their website and they state that Bhut Jolokia are indeed a mix of C. Chinense, C. Frutescens and C. Annum. This was determined by Genetic testing. Their pics also show a longer, more slender pepper as Bhut Jolokia. It is very interesting reading with the direct testing of an Orange Habanero, Red Savina and Bhut Jolokia. Viera's peppers look more "bulbous" than the Bhut Jolokia pics I have seen (and my own). John_showme_USA's pics are more indicative from what I have seen. I am by no means an expert--far from it--I am just stating my observations. I am sure those peppers are hot and delicioius--I just don't think they look like Bhut Jolokia's--no malice is intended toward Viera.

Regards,

Ravi

Just thought I'd share a pic of my Bhut's. They are probably the most slender I've seen of all the pics on this thread. I purchased the plant from Cross Country Nurseries.

Chris

trfanatic: I haven't sent any photos of our Bhut chiles ( referring to your post Sept. 4).... but seeing some of those that others have posted, ours do look the same. Yes, I suppose thay could have cross-pollinated but they were so much later that I doubt it ... anyway, they were just grown out of curiosity this year & probably not again. If we do, it won't matter if they have crossed as we don't sell seed or really care .. we just grow for flavor & heat.

I stand corrected. I am new to this "Forum" thing...the pics above are from "thepodpiper". My apologies.

Ravi

trfanatic:

I did finally (with a kind forum member's help!)learn to download some photos of our Bhut chile. posted them under "Bhut ...WOW" a few weeks back if you're interested.

-vieja

if this is the frist year Vieja grew the Bhut then she will not see any cross chiles untill next year. i grow all the Bhut,Naga, 7pot, and Scorpion. Each plant has all different shape and sizes,the Scopion some have stingers and some do not. 7pot some look like a bumpy Hab some do not.Bhut are longer then the Naga M , but have had some that are the same size.and be fore you ask there in the ground 2-3 ft awayfrom each other but i bag the flower before they open to get true seeds.growing for 35 years and four years on the nucs
Dan

LET IT BURN

p.s.7pot and scorpion frist year true sources same with the india types

I am in the Fla. Keys. In the early 1990's I found a wild
pepper growing on my property. The peppers were very small
and extremly HOT. The plant lasted several years. The
peppers were red,yellow,blue,and orange.I can't find
another plant like it.Can anyone help me fine another
one?
Thank you,
Smidgen

florita: Yes, our Bhut seed was slow to germinate also & seedlings slow growing at first (see earlier note on this posting by me); this year's seedlings already growing. Hubby had to wear gloves when picking the Bhut chile & he can eat some of the hottest of anyone in our area! I'll try & send a pic of his 'greenhouse' setup in the garage this year.

Here is a photo of hubby's homemade chile seed 'incubator'; seed planted a week ago has already germinated/2 inches tall!

Wow vieja, that is a very nice setup!

vieja- "Here is a photo of hubby's homemade chile seed 'incubator'; seed planted a week ago has already germinated/2 inches tall!"

Germination is excellent but 2 inches in that time sounds quite leggy to me.
The basic design looks good but it could be better.
Lower the lights and take off the domes when you get germination.
Some mylar on the box sides would help but get the lights closer for sure.

bjs33: No, the seedlings don't appear 'leggy' & yes, the dome covers on the Park's 'greenhouses were removed after good germination. The seedlings in their sponges will soon be transplanted into potting mix in individual disposable cups on a pan & will be on a bench in the garage under adjustable grow lights. Watered/fertilized from the bottom in the pans. Heavy aluminum foil drapes hang down from the lights for more reflected light.Not very professional but it seems to work every year. Next year Hubby will try & run the cord/chains from the light up through the top so the light itself is under the glass & more adjustable. So far-as expected- the Bhut seeds have barely broken the soil & only a few at that ... they sure always seem to take their time but do well at the end!

Appreciate your comments though.

Looks like Habaneros and Bhut Jolokias can cross!

In 2003, I grew a mixture of the four hottest Habaneros known at the time: Red Savina, Congo Black [aka Chocolate], Fatalii, and Devil's Tongue. I saved seeds from the best pods and grew them in 2004. I saved seeds from two plants that year that I called "Tropic Lightning" from the look of a vertical cut, for the 25th Infantry Division patch, and planted only them in 2005. Saved and grew the best in 2006 when those red plants spawned red, chocolate, yellow, orange, and even a couple of a very ugly greenish-brown [didn't save those seeds].

In 2007, I grew saved seeds from my best pods from 2006, and also grew some of the first Bhut Jolokia seeds sold by the New Mexico Chile Pepper Institute.

I was late planting my peppers this year [mid-May in Texas!], but I was careful to save seeds separately by pod type last fall from my best plants with the biggest pods as three types: Red, Chocolate, and Bhut Jolokia. I tracked them carefully by type since I started them in my greenhouse this spring.

In the last few weeks, a few of my plants have started to produce pods. Tuesday I noticed that the first pod on my largest 'red seed' plant had started to turn ripe. I inspected my other plants and found that one of my plants saved from Chocolate pods and two saved from Red pods were showing Bhut Jolokia characteristics.

On the Choc plant, the pods had all the characteristics of the BJ. Pebbled surface, trefoil cross-section, much longer than wide. On the other two plants, both had the pebbled surface. The second was half-length with the BJ trefoil shape. The third had the pebbly surface, but was involuted and just a bit longer than wide, more like a normal Habanero.

I've been growing habs in my NW Dallas suburban garden since 1993, and this year I have 70 hot plants. That's the news from Carrollton on the last day of July, where the temperature has cooled to 100F at 7 PM.

Started this one now in a 15 gallon grow bag from seed on Feb 22nd:

{{gwi:1193077}}

Bhuts started to ripen a week ago:

{{gwi:1193078}}

I have one that is just starting to flower. I also have nine more that are still in the juvenille stage. Great photos everyone.

Bhut seed from last year's plants were SO slow again to germinate (had a cooler Spring this year than last I guess) but eventually they all but one germinated, took forever to do much after being planted in the garden x the 'incubator' but now that the nights & days are hotter they have really taken off!! Those critters really make one wonder if there will ever be any crop .. hold you in suspense (!), but just when one is about to give up on them they 'go to town'!! Sure different looking plants from our 'Sin Nombre' & the fruit always looks as if they were so 'old & wrinkled'. Will start next season with fresh new Bhut seed from NMSU, Las Cruces again though. The 'Biker Billy' (we grow them from the seed of the best looking & hottest jals x the previous year)jals are even hotter than usual so they may have some of the Bhut in them though they sure don't look like anything but a big fat, smooth jal- no corking yet though.. Some of our "Big Jim" have grown so long they grew down, hit the ground & curled back up ... some even buried their tips in the ground! Hope the better shaped ones will make some good chili relleños later. Picked the first chili (29 lbs.) & roasted & froze it last week; haven't seen any in the stores here yet though nor smelled any of it in the air yet but the roasters are set to go in WalMart's parking lot just waiting!

Hopefully, the floods in Hatch, NM just recently will not damage the great crop they had growing ... maybe still can get to the fields to pick it.

teyi57:

Gosh, your's are really ahead of our's ... our's just beginning to flower. Are your's in the ground- like ours- or in pots? I see a lot of people are growing their's in pots. Guess you are in a warmer zone there in Texas than we are here.

So I am finally getting some ripened peppers. (Still orange, but turning darker orange). I wanted to know, are these peppers best preserved via drying or freezing whole?

Also, looks like the weather is going to start turning cold soon, any advice on transplanting these plants from the ground to above ground pots to take inside for the winter?

Bhut Jolokia-India Carbon (the seed source)

I over wintered a Bih Jolokia and it did well producing earlier than the plants I started from seed this year.

How did you overwinter, and was it an in-ground plant that you dug up and potted? That will be my situation...

No it had been in the ground but I have dug up and potted plants to overwinter. Dig up a nice sized root ball.

Well after 9 agonizing months (thats right, I started these from seed in January) I finally have the first batch of peppers in!

[img]http://karlfrinkle.net/karl/DSC07716thumb.jpg[/img]

[img]http://karlfrinkle.net/karl/DSC07717thumb.jpg[/img]

[img]http://karlfrinkle.net/karl/DSC07718thumb.JPG[/img]

I actually harvested two early ripeners last week, and they were evil hot. These are getting dried or used in a few meals. I currently have one in a pot or rice I am making, then will put that pepper in a thai dish I made.

Ack... wrong code to get my images displayed... Let's try this once more....

{{gwi:1193081}}

{{gwi:1193082}}

This year, I am going to experiment with two batches.

The first batch of Naga will be planted in house tomorrow meaning 28th October and I hope to raise it indoors throughout the winter months in Detroit.

But the real large scale batch will be in February 1st week. Again this will be indoors and will be brought out some time end April after the last frost.

Its a good thing that I have a large shaded space so I am not much worried about frost that much.I plan on planting about twenty plants and final selection will be of ten out of them.

Can also offer seeds in exchange for Naga.

Nga Jolokia Addict

Friends,

I have a blog dedicated to Naga Jolokia and hot peppers.

Any body interested, can visit,

http://sambarpodi.blogspot.com/

Naga Jolokia Addict

Ipurchased my Bhut Jolokia plant on Amazon.com about 2 months ago for $7 and I have to say. I am very happy with how fast it is growing and producing peppers.

I would like to upload some pictures of it but can't figure out how. Can someone help with that? Thanks.

Hello tomtruck and welcome to GardenWeb.

How to post photos, as well as other interesting stuff, can be found in the FAQ section of this Forum. You can find it at the top of the Forum page.

I've linked it below.

Rick

Here is a link that might be useful: How to include pictures in your posts

Thanks Rick.
I will give it a try.

Since I have been looking at some of the pictures of other peoples peppers, I am wondering if I truely have a Bhut Jolokia plant.
What color are the flowers on the Bhut Jolokia plants?
My peppers seem to be a little more full then some of the others I've seen.

Thanks.

The chileman.org database entry has a description of the flower as well as photos of the fruit and the flower.

You can also Google Images for "Bhut Jolokia flower" for more examples.

Rick

Here is a link that might be useful: thechileman.org Bhut Jolokia

Can I formally request these seeds here?

How come there peppers look nothing like the Naga Jolokia peppers I have.

{{gwi:1193083}}

From what I read Bhut is the same word as Naga.

The Bhut seed we purchased from NM State University a few years ago was labelled "Bhut jolokia" & was 50 cents a seed I think then. It does not look like the photo submitted above at all; the ones we have are half the length, wrinkled, some uneven & turn from a lemon yellow to orange to red when ripe.

Don't trust wikipedia :)

Also, can anyone tell me how long it takes for the Bhut to finally start changing to orange and red? I've got alot of them that are about 3-4 inches long and still green! It's my first year and I think I've done pretty well, but I'm just getting too excited to wait much longer!

peterspepper:

The Bhut (couple dozen plants) in the garden are still greenish/yellow so haven't begun to turn orange to red yet ... but they will! I posted a photo of ours last year on the chile site I think ... somewhere... but they look like the photo of john47 above on Oct. 20, 2008.

Our friends who claim to be able to eat the 'hottest'! say the Bhut we gave them gets even hotter after you swallow/eat it & none will try it again! One said it was 'hotter coming back up than going down'! (Does flavor really coinside with 'heat'?!)

Young Guns & Gillis green chile x Hatch, NM is ready in the stores here now. Local WalMart selling 30 lb. bags roasted for $15.88 yesterday. The Gillus bag said "Barker" chile ? but the medium was completely lacking in 'heat'!

vieja, I sent you an email about trading seeds. Hope it didn't get sent to the spam filter.

RE: pkapeckopickldpepprz

That's because those peppers are NOT Nagas, they are a Cayenne type probably C. Annuum. I.E. One pod per node, no rough and dented appearance, and not conical shaped (like a cone or wedge). And of course, they are probably 9,000 SHU at best.

Here is a Bih I have growing.

{{gwi:1193084}}

The few Bhut we grew again this year are just now setting fruit but are already odd-shaped & wrinkled. Hubby just grows them for powder after he dries & grinds them. They always germinate so slow & grow so slow at first but then catch up to the Barker, Heritage Big Jim, NM Heritage 6 & our own 'Sin Nombre'. Seed purchased from NM State U. in Las Crucws, NM. & they went back to the old original Big Jim & NM 6 seed to 'reclaim' the better chili flavor x those old varieties. Hubby's ten dehydrators & one mixer/blender are kept in the garage & are used for nothing else... the fumes linger there year round!Second picking of the Big Jim & so far have picked 63 lbs. & roasted & frozen; the Barker was roasted, peeled & dried & ground for powder like the Bhut. 'Senior years' has lessened the ability to eat the EXTRA-HOT 'Sin Nombre' any more! Very hot & dry weather here this year so the chilies must like it! They are on soaker hoses on timers. Hatch though has gotten a lot of rain so hope it doesn't hurt their crops this year.
Sad as I've heard some 'Hatch' labelled chili is coming up from Mexico but the local stores have the Hatch farms names on the labels so think those are legitimate.

Good luck all chili growers with your crops this year!

Wow, this is an old thread. Out of curiosity when was the "Bhut" pepper released for sale?

Greg
Nevada

Yes, hard to believe I started this old thread three years ago ...
NM State University, Las Cruces, NM starting selling the seed about 4-6 years agoI believe as that is when my husband first bought the seed (50 cents a seed!). He likes to get & try the new seed they either resurrect or develop new to try it out. He is now trying the 'new'/old Heritage Big Jim & Heritage NM6 seed this year x NM State U.

I finally got a few peppers from gypsy2 on here and I traded him some Naga Jolokia seeds (the cayenne type) the peppers were super hot but they just remind me of a habanero only hotter. I guess I'm not a fan of the flavor of Chinense peppers. I still planted the seeds I got out of the peppers he sent. A few just sprouted over the weekend so I may get peppers before winter even planted this late, but being in Florida I usually still have peppers in December/January.

I did like the Habanero/Jalapeno hybrid I got from someone here a couple of years ago as it seems like a hotter Jalapeno with Jalapeno flavor dominating.