Companion Planting & Garden Value: Ghost Pepper (Bhut Jolokia)
Capsicum chinense
Spacing: 1 per square foot. Mature height: 3-4 ft.
Plant these nearby
- Basil: Reputed to repel aphids and improve pepper growth nearby, but a controlled garden trial testing this same claim on a related crop found no pest-reduction benefit from basil, and found higher pest counts on the basil-companioned plants. Treat this pairing as unproven, not as a working pest deterrent. (source)
- Onion: Reputed to deter many common pepper pests, though this specific pairing hasn't been tested the way onion/carrot pest-masking has. Treat it as garden tradition.
Keep these apart
- Bush Beans: Beans can host bacterial blights that affect peppers.
- Tobacco: Tobacco mosaic virus survives in cured tobacco leaf and spreads by touch, so wash hands after handling tobacco (or smoking) before working with pepper plants. (source)
- Collard Greens: Commonly reported as a poor neighbor for collards.
Common pairings, answered directly
- Can I plant ghost pepper (bhut jolokia) next to basil?
- Yes. Reputed to repel aphids and improve pepper growth nearby, but a controlled garden trial testing this same claim on a related crop found no pest-reduction benefit from basil, and found higher pest counts on the basil-companioned plants. Treat this pairing as unproven, not as a working pest deterrent.
- Can I plant ghost pepper (bhut jolokia) next to onion?
- Yes. Reputed to deter many common pepper pests, though this specific pairing hasn't been tested the way onion/carrot pest-masking has. Treat it as garden tradition.
- Can I plant ghost pepper (bhut jolokia) next to bush beans?
- Better not to. Beans can host bacterial blights that affect peppers.
- Can I plant ghost pepper (bhut jolokia) next to tobacco?
- Better not to. Tobacco mosaic virus survives in cured tobacco leaf and spreads by touch, so wash hands after handling tobacco (or smoking) before working with pepper plants.
- Can I plant ghost pepper (bhut jolokia) next to collard greens?
- Better not to. Commonly reported as a poor neighbor for collards.
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Companion planting for Ghost Pepper (Bhut Jolokia): which plants to grow next to it, which to keep apart, and the reason behind each pairing.
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