Category Archives: Pepper Seeds

Where to Buy Carolina Reaper Seeds

Until more people have grown the Carolina Reaper pepper there are only two reliable places to get Carolina Reaper pepper seeds as of this writing.

1. http://store.puckerbuttpeppercompany.com/smokin-eds-carolina-reaper/

2. www.pepperjoe.com (will update with actual link once Joe adds the reaper seeds to his site)

Seeds will officially go on sales on August 27, 2012 but I caught wind of a post that announced Ed’s letting some go early.

Save yourself a lot of aggravation and get seeds from one of these two sources. The Reaper seeds will show up on eBay and other places in no time…skip those sellers and get the real deal from Ed or Joe.

Where to Buy Bhut Jolokia Seeds

Some of the first super hot pepper seeds I ever bought were giant bhut jolokia seeds from Pepper Joe. A big part of my early growing success was good seeds. Super hot peppers take a long time to grow so in areas like northern Illinois you have a relatively short window of time to germinate, plant and grow your bhut jolokias if you have any hope of fresh peppers before the first frost. Where you get your seeds is important. If you get seeds that won’t germinate or even worse, seeds that don’t grow true you can waste up to an entire season growing a “not a bhut jolokia”.

Since I’ve started this site I’ve received a number of emails / comments about seeds, specifically bhut jolokia seeds and where to buy them. I don’t sell seeds on this site or anywhere else so if you’re looking to buy some bhut jolokia (or other super hot) pepper seeds I would suggest in no particular order:

Pepper Joe
Pepper Lover
Old Barn Nursery

All of those vendors are known for their service and quality so if issues arise you can count on them to take care of things.

If you would prefer to order bhut jolokia / ghost pepper seeds from another seed seller you can try using the pepper search engine or visit any of the sites listed on the pepper seeds page.

Selling Pepper Seeds?

While I don’t sell pepper seeds I do buy them and know a bunch of seed sellers. As spring approaches for a large portion of the united states the pepper seed selling starts ramping up but when does it peak? In terms of online activity – specifically search volume, interest in pepper seeds peaks Feb/Mar with March being the clear winner in recent years:

Equally as interesting to seed sellers would be knowing if in general pepper seeds are becoming more popular or less popular. My guess would be more popular (I’m biased!) but let’s take a closer look:

Seed sellers rejoice! Not only are pepper seeds rising in popularity but since 2009 the popularity of pepper seed related searches has risen considerably faster than the gardening and landscaping search category as a whole. The trend really accelerated in 2011 which indicate seed sellers can expect strong demand in 2012.

I predict that 2012 will still be the year of the ghost pepper. Even though the Butch T Scorp took the record in 2011 it’s still a looooong way from taking any real market share from the bhut jolokia / ghost pepper. Last year was the first time that search volume for the Butch T grew faster than search volume for the habanero and that passing was extremely short and temporary…as of now habanero has retaken it’s spot above the Butch T.

Seed sellers prepare for the year of the ghost pepper, again!

Happy Growing.

The 7 Pot/Pod Brain Strain

2011 was the first season I’ve grown the 7 pot brain strain pepper. I even messed around with growing it in a DWC setup in the winter months of 2010/2011. I received my seeds from Cappy AKA Pepper Ridge Farm in 2010. They were from his “mother plant”. I tried my first brain strain this year. I’m not eating whole peppers, my body knows better. I did take a nice sized bite though and the next day here’s what I wrote:

“Speaking of the brain strain last night my neighbor and I sampled the 7 Pod Jonah, T Scorp Morouga and the 7 Pod Brain Strain. The Jonah was mine and the T scorp and Brain Strain were from his gardens. His plants are are from the original PepperRidgeFarm seeds, I gave them to earlier this year because I was out of space. The Jonah had a nice heat level. Hot, but I didn’t think it was bhut jolokia level heat. The Morouga was a serious step up and felt like someone punched me in the lips. 1/2 hour later we sampled the BS and h*** f****** s*** it was like someone poured a cup of lava down my throat. Serious burn – hands down the hottest pepper I have ever had in my life. I had some of AJ’s scorps this year and they were not even close to the heat level of the brain. Not saying it’s the hottest pepper out there but it’s by far the hottest pepper I have ever tasted.”

Here’s a review from Tony AKA BigT from back in 2009:

“Everything Cappy said is true! I thought he might have been exaggerating about the heat but he wasn’t. (Sorry I doubted you buddy!) My method of comparison is always the same, stick it in a can of tuna with a little mayo and onion to make it tolerable, enjoy and note results. I just had half of one of my Fatabanero’s (a cross of Fatalii & Habanero) a few days ago and that lit me up pretty good. Then yesterday, I had one fourth of a large Bhut (over 3 inches) and that didn’t do much damage at all, very pleasant, good heat and great flavor. Hardly broke a sweat. The Cappy 7 Pot “brain strain” doesn’t have the flavor of the Bhut IMO, but for heat, no comparison. I had one fourth of this little monster pictured below and it crushed me. Mouth on fire for 20 minutes. Profuse forehead sweat. Burn going all the way down the esophagus and into the stomach. An hour later, noticeable stomach burn and then, shortly thereafter, the exit strategy commenced with predictable destruction. All that from eating just 1/4th! I’m not a newbie, I’ve been eating hot peppers for many years. That’s it, if there is a hotter pepper on the planet than this, I want nothing to do with it. “

Learn more about the 7 pod brain strain in the following sections of this post.

History of the 7 Pod Brain Strain

Where did the name “brain strain” come from?
Brain strain is the name give by this thread to this lineage of 7 Pod that I am growing and shared by me to numerous members of this site (thehotpepper.com). I did not name it that just what people refer to it as. This seed came from Sara a couple years ago when this pepper was first introduced to this site. Link

I’ve done some more research and the source of my 7 Pod seed is from Trinhottie 2 seasons ago. I’m just passing along what I know so those of you who grow this seed will also know. Link

Here’s one of the earlier threads that talks about the brain strain and includes a lot of great pictures: Link

7 Pod Brain Strain Videos

Pictures of the 7 Pod Brain Strain

7 pod brain strain

7 pod brain strain

7 pod brain strain

7 pod brain strain

7 pod brain strain

7 Pod Brain Strain Seeds

The best place to find the 7 pot brain strain seeds is straight from the source, BrAin sTrAiN 7. You can also try thehotpepper.com pepper/seed marketplace.

7 Pod Brain Strain Peppers

The best place to find fresh 7 pot brain strain peppers is at thehotpepper.com pepper/seed marketplace.

You might be able to find some 7 pot brain strain powder in the powders & seasoning section of the thehotpepper.com

Fresh Trinidad Scorpion Pods for Sale

AlabamaJack of TheHotPepper.com is taking it to the next level with his Trinidad Scorpion pepper operation this year:

He’s expecting about 700 pounds of fresh peppers in 3 or 4 weeks. If you would like to get your hands on some of the world’s hottest peppers you can reserve yours here:

http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/22746-fresh-trinidad-scorpion-pods/

For $30 + shipping you can pick yourself up a pound of fresh T. scorp pods. As a little bonus if you’re a pepper grower these were grown in isolation so the seeds should grow true if you save them. Fresh pods + seeds for $30, it’s a deal. Prices drop the more you order.