A few things about Eggplant...

[nctomatoman]

My wife, Sue, has done it - converted me from eggplant loather to lover. And, I've been surprised at how easy it is to get a great crop of them (we had 13 plants in pots last year and were completely overwhelmed with them). Plus, though you don't get the flavor variation that you do with tomatoes, the colors make them visually interesting to grow.....and saving seeds from the hybrids can lead to some great research experiments!

A few success factors from my view:

1. Start seeds and treat seedlings just like tomato seeds and seedlings. Eggplant seed is not viable for nearly as long as tomato seed, but 4-5 years seems to be OK.

2. A real key to success is avoiding the flea beetles early on! This is where I actually do go the chemical route - I spray my plants with a very dilute mix of sevin and diazanon (or malathion) prior to flowering/fruit set. If you can keep the flea beetles away early on, the plants will survive later on when they return - we don't like to spray once fruit is setting. If you don't want to spray, I wonder if a barrier such as Reemay would work well?

3. Eggplant thrive in pots - even 12 by 12 inches. Be sure to stake them - our NY Improved got to 6 feet tall last year. They like food and water at the same rate as tomatoes or peppers in pots. We ended up getting between 15 and 50 fruit per plant, depending upon the variety. The slender Asian varieties were virtual eggplatn machines!

4. Some of our favorites -

purple/white striped - Antigua (TGSC)
green - Green Giant (JSS)
black - New York Improved (bell shape, I got from a friend in a seed swap), Orient Express or Ichiban (JSS, TGSC - slender, long black)
white - many choices - Snowy, Cloud Nine are good ones (JSS, Stokes, etc)
lavendar - many choices - for bell shaped, Rosita or Neon; for slender, Ping Tung Long or Machiaw (JSS for Machiaw - the others TGSC)
Blushed white and lavendar/pink - bell shaped, Lavendar Touch (widely available), slender, Bride (Stokes, others)

There are also novelty types, such as Kermit (small round two tone green), Calliope, etc.

5. Saving seed - let the eggplant go yellow. Cut in half, fill a bowl with water, work your fingers into the flesh, working under water - the seeds separate easily. Pour through a sieve, spread on an unglazed paper plate - air dry for 1-2 weeks.

6. a few dehybridization experiments: Calliope gave me fruit that was indistinguishable from the hybrid. Lavendar Touch gave me one plant with similar looking fruit to the hybrid, and one that was white. Orient Charm gave me a nearly solid long pink/lavendar, and a very slender darker lavendar, neither looked like the parent.

Check out my eggplant pics here.

http://nctomatoman.topcities.com/EggplantTable.htm

So what do we do with them? With the large diameter ones, eggplant parmesan (we bake the eggplant, not fry it - peel, slice, dip in egg/milk then breadcrumbs, bake 400 for 15-20 min until browned), with all of them we make Ratatouille, Baba Ganouj, dice it and put into soups, add to our tomato sauces, to Risotto....

Craig