Looking for Eggplant Pals
 

Would someone please talk to me about eggplants?

This is my first serious year and I have about 20.

Some sources say stake as for tomatoes, ie, 8ft!

Sheesh! I dun want any more 8ft stakes. I have 62 tomatoes.

Others say they will reach about 4ft.

In each 8gal pot I have stuck a 4ft stake. Will this be okay.

1. How were your eggplants this year?
2. I have one from the Spanish hills, a village, that I hope will be good and I can share seeds for.
3. I have been searchign the www and there is not real dedicated eggplant forum but for one that was hacked.
4. I think Liistada da Gandai and Rosa Bianca look the same in pics I've seen.
5. Ping Tung sounds so great.
6. Thai Green Pea has germinated very late. But it sounds awful. Any backers for this one?

Okay, now talk eggplant to me ;)

Grub.

Grub-You are going to have a lot of eggplant! I had 7 plants and we have been eating it 3 times a week for weeks and weeks. I am still picking fruit, even though we are getting as low as 55 degrees f at night here (12.77 c).

I use short cages for my plants, I have never had an eggplant get taller than about 3 feet or so. The only problem I see with the stake is that if you have fruit that is big, like Black Beauty or the Italian varieties you have, they may get very heavy on the vine and tear the branch. Myabe you can figure out some kind of support when they start to get big, if they do. I use 5 gallon grow bags for my plants, and I feed heavy with my tomato tone.

You feed and water them like tomatoes, using the same fert. Make sure you pick them when they are shiny, because they get bitter if they are too long on the vine. Most people will err in picking them smaller, rather than waiting for them to get to their biggest size. The good thing is that you are going to have so much fruit that you can experiment what stage of ripeness you like.

My biggest problem with eggplant growing is that they seem to attract a lot of aphids. I use diatomaceous earth on the plants, and it helps to keep the aphids down. I also use an organic spray or soap spray on the aphids.

Ping Tung Long is a wonderful variety-and it will produce well. The fruit is long, slender and very shiny when ripe. We sometimes pick them short and sometimes wait until they get almost full size. I dont know your Thai variety.

The wife took some eggplant last night, put it in some kind of aluminum baggie thing, put olive oil, garlic, garlic salt, onions in it and put it on the grill to cook-it was wonderful!

Start looking for recipes and people to give fruit to, because with 20 plants you are going to have lots of fruit.

What else can I tell you. I love eggplant-its so sad when winter comes and no fresh eggplant. The stuff you buy in the store is tasteless.

Ciao Grub,

I can add a wee bit to what Michael is saying here because we had a bumper crop this year. You know how sometimes you can over-compensate when you have a sub-par season? That's what happened. I had one row of 12 plants at the end of the main tomato bed in 2005 and they got some dappled sunlight because of a plum tree. I had maybe 20 eggplants total that year. So...I asked for 2 additional raised beds for my birthday because I didn't want to put all the eggplants I wanted to grow in containers. I lost my mind for a split second and decided 48 was a good number. :shock:

The raised beds are in direct sunlight, ideal growing conditions, new conditioned composted soil. They all grew to between 3-4 feet tall. I used wimpy 2' bamboo stakes at first and they did ok until late in the season when all the plants were loaded and the thunderstorms were frequent. I replaced them with sturdier, taller bamboo stakes but they still did the leaning tower of Pisa thing if the fruit burden was too heavy. What I suggest for you, Grub, is to use 4' sturdy stakes of either 1/2" wood or 1/4" metal, something that won't topple over with a lot of fruit. You've got Listada di Giandia and Rosa Bianca which we can find at grocery stores here in Toronto because our neighbourhood is very Italian. Those are some BIG fruit. Get some velcro ties, they're easy and you can re-use them. Eggplant stems are fairly woody and thinner than tomatoes. Also, use gloves...eggplants have thorns.

As for recipes, I'll be posting some of mine. I got very creative this season..I had to! I canned a ton of caponata, something my Sicilian side of the family is famous for, eggplant parmesiana, baba ghanouj (which you can freeze, I was so elated to hear that), moussaka, and fritti. I've also grilled them with an Asian honey-soy glaze. Just ask if you don't see what you need on the recipe side.

Cheers, Grub and buona fortuna with all your efforts!

Julianna-I love Sicily-best food on the planet! The wife and I spent a week near Palermo, and it was wonderful.

[quote=Sorellina] I canned a ton of caponata, something my Sicilian side of the family is famous for, eggplant parmesiana, baba ghanouj (which you can freeze, I was so elated to hear that), moussaka, and fritti. I've also grilled them with an Asian honey-soy glaze. [/quote]

So, when am I invited over for dinner?? BTW, my grandparents were born in Sicily, unfortunately they both passed away before I was born.

Hi Eggplant Friends :D

I can't wait to reply and chat about what you've very kindly posted for me.

I will take some pics for fun soon. And I think I will have to cut some tomato stakes in half because the stakes I have in the pots are 4ft tall but 1/2in diameter.

But great news about their height. Phew!

Sounds like I will be swimming in eggplants.

(I've just had some computer issues and have a newspaper deadline, so I'll get back to this forum in about four hours).

Till then. Thanks so much. :)

Back for a break...

Thanks Michael and Sorellina (lil' Sis).

[quote]Grub-You are going to have a lot of eggplant! I had 7 plants and we have been eating it 3 times a week for weeks and weeks. I am still picking fruit, even though we are getting as low as 55 degrees f at night here (12.77 c).
[/quote]

Does sound a bit scary as there's only two of us and I think perhaps only so many eggplants you can eat. But I will forge ahead with my plans for about 20. I think I have 15 potted up already.

[quote]I use short cages for my plants, I have never had an eggplant get taller than about 3 feet or so. The only problem I see with the stake is that if you have fruit that is big, like Black Beauty or the Italian varieties you have, they may get very heavy on the vine and tear the branch. Myabe you can figure out some kind of support when they start to get big, if they do. I use 5 gallon grow bags for my plants, and I feed heavy with my tomato tone. [/quote]

Now I'm really thinking seriously about short cages. I could buy some wire and make some extras for my short tomatoes.

Thanks so much for the feeding and watering tips. I will treat them like tomatoes. I know how to do that. I will pick them shiny and spray with pyrethrum.


Ping Tung Long is my strongest so far. I can't wait to cook some eggplants. I love eating it. And I have saved plenty of recipes in preparation.


Sorellina,
You have some great advice there and I'll be sure to be following it too. And I'm going to watch for your recipes. I love baba G. and baked eggplant with veal and tomato, basil and stuff, cooked to where the eggplant is kind of like meat. Mmm.

I am very excited and hooked on eggplants. Hopefully, they get enough sun at anywhere from about 6-12 hours depending on their location.

Did you say 45 eggplants!!!! Omigosh. I can only imagine.

So which ones did you both grow and what are you favourites or must-grow eggplants? Do they vary in flavour?

Thanks.

Sorellina -I am quite sure that both Grub and I willl welcome you for dinner anytime-just let us know! Because I live in such heat, 45 eggplant plants would overwhelm us-we would have hundreds of ripe fruit-maybe in Canada the plants dont produce so much. Eggplant is a hot weather veggie, at least from my perspective. I have tried to grow it in the greenhouse during the fall/early spring and it doesnt do well.

Ping Tung Long was a favorite, so was a green when ripe eggplant called green giant. Applegreen was very good for me, Casper was not my favorite. The others were hybrids, one was good called Fairy Tale, that I got from Johnny's and it was very good-tender and tasty.

Grub with any luck at all you will be swimming in the things.
Where I live you can get over a 100 of the things from 20.
(((easy)))
Here's a link that will help. :lol: :lol: :lol:
[url]http://www.tomatoville.com/viewtopic.php?t=433[/url]

Worth

I think my eggplants will grow faster in the heat then.

Sorry for asking, but one last question: would you put peppers or eggplants, which are both in 5 gal pots, in spots that cop hot afternoon sun?

The ones from Almagro are slow after transplant. I'm growing three of them from five seedlings. Plus I have...

Ping Tung (x3),
Listada da Gandia (x4),
Rosa Bianca (x3)
Very strong Thai Yellow Egg (x4) (maybe just grow 2)
Thai Purple Egg (x1)
Lao Green Stripe (x1)
Round Mauve (x1)

So there should be some pretty harvest pics with the tomatoes and peppers.

To the contrary Grub I have had better luck with the hot afternoon sun NOT being on them.
Morning to mid afternoon sun, then late afternoon shade is better.
But of course it gets 110 F here in Texas at times.

Just my measly opinion though.

Worth

That is the problem Worthy,

Some of my spots get hot afternoon sun and I have no choice.

So if you had to put something there, which I do, would you go peppers or eggplants?

I have made sure the C.Pubescens peppers only get morning sun.

House is encircled by pots. It's like the Indians are here.

Grub-I would distribute them out-if you have 2 containers of a certain variety, I would try one in the afternoon sun and one out of it-that way, you could see how they do. Peppers and eggplant do drop blossoms from heat, but in my experience, not like tomatoes. You could also use some shade cloth for the hottest weeks. My peppers and eggplant are in sun most of the day because any spots with afternoon sun go to the tomatoes.

Ciao Grub,

I grew 3 varieties this season, 2 were new for me. Normally, I've only grown Violetta Lunga, an elongated Italian teardrop-shaped eggplant because that's what my family always grew. It doesn't do as well up here as it does in California where I grew up. Michael didn't like Casper, but that was our favourite this season. I grew Aubergine Blanche from Solana Seeds last year and I like the mild flavour of the white eggplants, but it's not OP, so I opted for growing Casper with the idea of saving seeds. What a great producer! The skin is very tender and the eggplant is a kind of mushroomy flavour. We really liked this one. The other one was Antigua, another elongated teardrop-shaped Italian with purple and white striped skin. This one tended to be quite seedy for us, so that took away from some of its flavour. I harvested them small and that was better, but for whatever reason, Casper at the same size had way smaller or no seeds. I had to wait for the Caspers to turn yellow before the seeds were ready to harvest.

On a blistering sun note...early in the season, I used shade cloth for the eggplants. They wilted in high heat until the roots developed big enough systems and the leaves got big enough to handle it. After that, they were fine, even in the high humidity we get here. Peppers do a bit better overall in blistering heat. They'll look a bit bedraggled at times, but they recover nicely.

My door is always open so give me a few hours warning and you're welcome to drop by any time. We always make enough, just in case the Pope decides to show up, lol. I'd love to visit Grub..he's always got the loveliest fish! Road/sea trip anyone?

Cheers!

Sorellina-Interesting about Casper since it was tough for us-it was right next to Applegreen, which was much better-tasted like butter.

Ciao Michael,

Maybe it's the difference between a dry hot climate and a humid one. It gets quite humid here and we have thunderstorms often in the summer. Dunno, maybe Craig can weigh in on this.

That's a great idea. I'll split the pots. And I'll have to give try Casper.

Now I have new ones poking up in one of the cells after several months!

'Waimanalo Long' - a new eggplant
Tanaka, J. S. 1972
Hawaii Farm Science 21(2): 11
Derived from the cross Takii Long Black X Molokai Long, Waimanalo Long is an early, high-yielding variety with high-quality fruit.

My only eggplant hybrid and it sounds interesting.

Thanks Honu!

I'm using pots with 4ft 1/2in stakes for my eggplants.
The tomatoes behind are all spares on death row.

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As you can see they are only little guys.

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But there are lots of pots all over the place. Here they have peppers and shorty tomatoes and have surrounded my fall patch.

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Cucumbers up the back under mulch of seaweed or seagrass really.

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Spare peppers including decorative Peruvian Purple and Variegata and more...

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... for the front of the house. A remaining project is to plant them out.

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Because the tomatoes are mainly done.

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Including the Sneezy F2s for the Dwarf Project like this one, my favourite, a PL version.

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And the Salad Bar is coming along, with more peppers and eggplants out of frame behind. All good fun.

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Grub-looking very fine, indeed! keep them coming.

Ciao Grub,

I think you'll be ok with those stakes. How far down are they sunk? All the way to the bottom of the containers or is there a hole in the container that you've sunk the stake through it and into the ground? Eggplants are short enough that you shouldn't have issues with containers falling over unless you've got powerful winds in the summer like we can get here. Get yourself some velcro ties and you're all set. Your set-up looks fab, btw.

Here, the glaciers are only a few weeks from returning, sigh. :evil:

Jules,
The stakes go to the bottom of the pot, then I lean down and compact the potting mix around them, then water, then compact, then plant out, then mulch, then wet that and compact that. It seems to create a better base for the stake.

If they start to buckle under the load, first I'll celebrate :). Then I might make up some guide ropes, kind of like a tent, and add them. I just wish they would take off and grow faster that they are. :lol:

Gotr 18 eggplants in now. Have two more to go. Might plant a few remaining ones in the front garden. I'm guessing the Thai Yellow Eggs are quite pretty. Providing I can keep the bugs away.

Looking good Grub. Most of the work done by the looks.
Now just, beers to drink, fish to catch, a swelling tummy to rub and feel for kicking feet, ahhh life is gooood.

Hey Grub - things are looking great! Can't have enough eggplant. As for staking - we don't stake any, but they are grown in the ground, two plants side-by-side, down the rows. Make sure to check out the thread in the eggplant forum on Thai Pea Eggplant - mine were 10 feet tall and needed no staking, but didn't produce until the second year and the fruit was so bitter we couldn't eat it. A great looking plant though!
Our favorites are usually Antiqua, Neon, Zebra,and violetta Lunga. We don't do well with the whites or greens - too many cucumber bugs attacking.
All your plants look great. Thanks to all you SH folks for the great pictures, etc. Keeps us sane (well......) through the winter.
Robbins

Yes, indeedy - great inspiring pics, Grub! Our favorites this year were Zebra, Antigua, Black Beauty, Listada di Gandia and New York Spineless. We will miss them...never eaten so many eggplant in our lives!

Mantis,

Been wandering around, inverting leaves, pulling off grubs here and there. Tied up the tomatoes with stockings y'day. Baby is growing like mum's tummy. Very low, though, which is fine, but mum's peeing more than me on a friday night.

Robbins,
Thanks for the feedback on Thai Green Pea and I did note your earlier report. I actually enjoy those little green eggplants in a thai curry, however, I don 't get around to making that curries all that often. And this eggplant is very slow growing thus far. So I'm not too fused about it. And I can substitute soomething else :) 11ft iis mad. I would need to anchor the pot.

Craig,
Good to hear about your holiday and see you back here. I will try for Zebra, Antigua, Black Beauty and New York Spineless next year. Listada di Gandia I have. I can't wait to eat these eggplants. What's more, I appear to have a spare flower bed in front of the house that gets about 6hrs morning sun and spare seedlings. Hmmm.

I woke at 4am this morning to a bird calling like a squeaky gate. From there to 6pm my mind was completely overwhelmed by thoughts of my peppers and eggplants. It's that boyish excitement like on Xmas eve. :)

Impressive, Grub.

This past summer I grew eggplants in pots in my new little greenhouse and the same number and varieties in my garden. The GH plants grew to 3x the size of the garden plants and yielded about 3x as well. It got quite hot in there, often > 95F, but the EP's thrived. They're still growing even now.

Thanks Mark for your notes. Did you enjoy growing them and cooking with them?

I am thinking it's just not quite hot enough here yet for the eggplants to thrive. They are slow, but I'm sure they'll get there in the end. The lows are still pretty low.

We're getting days around 63F to 77F, but lows in the last week to 55F at night. Daily highs from 54F to 100F in the last few weeks.

So as you can see it's all over the shop and rather changable. But the humidity should kick in next month. I think the eggies will like that :)

This was my first serious season with eggplants and a greenhouse and I really enjoyed them both. I love the taste of homegrown eggplant now, much to the dismay of my family. I guess it's an acquired taste....

I've read that EP's are slow to start after transplanting and that was the case for me. They grew slowly the whole season and the plants really didn't get very large.

Others here with more experience (Craig) can provide much better comments in this area.

The night temps here are freezing now and some of my GH EP's bloomed yesterday, if you can believe that. Maybe I'll put my little heater in there and see if I can have EP's for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday next month.... :wink:

Grub,

I found that I did need to stake my eggplants because many times I would have eggplants on one side of the plant and not on the other and the plant would lean to one side or fall over with the weight.

I live in Chicago which has fairly high temps in the summer and they seemed to like the heat. My friends have found they grow best planted near a brick or stone wall which holds the heat during the night.

Eggplants are really sloooow to produce so planting them early under vented plastic really helps. If you have a long planting season then it really doesn't matter. The most productive year I had was 2005 during an intense drought with temperatures in the upper 90's and above 100 degrees.

I've grown Black Beauty, Rosa Bianca, Round Mauve, Casper, and an asian eggplant mix ( which means I don't know what kinds that I grew) and they all were great. Usually bitter taste is due to growing conditions or picking them when they are too mature.

LoreD

Thanks LoreD.

They slowed down there for a while, but now they're tearing away again.

On closer inspection the growing tips and emerging leaves got burnt from an application of pyrethrin that I applied from a bottle, stupidly, in the heat of the day.

But for a few distorted leaves I think they will be okay. Plenty of sprouting going on.

I'm very excited. Of those you mention, I have Round Mauve and Rosa Bianca growing :) I have some spares that I'm thinking of planting in front of the house in what was a flower bed but which is now a hot pepper display or will be when the bubs in there reach a decent height :)