Ghost chili pepper - The hottest pepper in the world!!! 1,100,000 Heat laval ( Was $14.99/$6.54)

Hot Peppers Need Hot Weather C. Fugate #2011-03-02

I bought these from Think Geek instead of Amazon, and they're amazing. However, I've seen several reviews with low ratings claiming that they never grew, so I thought I'd add my review with a few tips and tricks to growing these mind-blowing peppers.

1) Ghost Chili's require hot temperatures to grow in. More specifically, these pepper seeds will not germinate in soil that is under around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. This means you need to grow them starting in late spring or even early summer if you don't want to use artificial means, to make sure its hot enough for them to sprout. If you want to grow them earlier or in the winter, you may need to heat the soil yourself. A simple heating pad wrapped around the pot set on low is typically sufficient. Ideally they like 75-95 degree temperatures.

2) You can affect how hot the peppers will be based on how you care for them. The more stressed the plant is, the hotter the peppers will be. Make sure you plant and feed your peppers while growing, but once they start producing fruit, cutting back on their water from time to time will make them hotter. Also, if you cut back on the fertilizer (Nitrogen, specifically) while they are fruiting, you'll get hotter peppers as well. Humidity also affects heat. The higher the humidity, the hotter the pepper (good news for people in the South!). And finally, the air temperature when the chili's ripen affect how hot they are as well, hotter it is outside, the hotter the peppers will be on the inside! If you keep them unstressed and in a dry climate, the peppers will end up being sweeter. They'll still be the hottest thing you ever put in your mouth though, so if you're not used to stressing plants without actually hurting them, its better to be kind to them than try to maximize their heat. Its not like your tongue will know the difference between 850k and 1 mil scovilles anyway.

3) Ghost Chili's like neutral to slightly acidic soil. A PH of 5-6 is ideal, but your standard 6.5 potting soil will be just fine. If you're not experienced with mixing your own soil, don't try it (you'll just kill the plants), use whats in the can and get regular mix from Walmart when you're ready to transplant.

4) Don't grow these in the can. Not that there's anything wrong with the can per say, it is rather small (picture looks like its coke can sized, its not, its maybe half that size). You'll need to transfer the peppers to something bigger sooner than later, and they'll be rather young when they start to outgrow the can. Moving them at that age is stressful, better to avoid it altogether by just starting with a larger pot to begin with.

Ghost Chili's can be a little particular when sprouting, but they grow very well once started and they provide you with a once in a lifetime experience (because you'll never be dumb enough to bite into one a second time!). For $10, you can't go wrong with these things. And on the up side, after slipping a few of these into your cooking, you'll never be pressured to bring a side dish to a dinner ever again! ;)

Cool idea----if it had worked. Heather Tallman "Zel #2010-06-06

I got the pepper for my mom and she got it REALLY fast. It came way earlier than expected which was awesome. However Nothing ever grew!! The nifty pepper-in-a-can was watered according to the directions, carefully and diligently. However after a month, and still no sprout, my mom dumped everything out looking for a buried plant. However there was nothing to be found. Perhaps ours was just a dud.

another dud Darwin #2010-07-03

one more can with no seeds, no plant, should have just purchased bag of seeds for $3

Very Unhappy ARTHUR LANDAU D #2010-06-28

Nothing Grew, I have a can full of wet vermiculite. No seeds no plant. Nothing

chilligrower reader1 #2011-04-18

I purchased this product for my husband. Him and his friends had heard about the Ghost Chilli and had all wished to see who was the bigger man by eating one. Anyway I read the reviews for this product and was a little sceptical, but bought it anyway thinking that it was about 50/50 chance something grew.

I bought this product in February of this year and we live in Wyoming so it wasnt the warmist time of our year, but now in April we have several leafy sprots coming in. I will say that my husband has been dilligent with the temperature. He would check the soil with a therm. every so many days as well as checking the water level to make sure it had just enough water. He placed it in the sunniest part of our house that gets direct sun light all day long.

As for some of the comments that there were no instructions with their product. Our's did. It was a small portion of the cardboard wrap around packaging. It tells you how to open the product, what kind of sunny light and soil temp. it needs, and how to water it. We followed this little directions religiously and we are seeing things happin.

Cool Idea - Two Sprouts Came Up Shortly After 1 Month G. Weiss "Paradise" #2010-07-26

I originally posted a 2-star review stating 'nothing happened and it's been a month'. One week later two sprouts popped up and they've been growing great since!

Host chilie grow kit Carlos R. Sanchez #2010-05-24

My 10 year old son saw the cooking channel and they used a ghost chilie which is to be the hottest pepper in the world. I tried finding it in several grocery chains in San Antonio to no avail. I then found this kit available for sale on Amazon and ordered it right away. It arrived within days and made for a great gift. He has followed the easy instructions and it has begun to grow. We are so delighted to see it's progress and I'm am happy it was availabe to purchase as it also helps to spark the interist of a child. Better this than anything video game related. Hery happy about this product.

Ghost chili in a can, great item chilipro #2011-12-05

Please do not listen to the writers who had bad experiences. These seeds in cans are a good product, but additional information will help you to be successful. I have purchased a dozen of these cans and I have gotten plants from every can. You must be patient and keep the cans in a warm area of your house. I keep the can under a grow light and near a heat vent to keep it warm. The seeds do not need light to sprout but warmth helps a lot. Experts say ideal is for the dirt to be 80-90 degrees F. Germination can take 1-6 weeks so do not throw your cans away. Be patient! I have gotten 3-6 seedlings from every can. Water the seeds, then re-water when the top of the planting material is dry. The last can I bought I successfully got 4 plants started, and my current can just sprouted a plant after a week because I concentrated on keeping it warm.

After the seedlings sprout let them grow for a time in the can. Water when the material they are growing in is dry on the surface. They hate too much water and will die quickly if over-watered. Wait until the seedlings have 4 leaves before transplanting. Dig deep when getting the seedling out of the can to transplant because the roots go straight down. Scoop down twice as deep as the plant is above the ground. They need to grow inside for 8-10 weeks before planting outside, and they take 160-180 days from planting to harvest. So calculating the time needed for germination and inside growth you need to start 12-16 weeks before you plan spring planting, then an additional 5-6 months for harvest. Total time can be 9-10 months start to finish. So if you plan to plant March 15th you need to start now. These chili peppers take a long time but are definitely worth it if you like hot chili peppers. Good luck, have fun.

JSB John S. Burnett "Mrd #2011-11-30

I was at first skeptical about purchasing these seeds. It seemed a little too unusual. I was not very familiar with the ghost chili peppers.
However after buying the product and using it I was surprised at how well the peppers grew. I got 3 very healthy plans out of these seeds with multiple very hot peppers! I transplanted 3 plants only because I had limited growing space and did not use all of the seedlings (next year I am expanding!).
With patients I was able to produce very hot peppers.
I am looking forward to purchasing the seeds again.
Would recommend that you find a sunny spot that is not 'cold' and not 'too hot'. Water frequently but don't drown them either. Also if you live as far north as I do, start early!!

Be careful - they are hot.

3 plants from one pot Wesley Wong #2011-08-17

I actually got this item as a gift and it's worked out great. I watered my can during the winter and kept it on south facing windowsill for a few months. The initial growth took about 6-8 weeks to show up for me. Eventually I had 13 sprouts show up, but most eventually died off and I was left with 3 pretty hardy plants. When the plant got to be about 4-5 inches tall, I repotted them and put them outside in direct sun once the weather got warmer. They grew quite well and as of this moment, one plant has about 7 ripe chiles on them while the other two are putting out green ones. They stay green for a long time it seems and then transition to red practically over night.

I see quite a few negative reviews on this product and I'm pretty surprised since I've had GREAT results from mine. I'd imagine some if it might be user error (though we obviously never like admitting that) and some of it might be legitimate dud products. Results may vary of course.

Also, since positive reviews amongst a sea of negatives are oftentimes greeted with a little skepticism, I've uploaded a few customer photos to show my results.

No seed in can! Dinguscirc #2011-07-03

I followed the instructions and placed the can outside in Summer Desert heat. The plant never sprouted. I sifted through the can and there was no seed in the can.

They Stand by Their Product!!!!!!!! Colin R. Fitzpatrick #2011-04-22

"The Magic Plant" stands by their product. The first plant I ordered did not grow at all. I followed the directions to the "T" supplied with the product. I was so mad I gave them a poor review on Amazon. They contacted me immediately to find what the problem was. Without hesitation, they refunded my money that included shipping. To my surprise I found a small box in my mail the other day. As I opened it I noticed another plant that I was not charged for. I'm in process of trying grow it now, and do not know if it will grow or not. Neither the less, The Magic Plant gets a 5 star rating from me!

5 stars since it grew new2thegame #2011-03-08

Bought this through thinkgeek.com Followed directions, watered it fully and drained, sprinkled some water on day 8 cuz it seemed dry. Then fully watered and drained again on day 12. The thing is sitting on my desk at work where the temperature is climate controlled and stays about 75 year round. I was worried it was too cold because they are supposed to germinate in 80 - 90 degree air. There is zero sunlight in my office, just bright florescents that stay on about 14 hours a day. Day 12 was a Friday, came in on Monday and there were 2 little sprouts!

The internet tells me that it probably won't get huge and make tons of peppers unless it gets real sunlight, but we shall see. Fun 4 bucks to spend.

mine has began to grow tmarm #2010-11-30

we are growing ours indoors since its super cold in ohio. i got mine for a friend to grow. he left it in his windowsil starting the middle of october (20th i think). it is now nov 30th and it has just began to sprout up thru the vermiculite. i think the can said it would be sprouted in less time...but so far its doing great!

ghost chili dale 1 #2010-07-07

i bought the ghost chili package and water as needed but got no plant i had two of them and neither one came up?

Pepper In A Can hancockld #2010-07-06

The can came fast, watered per directions for one month and nothing grew. I would not buy one of these, should have read all the reviews before I bought one. Seems like a scam.

Ghost chile in a can Steve #2010-07-07

Plant arrived very quickly. However I was expecting a plant, not seeds in a can. and got no instructions with it . I assumed you pull the pop top [or bottom], put the plastic cap over it and water. Anyway it worked. Seeds sprouted in a week, . Weather has been warm, with lotsa rain in SW Florida which is maybe why mine grows and others don't.
I emailed the company but have not heard how to transplant a metal can of vermiculite . When big enough I will pull all but one sprout, wait for peppers to ripen, and gather seeds for the next one to plant in soil.
I have to admit is is a novel idea

Waiting to hurt myself Pip #2011-12-13

I bought this a last month sometime. I have one tiny little sprout growing in. At this rate it should be a year or so before I can make Death Tacos.

Disappointed Manu Thomas "Manu" #2011-10-05

Please don't let my title fool you....my plant grew perfectly and the color on my peppers are a bright orange. I'll get to why i'm disappointed later.

1. As a previous reviewer wrote you have to plant these in late spring. Follow the instructions with the can and it will be fine. I kept it in the can until it actually grew over 4 stems. Getting it out of the can witout destroying the root was not easy in anyway.

2. Plant in a large pot. My plant was on my balcony with FULL SUN and i watered it everyday. I used Mircale Grow Soil with food. As the plant continued to grow i added used EGG Shells to the soil. I continued to water it when the soil got dry as it got bigger. I wish i could add a picture of my peppers but i don't feel like adding a video review. The color is beautiful

3. Full SUN all the time.

4. Pull the plant back inside if the weather drops below 50.

the reason why i am disappointed. It wasn't as intense as i thought it would be. I guess i built up the pain index thinking it was going to be insane heat requiring gallons of milk to be spread on my face. I thought of Homer Simpson and Guatemalan Insanity Pepper....but it didn't happen that way. I did eat it raw...don't know if that had anything to do with it.

Plant rocks...don't be fooled. People may have gotten bad plants. I was scared when i first got it because i thought it was a dud. Give it time, water & sun (basic plant stuff) and it will grow painfully slow.

Save Your Money J-Fo82 #2011-10-04

I bought this not even 3 weeks ago from Pepper Palace for around $10. Although it seemed like a good idea at the time...it's a waste. Within 1 week, 2 sprouts came up and everything seemed okay. I took care of them and everything...Now...they're both dead. You're better off purchasing seeds from an independent grower for WAY less than what this thing is worth, or purchase the peppers themselves, take out the seeds and store them in your freezer in a plastic bag until planting season.

Cute idea, but toss the can! Jmarie #2011-09-28

I let these germinate and grow in the can. I had 5 ghost chili sprouts after about a month or so of germination (maybe more, like a month and a half). I thinned it down to 3, thinking 5 would be too much for the can. Then I took 1 seedling out and planted it in my garden - it's now 3' high but no peppers, just buds. The other two seedlings got to the point where watering them every 5 hours in the can wasn't enough. I put them in a garden box instead, and tossed the can. Seriously, toss the can from the start or just buy the seeds. The can MIGHT be able to support 1 plant - then, of course, you won't get peppers (or at least not good ones) without cross pollination. I have already had 1 marble-sized red pepper and I have 2 more quarter-diameter peppers on the plant yet to turn red from the 2 in the garden box. The marble-sized one was a mild ghost, compared to ones I've had in the past, but still much hotter than a habanero! If the peppers aren't germinating, make sure to keep the lid on the can and keep the can in a warm to hot area with lots of sun (75+ in the can) for at least two months before giving up. I grew ghosts from seed and they sprouted in 3 weeks, but these seeds in the can just took that much longer.

Waste of money Christopher J. Sofia #2011-09-08

I opened/planted the Bhut Jolokia plant at the beginning of the summer. I followed the instructions that it came with and here I am in the first week of September with no peppers. NOTHING grew, not even a little sprout of what could have been a pepper. It was a waste of time and money.

Not Really A Plant Tall Tales "NC Guy" #2011-08-08

To call a seed a plant is like calling an egg a chicken. This is an overpriced single seed in a drink can. I hope it grows, but based on the reviews (...which I wish I had read before purchasing) the chance of this "plant" producing peppers is not so hot. (pun intended). Now I wish I had the drink in the can instead. That would have been more useful.

3 cans purchased, 4 plants yielded Ryan L. Wilkinson #2011-08-03

These were given as a gift and so far they have been outstanding. After the sprouts grew to about 3 inches, I repotted them. 3 of 4 are now waist high. I haven't gotten any peppers yet, but they should be coming soon. I keep them on a screened in porch with direct sunlight for about 4 hours a day. They need to be watered regularly to keep from wilting.

I'm not sure about the other reviews stating that they didn't receive a seed. I got 4 plants from 3 cans and could not be happier with this gift.

Don't try growing the Bhut Jolokia in Northern New England Mark Breen "jolokia" #2011-07-26

I purchased this item on Amazon in May because I love eating super hot peppers, but the result has been a huge disappointment. For the cheap price it was maybe worth trying as an experiment...but never again. Not having a particularly green thumb, I should have listened to all the other negative reviews. I followed the instructions exactly and the seeds never sprouted at all. I read that this chili needs constantly warm temperatures, above 75 degrees F to grow. That may explain why I haven't seen anything yet. We had a cold, wet spring and a cooler than normal start to summer. If I try an experiment like this again, it will be with plants that have already sprouted.

Bhut Jolokia / Ghost Chili John R. Larsen #2011-07-01

I thought I had ordered more seeds than just one but this is a self contained growing system. On our window sill in this mild spring and summer, the aluminum growing container helps give the pepper plant the warmest soil condition for optimal growth. Although the package says one seed, five sprouts did start in the container. I just carefully scooped out three of the sprouts and transplanted them into other containers. As long as these are true bhut jolokia plants, I am quite happy with the results.

Do you feel lucky?? GFD #2011-06-30

I figured by reading other reviews this was a crapshoot. And I lost. I followed the directions and nothing grew.

Have a little patience people Greg #2011-05-08

Like other people have said, these peppers need hot weather and need time to germinate. Mine sprouted in about 2-3 weeks. When it was warm outside I used a 20oz plastic soda bottle with the bottom cut off to act as a makeshift greenhouse for the peppers. It fits perfectly around the small planter and keeps the seeds hot and humid, especially during the night. The average temp was 70s-80s during the day and 50s-60s at night. Then when we had a few cold days I just kept it inside around 70 degrees. After a couple of weeks I finally have two small sprouts appearing.
Just have patience people. Don't discount your plant before you give it time.
Thanks for creating an awesome fun and simple product Magic Plant!!!

Great Idea but not easy to do. Joseph Miller "Stix" #2010-03-18

Revisited this review and just wanted to say you need this in a hot area. Mine sprouted and I tried to move them from inside the house to outside and they wilted and died. The product is fine and works but these peppers are very hard to grow. I did get another to grow but need very high temps 85F and very little water. To much kills them aswell as they will rot. The peppers are hotter than most. They are very edible but they are very different from most you may be used to. For one they smell very smokey almost BO like. Yet they taste fruity at first and a slow rolling mack truck sneaks up and hits ya.

The heat eating by itself is pretty intense. Not like the morons on youtube but it will make ya sweat and if on an empty stomach it could make ya ill for a bit. Other than that just a buyer beware that these are very hard to grow,

pepper in a can Clyde Fulton Mallard #2010-05-14

the seeds just sprouted about a week ago. it took them two weeks to sprout