How to Grow Naga Brain Chillies from Seed

September 16, 2026

Naga Brain chillies with deeply folded pod surface

Chilli Growing Guides · Capsicum chinense

How to Grow Naga Brain Chillies from Seed

A cross of 7 Pot Brain Strain and Dorset Naga, with deeply folded pods, fruity floral flavour and heat around a million Scoville.

Naga Brain is a cross between the 7 Pot Brain Strain and the Dorset Naga. The deeply folded, convoluted pod surface comes from the Brain Strain side, and the heat and aromatic quality from the naga. Pods ripen green to red, roughly 4cm long and nearly as wide, on a heavy-cropping plant.

The flavour is fruity and faintly floral, with a moment of sweetness before the heat arrives. That heat is usually quoted at around a million Scoville units, but it has never been lab tested; the figure is inherited from its parents rather than measured.

Quick Facts at a Glance

Species

Capsicum chinense

Heat

Superhot, est. around 1 million SHU

Sow

January to February

Harvest

September to November

Plant Height

70cm to 1m

Difficulty

Full growing method

Naga Brain is grown like every other Capsicum chinense. Our species guide covers sowing temperatures, potting on, feeding, pollination, overwintering and problems step by step.

Read the Capsicum chinense guide →

About this Variety

The fruit

Deeply folded, brain-like pods about 4cm long and nearly as wide, green to red.

The flavour

Fruity and faintly floral, a moment of sweetness, then the heat.

Pod variation

The line sits at about the sixth generation and is not fully fixed. Pods can vary on a single plant, some long like a Dorset Naga, some squat like a 7 Pot.

Growing note

Heavy cropping. Greenhouse only in Britain, sown in January.

Superhot handling

Wear gloves and eye protection when picking and processing the fruit. Work in a ventilated room, and keep fruit, seed and plants away from children and pets.