How To Grow Bhut / Naga Jolokias
How to grow Bhut Jolokia chillies in the UK
This set of instructions are based on our experience of growing Bhut Jolokia chillies in England. For those of you not from England, we have a lot of rain, not much sunlight during the summer which generally makes growing chillies, especially the Bhut Jolokia very tricky indeed.
That said, it can be done and we have outlined our experience below.
If you are fortunate to come from a country with a hotter, sunnier climate then you should be able to grow some Bhuts, with relative ease.
When you begin to sow your seeds we would suggest a soil temperature between 80 to 90 degrees. You may need to use a propagation mat or electric propogator to supply enough heat, we find using airing cupboards very useful.
You can start your seeds in soil cups and use a rich potting soil mixture. Ensure they are kept in sunlight during the day and move to warmest place in your home during cool nights. Remember light plays no part in the germination process. It is the warmth rather than sunlight that causes seed to germinate.
You should keep soil moist and never allow it to dry out and never allow it to become soggy. The seeds can take up to 36 days just to germinate and 160 days before harvesting. Don’t loose heart and keep the faith – the little blighter’s will germinate soon enough! The Bhut Jolokia’s need warmth to germinate and you can buy special chilli germinating solution, so that your seeds can have a pre soak which will hopefully ensure a successful result.
We grow all out chilli plants in doors – they can be grown outside, but for us, this is a more difficult route. You can always consider growing them in containers, this way you can move them inside if it becomes to cool.
This type chilli does not seem to set fruit well, plants can flower, but then they drop off. Some causes of flower drop are the air temperature being over 95 degrees. Sometimes it can be too much nitrogen in the food, so be careful which fertilizer you use, we find it best to use manure or organic.
We had some plants a year ago, which grew well over year one but never flowered at all. We made sure that they wintered well and then we started year 2 with a fully grown plant, which could then focus on producing chillies. The second year was awesome, in terms of the amount of Bhut Jolokia chillies that grew.
As with all chilli plants, they are susceptible to attack and a light dusting with powdered lime with prevent most insects attacks.
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