JPK Seed Company Carolina Reaper Pepper HP22B Worlds Hottest Chile Pepper

I purchased this from JPK Seed Company and was delivered on May 26th. They sent 14 seeds and 8 germinated. I had purchased a 12 plant Jiffy seed starter kit and planted them. Two seeds were planted traditionally in soil and never germinated. Out of the 12, 8 germinated and I transferred to 7-11 ice coffee plastic cups. The soil was from my local town's transfer depot which produces their own from leaves which makes the soil light and good drainage while retaining some moisture. The plants do not like to be continuously wet and I lost one plant due to not poking a drainage hole. I transferred them to 5 gallon buckets after they got big enough to outgrow the cups. I placed pebbles on the bottom and added the same soil and once they had room to expand they started to take off. I took from may to July to get large enough and I started to see flowering in early august with actual peppers in mid august. I have just now (October 7) harvested the first fully ripe pepper. They were green until about late september (brought them inside in an enclosed porch around September 20th) but the colder air has turned most of the peppers red with some being edible now. I have it looks to be about 25 peppers that I can harvest this year but fear not as these peppers are perennials and specifically were put in 5 gallon buckets so I can move them inside and protect them from frost so I can grow them next year.Now for the taste. They are very hot but the flesh has flavor. Its someone fresh and fruity in nature with a lot of burn. Licking the outside of the pepper does not give you any heat. Once you cut it though you can smell and fell a spicy flavor in the air. Surprisingly there is not that many seeds inside as compared to other peppers but the seeds are extremely hot and be warned you should probably wear gloves. I did not and my hands did not feel it but I touched my face and it became irritated even after I washed my hands three times with dawn for 1 minute each time.Just make sure to purchase it from the seller above as others have mentioned they gotten fake ones (I did too last year from another shop that amazon took down) so this was the first year I could legitimately do it and its quite temperamental, takes a long time to germinate, and such but its a fun and novel experience for a few dollars and a lot of patience.

I did not order these seeds but wanted to weigh in as I have grown these plants for 4 years now, successfully. They do take a long time to germinate, and can be finicky doing so. It has taken up to 3 weeks for seeds to germinate for me in the past for these superhots. A soak in a weak hydrogen peroxide & water bath overnight prior to planting in soil works for me. I currently have 12 seeded and five came up in a week in a mini greenhouse on a heating mat. Most, if not all of the others will too. The problem for me this year is that I have them in 6 slot seedling trays and you need to get them under lights once the seedlings emerge (out of the hotbox). So the unsprouted seedlings may take even longer without being on the heat mat due to their neighboring sibling's need for light. Moral of the story, plant them in INDIVIDUAL separate cups/plugs/etc so you can move the sprouted ones into light and leave the unsprouted ones in the hotbox.They grow slow and produce late. But the key to abundant crops (if you don't live in a hot zone with a long season) is to overwinter them. I put 5 plants in my basement after the first season, under controlled conditions, last winter and put them out in the spring. I had reapers fruiting in mid June and on into the first frost. Hundreds and hundreds of reapers from 5 mature plants. Takes some diligence and research on overwintering peppers, but the 2nd year is totally worth it. I kept them between 45-60 degrees and had fluorescent lighting on them on a 12 hr on/12 hr off cycle. infrequent watering and occasional pest/fungal treatment, with minimal fertilizing. They stayed dormant, but alive, and when they got acclimated to the sun again, they took off like crazy. You can see the "woody" stems of the 2nd year plants in the pic. Hope this helps someone.

As of today, one week from planting, 10 of 12 total seeds received have sprouted. I cannot comment on whether they are really Carolina Reapers, but they are certainly viable seeds. I planted them in individual peat plugs after soaking them in water for 4 hours. They are on a heat mat  VIVOHOME Waterproof Seedling Heat Mat for Seed Propagation and Increase Germination Success 10 Inch x 20.75 Inch MET Safety Standard Certified  and a grow light  [2018 UPGRADED]18W Dual Head Timing Grow Lamp, 36 LED Chips with Red/Blue Spectrum for Indoor Plants, Adjustable Gooseneck, 3/6/12H Timer, 5 Dimmable Levels[AMAZINGCATS ] was started on a 12 hours on, 12 hours off cycle after the first one sprouted. I spray them every two days with a very dilute bleach solution to avoid mold growth. They are in an aluminum lasagna pan with a plastic cover, which I will remove when they start brushing against the cover. The rest of the pan is filled with peat plugs containing Hungarian wax peppers  David's Garden Seeds Pepper Hot Hungarian Hot Wax SV58R21 (Red) 50 Open Pollinated Seeds  that we are growing for a comparison. They are also almost all sprouted. These were purchased for a science fair project. So far, so good.