I bought some bhut jolokia seeds online and planted them in early May. I planted 5 seeds and only one actually survived although all 5 did sprout at different intervals but the other 4 mysteriously disappeared after sprouting. The thriving plant however has been growing very quickly and flowers on 4 of the points of the plant. The flowers are yellow bell types that open during the day for a few hours and close quickly, you can kind of see one of them in the pic. The plant itself is growing in a sprawl instead of up and I don't know if that is normal as these are my first attempts at this pepper type. The leaves are thick, waxy, kind of ovoid and have almost a heart shape at the end. I am worried because these leaves do not look like typical bhut jolokia and I am wondering if they change or if I was sold a completely different pepper plant and if so what is it? LOL Any help would be appreciated!

Bhut seedlings don't sprawl like that. Their flowers are white, not yellow, and the leaf shape is wrong.

Perhaps someone will be along and identify what you're growing.

http://www.storiestogrowby.com/stories/empty_pot_china.html
http://www.spiritofeureka.com/articles/cracked_pot_fable.htm

I am not a Chinese lit fan but, both stories fit to recognize jrosco's efforts!

It looks like this year is a bust. Salvage what you can this season. Next year will be better prepped and you will be more experienced.

Welcome aboard!

-Doug

You're a great guy in spite of what people say about you when you're not around ;-))

Don't know what it is, but a pepper it is not.

No, you didn't deserve to get screwed, that comment was not called for. The scammers on eBay prey on new growers who don't know any better. Now, if you do it again you'll get no sympathy ;-)

You now have a fresh start with good seed thanks to Bruce. Keep us up to date on how you make out and feel free to ask questions.

Bill

As far as prepping them, try throwing one in a spaghetti sauce. They are fabulous there, and the heat is pretty hot, but it's in the back of the throat in a sauce like that which is quite comfortable (unlike cayenne for example which I find is tip of the tongue).

Sorry to hear of your problem jrosko. I'm sure you'll do well with the seeds given to you!

Nice looking plant Tim!

Tim

I just dropped in because I'm curious. This seems like an appropriate thread for my purposes. I LOVE habaneros, for some years I was growing a mix of crossed/dehybridized plants, descended from Red Savina. The fruit came out in three different colors and shapes. But they were all very good. Then, I lost that seed. After two years, without success in getting it to grow, I purchased a plant, at our Farmers' Coop. I believe it carried a Bonnie's label. It said: "Habanero." Well, that plant grew about 3 1/2' tall, only setting on about twelve fruit. They looked like ghost peppers in shape. But they ripened to yellow, not red. Since I wasn't tracking ghost peppers (had no interest in them) I just thought, "Hey, that's a new shape for an habanero!"

When frost came, I harvested all the peppers, and within a couple of days I decided to cut open two ripe ones, and extract seed. I'm pretty resistant to capsicum, and I thought I'd just be real careful when I did this. Also, as is my habit, when I cut the first pepper, I took off a bit of the tip and tasted it... yikes! hottest habanero I EVER tried! The flavor wasn't fruity either.

Do you think this was a cross?

In October I visited my brother in NJ. He had received some plants from Cross Country Nurseries. A friend of his purchased an assortment and gave him about a dozen plants. I visited while he still had some pods on the plants. Two especially caught my attention. One was called pimiento de chiero (very small fruit). It, nevertheless, had excellent flavor. They other was longer than wide, about 1 1/2" long and yellow. The fruit was somewhat crinkled. I thought it might be a kind of aji. Anyway, that one had fantastic, citrus type flavor. I saved seeds and plant to grow both of these in 2013 (but not ghost peppers).

Thanks for your time and comments.

George
Tahlequah, OK

What it said was "World's Hottest Habanero", which turns out to be Chinense fatalii (or just fatalii) from Africa, a very hot pepper - 125,000 to 300,000 SHU.

This is a great pepper. I've taken a good 150 pods off mine. The flavor is described as "citrousy", which I only really get in guacamole, when it tastes like fresh orange rind. Otherwise typical habanero taste. They smoke, dry, and refrigerate very well, so I will have plenty until spring.

DMForcier, thank you for the input on my pepper. As is normal, by this time of the year, I can't find the label. But I'm sure you are correct. I still have a dried Chinense fatalii on my table, and find myself taking another nibble each day. I just cannot believe how hot it is!

I went through Cross Country Nurseries' website and believe the aji my brother gave me is aji yellow #2

Great discussion here!

George