Primotalii Red Chilli

£3.99

Primotalii Red Chilli

Capsicum chinense 'Primotalii'

A 7 Pot Primo and Fatalii cross with an inch-long needle stinger and a bright grapefruit-and-lemon flavour. Extraordinarily hot, and honestly a shy cropper.

£3.99

Free UK delivery on seed orders over £30

Dispatched from our Norfolk farm — Royal Mail, usually within one working day.

How hot is it?

Superhot

Scoville 1,600,000-2,200,000 SHU (grower estimate, untested)

Your growing year

Sow and harvest months for this variety

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Sow
Harvest
SowHarvest

At a glance

Height

90cm

Spread

50-70cm

Spacing

60cm

Position

Full sun. Greenhouse or polytunnel essential in the UK. Frost-tender.

Soil

Rich, fertile, free-draining. Dislikes wet feet.

Seeds per packet

10

Grow guide How to grow Primotalii Red Chilli Read the full guide →

About this variety

The name is a portmanteau: 7 Pot Primo crossed with Fatalii, made by Chris Saunders around 2012. What it inherited is the stinger. Primotalii pods carry a needle-thin tail an inch or more long, often curled, far finer than the Reaper's hook, on a slim wrinkled body of two to three inches with skin that looks like it is boiling.

The flavour is the best thing about it. Bright grapefruit and lemon citrus over something floral and faintly earthy, sweet for about a second and a half before the heat takes the room. Grower estimates put it between 1.6 and 2.2 million Scoville units, which would place it among the hottest chillies in existence, though no laboratory has published a figure for it.

The yield is the catch, and it is a real one. Growers consistently report fewer pods than from a Carolina Reaper or a straight 7 Pot Primo, and the pods themselves are thin-walled and light, so the total harvest weight is small. It also dislikes wet feet and is prone to fungal trouble. Sow in January, grow under glass, wear gloves, and do not plan a year of sauce around it.