Is Bhut Jolokia, Ghost Pepper, Pest-proof?

[TorturedSoul]

So the depression has been more significant this year than on average and I ended up missing my window for planting a garden. I was at the store a couple days ago and they had some miserable looking unsold plants discounted to a dollar each. I looked them over and one was a bhut jolokia, so I bought it.

I've read that it's wise to wear gloves when tending a garden that contains these things, because apparently they can burn the skin. Is this true? More to the point, does this constitute a valid defense against pests? Insects, mainly, but slugs too?

I'm thinking about trying to grow it as a container - and to move it outside on the hot sunny days and inside for some LED goodness on the cloudy days. But I learned long ago that this was a great way to transport spider mites (et cetera) into the indoor garden. So I'm wondering, specifically, if it would be safe to do so with the ghost pepper plant?

 

[Carcass]

So the depression has been more significant this year

I hear you on that,hard to get even the small shit done,let alone the big stuff...

Ghost peppers themselves are hotter than hell,but the leaves aren't-so aphids and thrips love 'em-not sure about spider mites,though.

You should wear gloves when handling the actual peppers- a million scovill units is a lot of capsaicin.. .Jalapenos are only about 8,000, and they're as hot as I can handle
You don't want to even think about rubbing your eye (or even picking your nose) if you've got
ghost pepper residue on your fingers...it is seriously hot stuff...treat it like battery acid.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I hear you on that,hard to get even the small shit done,let alone the big stuff...

Makes it difficult to interact with people. Some weeks, this forum is pretty much it for me. Other times... I've been talking to someone and "suddenly" had them very loudly ask something like, "Is something wrong? You've just been staring off into the distance without responding."

<SHRUGS> Other days, well, you manage to fake it enough to more or less get by. Life...

Ghost peppers themselves are hotter than hell,but the leaves aren't-so aphids and thrips love 'em-not sure about spider mites,though.

Well shucky-darn, lol. I've heard and read that one should use gloves around them, so I must have just assumed that the entire plant produced lots of capsaicin. They probably mean "when picking the fruit," then? When I did last minute garden-creation/stocking for Mom the other day I ended up with a burning/itching rash along both arms, face, neck, part of my back - basically wherever I could reach to wipe sweat or scratch an itch whilst working out there, I suppose. And - apparently - I didn't get my hands washed off enough when I went in to urinate, because, well...

But I planted some tomato plants for her, too, and they've always given me issues, so it was probably just a much more extreme version of that reaction for some reason or other. Or maybe something in the soil, soil amendment, or fertilizer that I added (IDK).

You should wear gloves when handling the actual peppers- a million scovill units is a lot of capsaicin.. .Jalapenos are only about 8,000, and they're as hot as I can handle

They don't even seem hot at all to me, most of the time (might be due to the local climate and the fact that I don't "water-stress" them much?). I love various types (colors) of habanero peppers though, and they DO seem pretty spicy. When I grow them, I sometimes make some hot pepper vinegar; that's a treat with the cucumbers and onions, lol. Guy that used to run the local dojo came in with some hot pepper sauce one day and a box of saltine crackers. He was placing a drop on each cracker and passing them out. I, being a complete moron the adventuresome sort, decided to dip my cracker almost completely into the stuff and eat it. Was like... "Hey, this is good, I thought it wouldn't have much flavor, but there's a little heat and some good flav-- WHAT THE **** IS THIS STUFF?!" lol. I thought at first he'd just emptied the contents of one of those pepper spray cans into some kind of sauce, but he swore up and down it was made from actual "food-class" items. "But I did reduce it a lot," he admitted. I forget what kind of pepper he used, but it turns out that about ten alternating applications of milk, shampoo (it was available ), milk, shampoo, et cetera and 20 minutes really helped minimize the burn. And... Yeah, shampoo tastes pretty nasty . I've had pretty significant daily headaches since a head-on collision in 1989, and that day's headache went almost past "cluster headache" - but then decreased over the next half-hour or so to NO headache; it was awesome!

I've eaten lots of really hot peppers, bhut jolokia, couple different types of scorpion peppers, the Carolina reaper. But I didn't have much luck growing most of them. I figure not trying to start (too late) from seeds and actually trying to mimic the conditions they evolved to grow in ought to help. Of course, not starting a garden and then forgetting to care for it until it's a field full of dead plants wouldn't hurt, either (I've been known to drop a dozen cannabis seeds into cups of water... and then remember to check on them three(!) weeks later <OOPS>).

But if this one is an attractant to aphids, I shouldn't try moving it from outdoors to indoors repeatedly, I suppose. Maybe I should just make room for it in the next indoor cannabis grow? I've thought about planting it in the same container as a cannabis plant as a companion, maybe a ten-gallon GeoPot (fabric pot that I got from one of our forum sponsors) full of a soil mix, IDK. I've done onions and/or marigolds before, but didn't really notice any measurable difference.

You don't want to even think about rubbing your eye (or even picking your nose) if you've got ghost pepper residue on your fingers...it is seriously hot stuff...treat it like battery acid.

Yeah, been there, done that (not with such a high-capsaicin pepper, but with the habs once or twice). That's a rather enlightening experience. There aren't a lot of oil-based things that one can safely perform an eyewash with, and water doesn't seem to touch the stuff. Hurt worse - and longer - than when I've gotten a bunch of paint in my eye(s) and ended up having to do a little scrubbing to get the last of it off my inner eyelids and "the orb." Probably because, with the latter, I merely ended up feeling like I'd just scrubbed my eye out with hot soapy water and a rough washcloth (because I'd just done exactly that). I'd say pepper juice hurts like hydrochloric acid, but I've worked around that stuff enough to have a few... incidents, and that's not that big a deal as long as it's neutralized right the <BLEEP> NOW.

Note to self: Go look in Mom's attic to see if the swim goggles I used when I was a kid are still up there and, if so, if they can be made to fit.

Anyway, carcass thanks for your response.

The rash is much better today, BtW; the constant burning itch has become a sporadic itch, and the swelling in... another place has gone down 75%.

Note to self #2: Add some kind of antihistamine cream to the garden tools . . . .

 

[Carcass]

I've got 4 sons,and they all love hot stuff,in fact I've got an unopened bottle of Carolina Reaper hot sauce from my son in Az. (2,200,000 scovill units)-he sent it to me as a joke,he knows I'm a big wuss when it comes to hot sauce...he warned me that on the off chance that I open the bottle,do not hold it up to my nose and smell it,in fact try and keep it a foot or so away from nose and eyes...he actually uses the stuff on mexican food,says habaneros aren't hot enough.

didn't get my hands washed off enough when I went in to urinate

I did the same thing quite a few years ago,but it was poison oak-I was practically dipping the ol johnson in calamine lotion,and it did nothing...lasted over two weeks...that's a difficult itch to scratch,especially out in public..

 

[TorturedSoul]

That's another possibility, I suppose; I was pulling weeds earlier in the day to make a few bucks (work is slow, but I still get hungry). It's supposed to be mostly Poison ivy around here, and I've never paid much attention because it never bothered me before. But I'm told that can change. I'm living proof that a person can become (highly) allergic to penicillin, so I don't doubt it.

That bottle can add just a little heart to fawk I hate cell phones HEAT to an entire lifetime supple SUPPLY of salsa/etc. Or it can provide a nights enjoyment when the more boisterous poker players get drink and stupid (and you've just reached the point where you're tired of dealing with them in that state) and after ready to prove how stupid I mean tough they are, lol.

 

[Joe Brewster]

Well shucky-darn, lol. I've heard and read that one should use gloves around them, so I must have just assumed that the entire plant produced lots of capsaicin. They probably mean "when picking the fruit," then? When I did last minute garden-creation/stocking for Mom the other day I ended up with a burning/itching rash along both arms, face, neck, part of my back - basically wherever I could reach to wipe sweat or scratch an itch whilst working out there, I suppose. And - apparently - I didn't get my hands washed off enough when I went in to urinate, because, well...

But I planted some tomato plants for her, too, and they've always given me issues, so it was probably just a much more extreme version of that reaction for some reason or other. Or maybe something in the soil, soil amendment, or fertilizer that I added (IDK).

Sounds like you may be allergic to the alkaloids in nightshades peppers & tomato are both nightshade plants

 

[TorturedSoul]

I've handled belladonna (don't ask) and many, many pepper plants without issue.

Brush up against a tomato plant, though, and my arms start itching.

Pepper plants made it to my house. Looks like I might just end up sticking them into containers, and I don't have any of decent size. I've grown them in ones as small as three-gallon capacity, but never smaller than that. Well, a couple of jalapeños that produced a pepper or two at a time (houseplants).

Have to see what I can come up with tomorrow. I do have a couple containers in the two-to-three gallon range, but every time I look at them, the inner voice starts mumbling something about cannabis .

 

[Joe Brewster]

Pepper plants made it to my house. Looks like I might just end up sticking them into containers, and I don't have any of decent size. I've grown them in ones as small as three-gallon capacity, but never smaller than that. Well, a couple of jalapeños that produced a pepper or two at a time (houseplants).

Have to see what I can come up with tomorrow. I do have a couple containers in the two-to-three gallon range, but every time I look at them, the inner voice starts mumbling something about cannabis

Ever try putting the pots 5-6" into your poor soil & letting the roots grow out the drain holes & into the soil below
last year grew pumpkins in 3 ft of quack grass, in tree pots buried into the ground . had a huge harvest

 

[TorturedSoul]

Well, they might end up getting grown indoors. If not, yeah, they'll probably extend roots into the ground below the containers.

I ended up with one bhut jolokia, one habenero, and a couple of less hot varieties (one each). I wonder if a bhut jolokia and a serrano are cross-fertile? Or the former and a jalapeño? I don't generally save seeds (store-bought plants), but would probably make an exception of these could produce viable crosses.

Any of you pepper growers do this?

Like they do with trees, only without the considerable investment in time.