Black Beauty has done well for me in the past, but I gave up on OP eggplant. Low yields, generally ugly fruit (for me). You don't say anything about disease, but if Verticillium wilt is killing your plants before they can really deliver, then you need to consider growing them in a container. When growing them in-ground, in a good year, I might get a modest harvest. In a poor year, the plants would load up and I might get one or two fruit before Verticillium took its toll. So now I grow them in an EarthBox and have more than we can eat -- every year!
Recommended varieties: Dancer (Johnny's), Early Midnight (Burpee), Nadia (Tomato Growers), White Star (Harris), Classic (Harris). I've grown all these very successfully in the EB, using a 4-ft. tomato cage to support the plants. Be aware, these are heavy feeders, so must be fertilized accordingly. This year, I will be trying "the snack" as a supplement. I believe that the lighter-skinned eggplants stay bitter-free than the dark purple ones. But no evidence of that that I know if.
-GG
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