vendor Pepper Joe

I purchased seeds twice from Pepper Joe over the winter 2012/2013, two separate orders for my 2013 growing season. Price was reasonable and the shipping time was prompt. My seeds germinated well and my plants grew. I purchased about 10 or so varities from him.
 
My only concern was that the pepper seeds for the Naga Viper and the Red Buht Jolokia plants were not true seeds. My plants did not get very large, but they were of decent size ~3ft tall or so.
 
I made a post for my 2013 glog and another member saw a picture of my collection and he too said the same thing that my red ghost pepper looked more like a hab and same with the Naga Viper. I had a yellow ghost plant that was about the same size and the peppers produced were for sure a ghost, extremely hot. The red ghosts from Pepper Joe however were hot but not ghost hot.
 
I emailed Pepper Joe with my concerns and he quickly got back to me and said that it was probably just do to the plants size etc. I have since had another member on this forum send me true seeds which I will be growing along side the seeds from Pepper Joe I have saved from last season. But given the other posts I have seen regarding his Red Ghost peppers I think he may have had either a pollen contamination of his Ghost Plants or a mix up in his labeling process because I am pretty certain they weren't ghost peppers.
 
I would say that his prices are fair and I would consider ordering through him again, it is nature we are dealing with and sometimes things happen that are out of peoples control. He does seem to try pretty hard to keep customers satisfied and he seems to stand by his word. But I would rather trade my seeds with the community than purchase them anyways.
 
Attached is a photo of the plants I grew with the two varieties, the ghost and viper I was concerned about for you to judge for yourself. I am sure he would send out replacement seeds but it would be redundant as I got true seeds for free from swapping on THP. 
 
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jedisushi06 said:
hot balloon?  Looks more like a bishops crown to me
 
 
Hot balloon is another name for a bishops crown. It was what my friends father called it when he gave them to me. But they are the same thing.
I agree, the red ghost he sent me looks exactly like a Caribbean red hab, and the naga viper looks exactly like a peach hab. I figured I'd just throw this up for some more opinions, but both those varieties I definitely didn't purchase from Pepper Joe. Who knows what happened but I figured I would share my experience with the community. I pretty much knew I had something funky when I googled fake ghost peppers when I started getting pods and they matched mine, also same situation as another review on Pepper Joe. I don't want to slam the guy but ya something be funky.
 
Your issue seems to be a consistent issue with that vendor. You can either:
A. Continue to have the same issue by ordering seeds from that vendor and hope you have different results.
B. Order seeds from a vendor that does not have such consistent issues.
C. Trade with community members and accept that if a seed does not grow, then it is okay because you did not pay for it.
 
Trading seeds is way more enjoyable anyways, I'm not the type to piss and moan. I am pretty sure Pepper Joe is on this forum, I'd like to see what he says about the consistency of the issue. He is the biggest seed distributor that I am aware of for super hot peppers, and does claim to stand by his word.
 
I'll trade you any day friend. If something grew untrue and I knew about it, I would call it as such. By being honest, you would feel comfortable trusting me when I say a seed is what it is and you would know that if you found an inconsistency that it was truly an anomaly, not an act of deceit on my part. There are honest folk who sell seeds and have consistently honest reputations (Aji Joe and Pepperlover come to mind), but there are also folk who just seem to consistently come up short as well. I hope you get compensated for your loss and if not, I hope you learn a lesson.
 
Slam him. You told him your seeds were bunk and he proceeded to blame you.

Ridiculous.

Many other venders would have had new seeds in the mail and then some before even replying.

Pepper Joe: do you isolate red bhuts? Do you make a habit of blaming customers for growing habaneros out of your "super hot" seeds?

Just after reading his responses to other customers here on the forum I'd never personally nor recommend anyone to deal with him. Everyone seems to find him first. He's like the pepper walmart. Literally. That's why he makes money.
 
What sold me was that he seemed to be everywhere online, and with many great reviews. Funny thing was at the time when I was buying my seeds I was reading all over about fake ghosts. Pepper Joe seemed to stand by his word to anyone who complained and he claims his products are true. He really did seem like the big gun in the industry so who wouldn't trust that really. I know of another two members on here that have recently purchased naga and red ghost seeds for this season from him, it would be interested to see how these seeds turn out. It's not like I couldn't have gotten seeds in Canada, I wanted to go to the best supplier for my seeds.
 
This is what he told me
 
Hi Chris,
That pod looks more Hab like.
With SuperHots many pods become more 'true' as the summer goes on and the weather gets hotter.
If you start earlier with remaining seeds you should see more "Bhut-like" pods.
If not I'll gladly replace them.
Fiery Regards,
Pepper Joe
http://www.pepperjoe.com
 
reebus said:
 
This is what he told me
 
Hi Chris,
That pod looks more Hab like.
With SuperHots many pods become more 'true' as the summer goes on and the weather gets hotter.
If you start earlier with remaining seeds you should see more "Bhut-like" pods.
If not I'll gladly replace them.
Fiery Regards,
Pepper Joe
http://www.pepperjoe.com
 
 
Well, that is interesting. I can tell you from first hand experience that my ghost peppers I got from Judy looked like ghost peppers in April, May, June, July Aug, Sept,  and October. Some months they were bigger and gnarlier and during the beginning and end of the season they were smaller but not once, never, nada, did they ever look like a hab.
 
Maybe it was the wrong month when joe harvested for seed and that week it looked like a ghost but turned out later that week to look more hab, honest mistake….
 
 
Sorry i had to     :banghead:
 
Not promoting or defending, I had good and bad experiences with him in the past....
If it isn't known, his operation limits his control on the seeds. If I'm one of his contract growers and I said I would grow one type or two isolated and didn't or mixed the seeds, he wouldn't know until someone received the seeds my plants produced and complained.... I don't know if he keeps track of what seeds came from which growers and who they were eventually sold to, or if everything from contracts are mixed or what....
 
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