Ghost pepper plants

[Marco]

Anyone here have any experience with ghost pepper plants?

I was wondering if anyone can give any tips in zone 7a for growing outside then overwintering indoors? Growing outdoors is pretty straight forward. I'm curious about overwintering indoors. What are the general watering, light, humidity, temperature requirements?

 

[NYEric]

@Charles Ufford

 

[Tom-DE]

I grew it in my garden two years ago just for fun/fine memory...but I would not dare to try it. Since it was only for fun and my local garden center has them available every year, so I never thought about winterizing the plant. My former housekeeper had ghost pepper plants in her garden in Jamaica for years, so it is not an annual plant....
I would cut it back a little bit and put it by a sunny window during the colder months...you can try that if no one else here gives you better advice based on their experience...it won't hurt much if it fails.

 

[big923cattleya]

Marco,
Let me suggest joining the NGA, National Gardening Association. Easy to join, free and several forums there dealing with everything gardening from vegetables, to day lilies, to perennials, to trees, to shrubs, to fish ponds, to greens, to indoor gardening. Etc. etc.
They have some really good gardening people. A few know peppers.

 

[cnycharles]

Hello Marco, I’ve grown a few peppers in pots at work in Landenberg pa which is very near Longwood gardens. They love standard potting soil amended with whichever goodies you like to add, in black pots in full sun. If you don’t give them tons of fertilizer and start and keep them in smaller pots they will be smaller than in big nursery pots with lots of feed. A nitrate cal mag fertilizer would be better than ammonium type, again to help keep smaller and sturdier. To germinate easier, make the soil hot . Starting in small plugs, plastic dome covered, in full sun, and even with heat underneath when the sun isn’t out, will help kick them to germinate. Once fall temps start getting below 60, you could move them indoors for overnight, and then indoors with as much light as possible until room temps outdoors are present again. When moving indoors don’t let them be too wet, a little leaf flagging is better than too wet at this time

When I was still living in upstate ny Utica area I’d started an orange bell pepper plant into a rectangular window pot/tray but rainy weather kept it from growing, so I brought it indoors for the winter, and put it back outside when it warmed up again. It lived and made a few peppers next summer. Being in a small pot and not feeding when it was cool/dark helped keep it smaller, along with using cal mag nitrate fertilizers helped prevent too much growth

This last summer at work in big black pots I had newmex green chiles, Cajamarca, shishito, jays peach ghost scorpion peppers growing quite happily.

 

[Marco]

Hello Marco, I’ve grown a few peppers in pots at work in Landenberg pa which is very near Longwood gardens. They love standard potting soil amended with whichever goodies you like to add, in black pots in full sun. If you don’t give them tons of fertilizer and start and keep them in smaller pots they will be smaller than in big nursery pots with lots of feed. A nitrate cal mag fertilizer would be better than ammonium type, again to help keep smaller and sturdier. To germinate easier, make the soil hot . Starting in small plugs, plastic dome covered, in full sun, and even with heat underneath when the sun isn’t out, will help kick them to germinate. Once fall temps start getting below 60, you could move them indoors for overnight, and then indoors with as much light as possible until room temps outdoors are present again. When moving indoors don’t let them be too wet, a little leaf flagging is better than too wet at this time

When I was still living in upstate ny Utica area I’d started an orange bell pepper plant into a rectangular window pot/tray but rainy weather kept it from growing, so I brought it indoors for the winter, and put it back outside when it warmed up again. It lived and made a few peppers next summer. Being in a small pot and not feeding when it was cool/dark helped keep it smaller, along with using cal mag nitrate fertilizers helped prevent too much growth

This last summer at work in big black pots I had newmex green chiles, Cajamarca, shishito, jays peach ghost scorpion peppers growing quite happily.

@cnycharles - Thanks the for the tips. I opted for orange habaneros over the ghosts. I figured I’d be able to eat the habaneros easier than the ghosts.

I moved them from a 2” pot to 6” pot roughly 2 weeks ago. They will likely make it into a 1 or 3 gallon pot this weekend. they haven’t had much hardening off time outdoors I’m leaning more towards a gallon pot and give them a few hours of morning light over the next week with one final move into a 3 gallon pot.

 

[Marco]

Plants

 

[Ray]

In addition to jalapeño, this year I've got a couple of Biquinho (little beak) peppers going, They are also known as sweety drops, so they're not hot, but they sure are good on salads and when pickled. They are apparently a chile pepper that's native to Brazil.

 

[Marco]

@Ray - do you have a pickling recipe you can share?

 

[Justin]

These all sound delish!

 

[Ray]

@Marco - the only one I’ve used so far:

1 cup vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup white wine (chardonnay)
1.5 tsp salt

 

[cnycharles]

Cajamarcas are flavorful for salsas, have cool colors and do well in a small pot

 

[Tom-DE]

Thai chili is the new one for me this year.....not sure how to use it in cooking tho.

 

[cnycharles]

Thai chili is the new one for me this year.....not sure how to use it in cooking tho.

 

[NYEric]

@cnycharles - Thanks the for the tips. I opted for orange habaneros over the ghosts. I figured I’d be able to eat the habaneros easier than the ghosts.

Chicken!

 

[Marco]

Two months of growth. I just found fruit.

4/15

Today 6/16

 

[Marco]

These things pick up real quick

As of today

 

[cnycharles]

Yes the heat makes them pop!

 

[Marco]

First one that ripened on me. Felt like it was only right to eat it.

It’s spicy. And lingers.

 

[cnycharles]

Congratulations! My experience with eating commercial hot sauce mainly consisting of ghost peppers was likened to putting a propane torch in my mouth . But there are several colors/heat levels/flavors of ghost peppers so some may be ‘better’ than others. It’s a long hot summer! Many more peppers to come