Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

General information and discussion about cultivating eggplants/aubergines.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old August 10, 2006   #1
michael johnson
Tomatovillian™
 
michael johnson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: UK.
Posts: 960
Default How do you grow egg plants realy well- I failed.

Does anyone know the best culture info for egg plants, I personaly have been struggling to grow them properly for about six years now and still havn't mastered it.

I tend to grow them on the same lines as tomatoes-which I do grow well,

But I am having cutural problems with egg plants all the way through, this season I managed to grow fairly robust specimens and healthy- but as soon as they started flowering the flowers are dropping off and not setting-despite me hand polinating them.

What I realy need is a sort of cultural instruction data or book on their culture and basic growing needs in order to adjust my growing methods and compost needs accordingly.

Any sort of basic needs info or help would be greatly appreciated, as I am determined to master the growth of them properly. 8)
michael johnson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 10, 2006   #2
nctomatoman
Tomatoville® Moderator
 
nctomatoman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7
Posts: 10,385
Default

Here is exactly what I do. I start eggplant as I do tomatoes - transplant into 4 inch pots, deeply, just like tomatoes. I then move them into their final resting place - for me 5 gallon pots - in a mix of soilless mix and composted cow manure. They are in direct sun, right on my light colored concrete - so they warm up very quickly. Early on, with the flea beetle issue, I spray with Sevin until the plants start growing vigorously and blossoming. I use a slow release granular every two weeks, and water in the morning and evening. I stake with 3 foot stakes (the plants are on the concrete, but against my lawn - the stakes go into the lawn, not in the pots, since the plants get very heavy with fruit and would pull over the stake if it were in the pot). I start harvesting in about 50-60 days from transplant into the large pots, and end up picking 10-20 fruit from each plant - and grow all sorts, from the large bell types to the slender Asian types.

Anything in this description that you can grab onto, in terms of identifying your issues?
__________________
Craig
nctomatoman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 10, 2006   #3
Althea
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: z4MN
Posts: 261
Default

The only helpful thing I can add is from Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. It says to mix 2 lbs of composted cow manure per plant into the soil before planting. Topdress with compost after transplanting. Then in July, topdress with compost again.
__________________
Solanaceae Hugger
Althea is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 10, 2006   #4
mdvpc
Tomatoville® Moderator
 
mdvpc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posts: 4,386
Default

I would add that I use espoma tomato tone, 4-7-10 with micros-it a granular and I foliar feed with a 2-15-15 and kelp. Eggplants like heat and sun, and I have some blossom drop in our intense 100-105 degree heat, but still get plenty of fruit. Right now I am harvesting applegreen, casper and ping tung long.
__________________
Michael
mdvpc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 10, 2006   #5
montanamato
Tomatovillian™
 
montanamato's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Montana
Posts: 1,038
Default

I start out with good intentions but don't do as much followup after planting, with additional fertilizer. I also used a bit of tomato tone in my containers. Of my 4 locations for eggplants the ones doing best are the ones inside the cold frame, blocked from the wind. I think the wind plus heat is not great for production.
Still I am getting a few from Ping tung, Round Mauve, White Italian, Ukranian Beauty, and Thai Long Green. Thai Round Green is growing very slowly and is the garden dirt...
Insects can really slow them up if unchecked.

Jeanne
montanamato is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 11, 2006   #6
michael johnson
Tomatovillian™
 
michael johnson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: UK.
Posts: 960
Default

Thanks Nctomatoman and the other kind folks, that very usefull information, I shall work along those lines in future- I do hate to be beaten by a plant problem, and usualy stick at it until I have managed to crack it.

One thing that realy suprised me though-was that I surfed the net a bit for info on egg plant culture, and up came a turkish web site in english, that grew egg plants on a large scale as produce for local markets etc, and they recomended using lots of feeds of Amonium Nitrate until flower set-then changing onto a high potash feed.

( Amonium Nitrate ) is a very fast high nitrogen feed- I didnt have egg plants down as nitrogen guzzlers- but according to them they say the plants need it for rapid leaf production, and as a result grow 5 or six foot high- "WoW".
michael johnson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 11, 2006   #7
Polar_Lace
Tomatovillian™
 
Polar_Lace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Z8b, Texas
Posts: 657
Default

Hi Mike,

I've been using some of this since running out of other things this year; & it does the job very well according to me:
Jack's Classic All Purpose Plant Food

I bought mine at my local Agway for $14.00; it's a giant bucket I dare say! Well fed plants stay disease free; & fight off a host a problems.
__________________
It's not how many seeds you sow. Nor how many plants you transplant. It's about how many of them can survive your treatment of them.
Polar_Lace is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 11, 2006   #8
Chicago_Joe
Tomatovillian™
 
Chicago_Joe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Chicago
Posts: 29
Default

Quote:
and end up picking 10-20 fruit from each plant
Wow Craig, that's alot per plant. I grow eggplant every year and only get 5 or 6 per plant. I grow them in ground, sunny location and compost. I grow the italian varieties.
Chicago_Joe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 11, 2006   #9
nctomatoman
Tomatoville® Moderator
 
nctomatoman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7
Posts: 10,385
Default

My yield of peppers and eggplant are much higher grown in pots than the ground - suspect it is because of the heat factor (root zones much warmer in the pots!). Give it a try!
__________________
Craig
nctomatoman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 16, 2014   #10
ScottinAtlanta
Tomatovillian™
 
ScottinAtlanta's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Posts: 2,593
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by nctomatoman View Post
My yield of peppers and eggplant are much higher grown in pots than the ground - suspect it is because of the heat factor (root zones much warmer in the pots!). Give it a try!
Same results for me. I moved to 10 gallon terracotta pots this year, and my eggplants in the pots are twice as big and more loaded than the ones in the ground. Craig says it is because of root temps, and I tend to agree.

Also, the Japanese White is the most productive for me.
ScottinAtlanta is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 17, 2014   #11
peppero
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: selmer, tn
Posts: 2,944
Default

I have not done well growing them in the ground and have done better in containers. I am using aged cow manure and fish fertizer used as a spray. My best one this year is in a variation of the self watering container. It is about three feet tall and is now blossoming with almost no damage from flea beatles. I am looking forward to harvest.

jon
peppero is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 12, 2006   #12
michael johnson
Tomatovillian™
 
michael johnson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: UK.
Posts: 960
Default

Polar_lace, that Jacks classic stuff is realy good stuff, as its basicly simular to a very good general fertiliser we have over here in the Uk.

Its got all the same trace elements in it as ours- its the Boron and Molydynium and zinc, that tomatoes seem to realy like.

Next season- I am going to try what Craig suggested and put all my egg plants into large pots- together with a good dash of cow manure mixed in.
michael johnson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old August 15, 2006   #13
MawkHawk
Tomatovillian™
 
MawkHawk's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Metro Detroit/Z6
Posts: 168
Default

I'm growing Eggplants in pots in my little greenhouse as well as in the garden. The GH plants are about 2x the size of the garden plants and producing 2x more fruits. I grow in black gro bags. For soil I'm using about 1/2 pine bark, 1/4 potting soil, 1/4 sand or so, plus Miracle Gro for Tomatoes every 2 weeks at 1/2 strength. I stake them up with those little green bamboo sticks stuck into the pot soil, which is a little too flimsy I'm finding.
__________________
Mark
MawkHawk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 3, 2006   #14
matermama
Tomatovillian™
 
matermama's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Saint Paris, OH
Posts: 143
Default eggplant

well i m new to the eggplant , mine where a far cry from ever doing anything. I was about to pull them up and i was told about a foliar spray and a plant fortifier.
THE Plant fortifier is called Dunkels Original, it is quiet pricey but the results are worth it, i only wish i had found it sooner in the season. It helped my eggplants ( rosa bianca ) tremendously!!
The other is a foliar spray calld Neptunes Harvest unless you already know of it ?
My plants were siclky looking !!!! i was about to pull them up. I sprayed and used the foliar spray once a month them alternating the two, in about 4 weeks i really saw a difference, maybe it was the stuff or maybe just sheeer dumb luck :wink: i don't know. But i will be using the DUnkles next yr on my eggplants from the very start.
Maybe the Rosa Bianca is a no brainer eggplant ?? I don't know, but i have 3-5 flowers on each plant and have 2 fruit on each one right now,
well i hope it helps I have also herd of a garlic spray that works wonders on beetles ,but didn't try it yet.
sue
matermama is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 6, 2006   #15
JohnF
Tomatovillian™
 
JohnF's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Bangor, Maine
Posts: 66
Default

I grow them in 12" pots in Pro Mix Bx and they do well and are productive. In this cold Maine climate I think the pots warm up better than the ground ( plus the Pro Mix is superior to my soil) I start them inside about when I start my tomatoes.

JohnF is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:09 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★