saltmarsh,
Thank you sooo much for explaining how to save seeds. I would have though running a blender on them would have ruined them! And does the male/female explain the difference in size of fruit? I dont' think I've ever gotten any 18-inch eggplants. I think I need to try your seeds!

I guess I didn't take any pictures of the ugly eggplants - lol! That's one thing I have to better about this year, being a more objective in my documentation... you can see some bits of brown on here but later on, the patches seemed to get bigger...
[IMG]https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8659/16047512233_a47128e4c5_z_d.jpg[/IMG]

I grow an Italian variety called Violetta Lungo (long purple) originally from Franchi, but now I'm growing from my own saved seeds. They are thinner than the typical supermarket eggplant and have much better flavor. They don't produce as heavily has the PTLs, which I have grown in the past, but we don't eat a large amount of eggplant and what they produce is more than enough.

And I used the same technique posted by Saltmarsh for saving seeds and being so small, they do survive the blender. I had my doubts at first, but a germination test re-assured me that they were just fine.

As for the brown spots, I also see those too towards the end of the season when nights are getting cooler. I never looked into why they appear, but just assumed it was weather related. Maybe someone knows the reason and chimes in.

I believe the scabs referred to in the photos are the result of Stink Bugs sucking on the fruit. If you could look at the scabs with a magnifying glass you would see it to be a series of bites close together. Tomatoes make a great trap crop for Stink bugs whether you like it or not.

This Spring I'm going to try using several bug zappers during the night time hours to see if that will control the Stink Bugs. If that fails I'm going to try bagging each cluster of tomatoes with a disposable hair cover to create a physical barrier to keep them off the fruit. Claud

[QUOTE=LindyAdele;453458]I grew two eggplants last year, and only got to eat 2 of them because the squirrels got every last one. This year I am going to try for 3 plants, and surround them with hot peppers.

I have a 4x8 foot raised bed with good soil (fluffy, lots of worms) and it gets a good amount of sun - at least 6 hours direct, full sun, and then loosely filtered light.

For those who have grown peppers and eggplants, how many can I fit in, say, a 4x6 section of my bed? I live in Ontario, the peppers and eggplants didn't get very big. If it wasn't for the squirrels, I could have had probably 8-12 eggplant on each plant.

I was thinking 3 eggplant and 3 peppers... but if I could get 3 eggplant and 6 peppers in that space, it would be even better! I am planning on beans in the remainder of the bed, and wish I had more room for them too!

(I have 2 beds dedicated to tomatoes, and that won't change, and the other is cucumbers on a trellis, and lettuce, cabbage, radishes and various greens).[/QUOTE]

I'm in zone 4b and my eggplants do leaps and bounds better in planters vs the ground. Is that a possibility for you? You could surround the planters with a chicken wire cage to protect them.