Ghost peppers are one of the slower, fussier peppers you can grow. The seed can take weeks to come up, the plants want warm nights before they go outside, and the first harvest comes 100 to 160 days after transplanting. There’s a good reason that New Mexico State’s Chile Pepper Institute doesn’t recommend them for beginners. With a good head start indoors and a long, warm season, though, you can grow your own. The planner below works out your dates from your zip code.
Want to know how hot they get and what they taste like? That’s in our ghost pepper profile. This page is all about growing them.
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- Heat
- 855,000–1,041,427 SHU
- Start seeds indoors
- 8–12 weeks before your last spring frost
- Germination
- 7–36 daysIn soil around 70–85°F. Germination is slow. It can take more than a month, and occasionally up to 70 days.
- Harden off
- 7–14 days before transplanting
- Transplant
- After last frost, once nights stay at 50°F or warmer
- First harvest
- 100–160 days after transplantingThe first harvest can take up to 160 days after transplanting.
- Plant height
- 36–48 inchesPlants can grow taller than 4 feet.
Where these figures come from
- Start seeds indoors: Baker Creek, Bhut Jolokia (Red Ghost); Pinetree Garden Seeds, Ghost Pepper
- Germination: NMSU Chile Pepper Institute, Special Bhut Jolokia Growing Tips; Baker Creek, Bhut Jolokia (Red Ghost); Sandia Seed Company, Bhut Jolokia Red Ghost; Territorial Seed, Ghost (Bhut Jolokia); University of Minnesota Extension, Growing peppers; Nebraska Extension G1879, Garden Peppers; NMSU Chile Pepper Institute, Special Seed Starting Instructions; Utah State University Extension, Peppers in the Garden
- Harden off: UC ANR, Growing Peppers; Penn State Extension (Chester Co. Master Gardeners), Growing Peppers; Nebraska Extension G1879, Garden Peppers
- Transplant: University of Minnesota Extension, Growing peppers; UGA Extension C1005, Home Garden Peppers; NMSU Chile Pepper Institute, Growing Tips
- First harvest: Territorial Seed, Ghost (Bhut Jolokia); Sandia Seed Company, Bhut Jolokia Red Ghost; NMSU Chile Pepper Institute, Special Bhut Jolokia Growing Tips
- Plant height: Sandia Seed Company, Bhut Jolokia Red Ghost; Pinetree Garden Seeds, Ghost Pepper; Pepper Joe's, Ghost Pepper
When to plant ghost peppers where you live
Wait for real warmth. Ghost peppers can’t take frost, so plant them out after your last frost, once nights stay at 55°F or warmer and the soil’s reached about 60°F. The planner shows that 55°F date as well as the usual 50°F one.
Type in your zip code and you’ll get dates for starting seeds, hardening off, transplanting and your first harvest, all from NOAA frost data for your area, plus a check on whether your season’s long enough. For ghost peppers, that check matters. They ripen before frost in 56% of U.S. counties, and in another 38%, only the quicker end of their range makes it.
Starting ghost pepper seeds indoors
Start the seeds 8 to 12 weeks before your last spring frost. They need heat to come up, with the soil between 80 and 90°F, and a seedling heat mat is the easy way to get there. Even then, they’re slow, so expect anywhere from a week to five weeks and don’t give up on a tray too early. Got an older packet? Check how long pepper seeds last before you count on it.
Keep the mix moist, but never soggy, and once they’re up, give them bright light from overhead. A week or two before transplanting, start hardening them off by setting them outside a little longer each day.
Planting ghost peppers outside
Give them your sunniest spot, with full sun for most of the day.
Space them 12 to 18 inches apart, in rows 2 to 3 feet apart. And the plants can top 4 feet, so give each one a stake or a cage. There’s more on spacing in how much space pepper plants need.
You’ll want well-drained soil with a pH of about 6.0 to 7.0. A soil test tells you where yours stands, and our guide to the best soil pH for peppers covers what to do about it.
Raised beds covered with plastic mulch warm the soil faster in spring. If you’d rather mulch with compost, straw or wood chips once the plants are in, keep it off the stems.
Growing ghost peppers in containers
You can grow ghost peppers in containers, too. Use a pot of at least 5 gallons with drainage holes, and put a stake in it for a plant that can reach 3 to 4 feet. Once it’s big and setting fruit, expect to water every day. There’s more in our guide to growing hot peppers in containers.
Watering and feeding ghost peppers
Give them about an inch of water a week, and soak the soil when you water. Keep it moderately moist, never letting it dry out completely or go soggy, and water at the soil, not over the leaves. Our post on watering pepper plants has the details, and here are the signs of overwatering pepper plants.
Go easy on the nitrogen, since too much of it gives you a bushy, leafy plant that’s slow to fruit. Test your soil before you fertilize, and unless the test says you need phosphorus, use a low- or no-phosphorus fertilizer. Our guide to fertilizing pepper plants walks through what to use and when.
Getting ghost peppers to set fruit
First flowers dropping before they make any peppers? Don’t panic. That’s typical for ghost peppers, and the fix is to be patient.
The plants also struggle to pollinate themselves, and the Chile Pepper Institute suggests growing a habanero next to them for better pods. Our habanero planting guide has the timing for that. If yours are indoors, you’ll need to move pollen from flower to flower yourself with a soft paintbrush.
Heat can stall them, too. Very little pepper fruit sets once highs reach 90°F, so a hot spell in midsummer can leave a gap in the harvest. The planner shows when that usually happens where you live.
When to pick ghost peppers
Ghost peppers ripen from green to red, often passing through orange on the way. You can pick them green and use them. Or would you rather wait for red? Leave them on the plant to ripen fully.
Cut them off with shears or pruners, since pepper branches are brittle. And wear gloves. Ghost peppers will sting your skin and your eyes, so keep your hands away from your face until you’ve washed up, and know how to treat chili burn before you start.
If frost is coming and you’ve still got green ones on the plant, pick everything. You can try to ripen peppers (somewhat) off the vine.
Common ghost pepper plant problems
- Blossom-end rot: a brown rot on the bottom of the fruit, tied to calcium and uneven watering. See calcium deficiency in pepper plants.
- Sunscald: see sunscald on peppers.
- Curling or yellow leaves: see pepper plant leaves curling and pepper plants turning yellow.
- Aphids and spider mites: see aphids on pepper plants and spider mites on pepper plants.
- Plants that won’t grow: start with pepper plants growing slowly.
- A frost on the way: see will frost kill pepper plants?
For the rest, we’ve got a rundown of common pepper plant diseases and problems.
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Related reading
- The Carolina Reaper Planting Guide: Another long-season superhot, from seed to harvest.
- Ghost Pepper Vs. Habanero: How much hotter the ghost is, and how close the two taste.
- Pepper Companion Plants: What to plant next to your peppers, and what to keep away from them.