eggplant problems, pepper growing slowly

[tnkrer]

This is my first year growing from seed, so I am even less sure about most everything than usual.

The tomatoes grew very well (except for one variety) and they are planted out now.



eggplant and peppers were started at the same time, but they took a week longer to be ready to be potted. Right now they have been potted for 5 weeks, They are out in the sun the whole day (so they are hardened). However, they seem to be very small. about 3 inches for the best pepper plant. Where as the tomatoes are almost a foot tall. Is that the expected speed of growth? Are they looking OK? When do I say that they are ready to be planted out?




The eggplant leaf is showing lack of chlorophyll. Is this a problem? What can I do to rectify? Its not ready to be planted out yet, right?

[Stvrob]

they all look ready to go in the ground, I assume it is warm enough outside for them now? your eggplant looks a bit sunscalded, but whats past is past, I would get them in the ground as soon as possible. Then a bit of nitrogen.

[epsilon]

I do know that eggplants take a while to get started, and also a real good initial pruning when they get to a certain height, but one they do get going, keeping up with them is going to be a feat in and of itself, based on how much your family enjoys it. personally three eggplant plants would keep me in babaganoush for the entire summer, that and fried egg plant and everything else my heart could desire.

[RayR]

You might have got a bit of sun burn on that eggplant, but it will grow out of it.
I think all your plants look fine, once they are planted out and the temperatures are consistently warmer the growth will explode. The color looks good, they've got short internodes, overall healthy which is the main thing.
What have you been feeding them?

[tnkrer]

Thanks for all your replies. We are still 2 weeks away from plant out safe date. However, 10 day weather forecast is looking acceptable. Minimums are over 45 for all those days. So eggplants and peppers can go in the earthtainers in next 3-4 days. (and cukes in ground). When I had bought plants last couple of years, they were at least 6 inches tall or more. So I was afraid that these may be too small to be planted out. (except eggplants, they have grown)

we do like eggplants. If we get too many, we can always pass those along to neighbors

RayR - I am feeding them foliage pro at 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water (1/4th suggested strength). I was very satisfied with foliage pro last year. (Though I did not grow peppers or eggplants last year)

With the sunscald, is it OK to keep the plants out in sun? I assume, it won't "spread" to other leaves and those are now hardened.

[Stvrob]

If you are going to wait 10 days, you might want to give them a bit of fertilizer now. Do you feed them the 1/4 strength stuff at every watering? Don't do anything drastically different, they only look slightly N deficient, and they will grow out of that once they are in the ground and their roots can roam.
The sun scald won't spread, I would keep them in the sun at this point, that old leaf will be in the shade (under newer growth) soon enough.

[tnkrer]

1/4th strength, every watering, bottom watered.
Planning to plant all of those this weekend, so 3-4 more days for these plants in the pots. 3-4 days after plant out, they will get half strength fertilizer every other week. (The grow media also has fertilizer strip of tomato-tone or vegetable-tone, but in my past experience, if I supplement with half strength of soluble fertilizer to the water reservoir, I get much bigger plants and yields, so I am doing that)

[Kazfam]

So nice to see eggplant leaves without flea beetle holes...

[tnkrer]

funny you should mention that! I snapped this photo today . I don't think it was a flea beetle though. I need to find out what those things are shiny backs with white/brown pattern, almost circular and about half the size of a penny ..

[kath]

They look like flea beetle holes to me.

[tnkrer]

After looking for bug pictures I think it was a stink bug. (I didn't see any flea beetles on the leaves. Did spot that guy and threw it in soapy water. Seemed somewhat like this
http://bugguide.net/node/view/495008
or may be this guy
http://www.organicgardening.com/lear...ing-stink-bugs

[Kazfam]

Oh, dad-burn-it! I jinxed ya...

I am using Diatomaceous Earth sprinkled on my leaves - top and bottom. Seems to be slowing down the feeding. Eggplant can survive flea beetles if you can slow down the nibbling.

I have also read that if you take 2 cups chopped tomato leaves in a pan of 1 quart of water, bring to a simmer, let cool, strain out the leaves and add 1/2 tsp of liquid soap to the solution. Spray the leaves of the eggplant - flea beetles, white-flies, asparagus beetles, and cabbage worms hate the smell. Have not tried it - got it out of Jerry Bake's Terrific Garden Tonics Book.

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

I have always had terrible flea beetle issues with eggplant. This year I am growing under cover until they get much larger. So far, so good, but I do miss being able to look at them easily. I like to go walk through me garden every morning and check out each area. Because I have the cover pinned down and am trying to avoid giving any access to them at this point, I don't get to see them every day.

[clkeiper]

Yep, looks like flea beetles to me. I had a variety in my greenhouse that was covered in flea beetles (millionaire) the others they didn't even touch. I sprayed them all with neem oil. they are looking much better now, though. Neem works by interfering with their hormones. You may not see it work all at once, but if you keep seeing a problem with them, give it a try. I was impresed. Just make sure you don't add soap or anything else to the mix. follow the direction exactly on the bottle. I had a tiny bit of soapy water in the bottom of my sprayer and thought it wouldn't hurt to mix the neem into it and dilute it to the right amount and it ruined two trays of my tomatoes. I had to cut the tops off of all my sweet millions and the Big Beef are still looking funky and I will not be able to sell them.

[tnkrer]

There were two leaves on the plant with these holes. I spotted the stinkbug 3-4 days ago when I saw the holes, got rid of the stinkbug and am watching the plant everyday. I have not noticed any other bug on the eggplants and I have not seen any more holes on those leaves or other leaves. So at the moment, I am going to assume that the stink bug was the culprit.

(Of course, its possible that the real culprit flew away and the stink bug was an innocent bystander, but not very likely, so I would say justice was served )