I have similar issues with mine. They don’t seem to produce as much pollen as some varieties.

One tip is to do it late afternoon/early evening. Apparently this is when their pollen is released and I have found more success at these times.

However, unless you want to use the seeds as a pure naga, your method is fine and the fruits will be no different (from this plant). The plants can last for many years so you don’t actually have to grow new ones each season. In fact you often get more chillies on a mature plant.

The nagas do take a long time to ripen fully but it sounds like yours may be ready in a few more weeks. Enjoy!

Helen,

I’d plant them as early as possible. Spring here is April time and I like to plant mine in January. However, you will need to keep them in the sunniest window you can or they grow too leggy and collapse. Once the days and nights get hotter, you could put them outside but you’ll get much better results (more chillies) in a greenhouse or sunny windowsill.

S.

I’ve been growing a Dorset Naga from a plant plug I bought in May. It’s grown well and I’ve potted it on as it’s grown. It’s now about 4 feet tall and has a 5 foot spread.

By about the beginning of July flowers were appearing. However, despite keeping the plant well watered none of the flowers set and just kept falling. I tried pollinating using a dry artist’s paintbrush but no pollen was visible. So about 6 weeks ago I started cross pollinating using pollen from a very fertile habanero. At last the flowers started setting - I now have about 30 or more deeply wrinkled fruit on the plant. The largest are about 20mm wide and 40mm long - I’m sure it won’t be long before the first one starts to turn red.

Obviously the seeds of these fruit will produce a Dorset Naga/habanero cross…

Has anyone else found this pollen problem with the Dorset Naga?

I am in New Zealand and have secured 5 (!) bhut jolakia seeds to try for the first time. Should I be starting them off already (just in to Spring - South Island of NZ) indoors now - and when should I plant out (we can still have a frost or two end Oct) - Can they be grown indoors in a greenhouse all the way through?

Any help appreciated - it’s my first time with chillies.

Where do you live? Are the plants in very big pots?

If the climate is right, the plant will try and grow as much as possible within it’s environment. Once it gets limited, by pot size, climate or other factors, it will then start to reproduce (fruit).

It sounds like your conditions are very good for chilli plants. I ask where you live because if you don’t get a cold winter, you may soon have a big plant that starts to fruit and you will have many chillies.

S.

I wrote a really long comment but it did’nt post it so im kinda pissed off…
To make it short: I’ve planted my bhut jolokias in november, and they are growing beautifully, they are big, but 8 months and still not one flower, what could the problem be? please help im getting a bit worried.. (they are growing outside, in pots the weather is fine, around 30 celsius, gets water everyday and fed it couple of times)
thanks

Miles

1/2 strength tomato feed is good once flowering but before that i think the best is chilli focus.

I don’t know enough about the lights to know if it would make the difference I’m afraid.

Brian, each flower must still be pollinated to fruit but I usually find that once you start seeing fruit, the other flowers fruit more easily. Saying that, I have a 4 year old habanero plant that drops probably up to 70% of it’s flowers. It still gives me 70 or so chillies though.