How to Plant, Grow, and Care For Ghost Peppers

One of the hottest peppers in the world, ghost peppers bring excitement to the edible landscape and the plate. The Indian cultivar represents centuries of foodways making their way to our home garden. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe explores how to grow the easy peppers if you’re up for their sensational heat.

At over one million Scoville units on the universal heat scale, ghost peppers are among the hottest naturally occurring peppers. They’re over 400 times hotter than a jalapeno and were the first to break one million on the index. The former world record holder remains a favorite among hot pepper enthusiasts and a staple in the fieriest of hot sauces and chile powders.

More than just commodified heat, the cultivar, also called bhut jolokia, is from India and infuses regional cuisine, whether sliced fresh, dried, ground, pounded, or pickled. Layers of flavor and spice are discernible to those with a honed palate, and they change depending on how the chile is used. An important part of cultural foodways, the pepper travels to our home gardens to delight and intrigue with novel, awe-inducing spice.

Peppers are an easy-to-grow summertime reward, and each plant produces numerous fruits as temperatures warm. From sweet and mild to robust and fiery, the nightshades run the gamut of flavor and spice. Ghost peppers aren’t for the faint of heart. Whether incorporating them fresh, dried, or in homemade hot sauces, the pleasure-and-pain spice comes with its own plant defensive warning; the king pepper is hot.
What Are Ghost Peppers?
Ghost peppers are a type of chile pepper that belongs to the same species, Capsicum chinense, as habaneros and Scotch bonnets. The heat- and sun-loving nightshades have a slow-burning, slightly fruity, ultra-intense heat to those who can pick up on the nuances.

The heat within peppers comes from the compound capsaicin, a well-adapted plant defense that’s an irritant to pests that may graze the fruits. The heat index used to measure peppers is the Scoville Scale, although climate, temperature, soil type, and growing location all have an impact on the heat of an individual pepper. Scoville heat units (SHU) measure the capsaicin in a pepper. Invented by Wilbur Scoville in 1912, it’s a range measure of how hot a pepper tastes.

The Carolina Reaper and Pepper X, among others, have bested ghost in terms of record-setting heat units, but that doesn’t detract from the pioneering chile. In addition to its role in cuisine, the Indian military used it to make tear-gas-like hand grenades to defuse incidents. An ecological study found success in coating native plant seeds with bhut jolokia powder to deter browsing mice in America’s grasslands.

Characteristics
The showy peppers measure two and a half to three inches long and ripen from bright green to bright orange-red to deep red. The scarlet tones and bumpy texture are external signs of the internal heat warning. Fruits mature at around 100 days from transplanting.

The leafy annuals can reach heights of several feet and widths of two feet. They’re prolific producers, and heat aplenty will come from the fruits of a single plant.

Handle the hot peppers and plants with care during harvest and preparation to avoid skin and eye irritation. Wear gloves when harvesting and pruning. Make sure to label them in the garden so you know what you’re working with, and keep them out of the reach of young children.

Native Area
Bhut jolokia is a hybrid C. chinense that originates in Northeast India. The cultivar is heat-tolerant and grows in frost-free climates. The species and other chile peppers trace their heritage to the lowlands of Brazil. The wild species with fruits the size of small cherries grew extensively in South and Central America and underwent cultivation by indigenous cultures.

Explorers from Spain, including Christopher Columbus, brought the peppers to Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. The nightshades, along with fellow family members the tomato, slowly made their way into cuisine.

Planting
Chilis are frost-sensitive and rely on warm air and soil temperatures for best growth. They grow easily from seed, soaking up summer sun for the plentiful, long-developing fruits. Space plants 18 to 24 inches apart for good air circulation to reduce the likelihood of diseases. Space rows two to three feet apart.

Crops in the nightshade family benefit from rotation yearly because they easily transmit pests and diseases. If you’re growing bhut jolokia in the ground, choose a spot where you haven’t grown other nightshades (eggplants, tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes, and other peppers) in the past year for a clean plot.

The adaptable, compact crops grow well in containers and raised beds, making them good solutions for small spaces, and if soils lack nutrition or adequate drainage.
How to Grow
Pepper plants are easy, forgiving crops with average cultural requirements for prolific fruiting. Ghost will want plenty of sun, moisture, warmth, and airflow for the best performance.
Maintenance

Mulch ghost peppers with a layer of clean straw, chopped leaves, or aged wood chips to provide insulation. Don’t crowd stems with mulch, as this can cause rot; instead, topdress the surrounding area to protect the roots.

Initially, let the sun warm plant roots for growth without mulch. When stems reach 18 inches tall, layer two to three inches of weed-free straw around plants. Mulch aids moisture retention, weed suppression, and soil temperature regulation.

While peppers are frost-sensitive, consider overwintering your specialty bhut jolokia. Mature specimens have established roots for earlier production and vigor—there’s no need to toss viable plants into the compost pile if you’re in a position to overwinter them.

To overwinter pepper plants, cut them back by two-thirds in the fall as temperatures cool but before frost. The thick, woody stems will produce new growth in the spring.

In frost-free climates, peppers survive winter outdoors. Move them to a protected spot away from drying winds. In cold climates, move plants indoors to a location with minimal light, like an unheated garage or basement. The goal is to keep the soil and roots from freezing temperatures. Water minimally and only when the soil feels dry to a depth of one inch.