Can You Grow Ghost Pepper Outside?

Requirements

• Ghost peppers are native to India and thrive only in high heat and humidity. The real difficulty is that these plants require these high levels of heat and moisture during their entire growing season, which lasts for up to 160 days, or more than 5 months. Very few climates in the world, and certainly none in North America, can support the pepper at high temperatures and humidity for this amount of time; therefore, you cannot grow the pepper outdoors in any of these areas.

Seed Germination

• Ghost pepper seeds are some of the slowest-germinating seeds, taking between 30 and 40 days to even begin to germinate. During this germination period, the seeds must be kept in soil where the temperature is consistently between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. During this time period, they must also be kept consistently moist, but not soaking, since too much moisture can drown the embryo of the seed. When starting the pepper seeds, many growers use grow mats with heaters attached or fluorescent grow lights to provide this high heat. The seed germination rate improves if the seeds are soaked in a mixture of 1 part bleach to 4 parts water for 40 minutes before planting, as a form of scarification.

Container Growing

• If your climate does provide high temperatures and high humidity for part of the year, container growing may be your best bet if you want to expose the peppers to some outdoor conditions. If you plant the peppers in containers, you can move them outdoors in the hot and humid summer months and move them indoors as winter approaches to continue to provide the 80- to 90-degree weather necessary for the plants to grow. Use fast-draining potting soil and keep it consistently moist, but not soaked. Too much water will kill the roots. The peppers should receive at least 6 to 7 hours of direct sunlight each day, or 10 hours under a fluorescent grow light.

Results

• Within 160 days, your peppers will grow to 2 to 3 inches long each, with the plant itself reaching up to 4 feet. The peppers will be orange or red and wrinkled or dented; this is natural, and does not mean anything is wrong. When harvesting or preparing the peppers, always wear protective gloves and keep the peppers, as well as anything that has touched the peppers, well away from your eyes, nose, ears and any other sensitive areas of the body.