I tried to grow ghost peppers in my Ohio backyard and got a total surprise

I planted three ghost pepper plants last spring, thinking I was ready for the heat. I used a special soil mix for hot peppers and kept them in full sun. After months of care, the plants grew huge and flowered like crazy. But when the peppers came in, they were bright red and looked perfect... until I tasted one. It had almost no heat at all, just a sweet, fruity flavor. My friend who runs a nursery in Columbus said it was probably a seed mix-up from the supplier. Now I have these beautiful, mild peppers and no idea what to do with them. Has anyone else gotten a totally wrong pepper plant from a seed packet they bought online?

3 comments

3 Comments

young.michael5d ago

That's a serious letdown after all that work. Did your friend at the nursery have any guesses on what they actually are? Maybe some kind of sweet cherry pepper? @hannah_wells knows the pain of a pepper that's all looks, but at least yours grew well. You could stuff them with cheese or chop them into a mild salsa.

erickelly4d ago

Ugh, tell me about it. I grew these beautiful purple bell peppers last year that looked amazing in photos. Bit into the first one and it was just... wet grass. Zero flavor. Ended up just chopping them all into salad for color, which felt like such a waste of time. I mean, what's the point if they don't taste like anything?

hannah_wells5d ago

Bright red and looked perfect" is the story of my gardening life, all show and no heat.