Norfolk Naga seeds and plants

Having originally grown several different varieties of chillies at home from seeds I thought that it would be a good time to go for something really hot, the Big Beast so to speak, so I chose the Norfolk Naga, officially the Bhut Naga Jolokia, but a strain developed in Norfolk which supposedly has a count of just above the 1 million mark on the Scoville Heat Unit Scale or SHU.

This extremely hot pepper produces pale lime green chillies which later turning to an orangy red colour. We must stress that these need to be treated with respect, used sparingly and with care because these seeds are HOT. 

Chilli Norfolk Naga needs a long growing season so it best grown under glass, and sown early to ensure sufficient time for the fruits to ripen.

I had heard that these are notoriously difficult to germinate and, with the seeds being so expensive at around £3.99 for 6, I decided to purchase 3 plug plants for about £6 for the first time.

OK, I cheated but I cheated mainly to save time as if the seeds had not germinated (2 to 3 weeks) I would be struggling to get any more established in time for them to reach maturity this year.

Well I gave one plant to a chemist friend and grew on the other two in a well insulated greenhouse and they have been, and still are highly prolific, in fact, they appear to be more prolific than any other chilli variety I have grown in the past.

All this is a hobby for me as I give away chilli plants and their fruits free of charge to family and friends because my wife won't use any hot chillies at all whereas our son & daughter in law can't get enough of them.

What else can I say about the Norfolk Naga? Well they are probably one of the ugliest fruits I have ever seen but as they are so prolific I shall have literally masses of them to use for seeds for the start of the next season. Each of the Naga varieties are uglier than the other by the way.

At around 40 cms the mature plants are a tad taller than I was led to believe but as they are in the greenhouse it doesn't matter.

NB Please beware that the seeds within the Naga chillies are very, very hot indeed so please, please wear plastic gloves when handling them or cooking with them.

Please click on the link for our Grow chillies from seed page