Japanese method of growing/pruning eggplant?

peebee · September 7, 2011

I watch a weekly local gardening program here in CA that is in Japanese, and enjoy watching this experienced, weathered guy talk and demonstrate various growing methods. This time the subject was eggplants.

He brought in a beautiful, huge Japanese long eggplant in a pot, and proceeded to cut off all the suckers on the bottom, and even the robust second and third stems, leaving just one main one. He said even tho it is painful for the grower to cut these healthy stems with flowers and small fruit, if you prune you will have more fruit later. He said to fertilize a week before, and a week later. Oh, and he even cut off the top of the remaining stem, about almost a half.

Also, and this I have read online on different forums, eggplants benefit from sidedressing during the season, so he made at least 4 deep holes with a thick stick around the perimeter (not so close to the plant, but circling it) and he put in time-release fertilizer.

I'm thinking of trying this method cuz I have nothing to lose--my eggplants are just so-so this year and I have always wondered if pruning would help. I trust this guy cuz I've watched his shows and he is right on about growing stuff.

Anyone else heard of this drastic pruning?

dokutaaguriin · September 8, 2011

Hi Peebee,
Here is a link where I posted about this very topic:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=18633&highlight=eggplant&page=2

Jeff

Tracydr · September 9, 2011

I prune back my eggplants pretty severly a couple of times a year when they start to seem pretty worn out. I'm rewarded with bright new growth and tons of fruit. My eggplants are three years old. I thought I was losing them this summer. They looked just awful recently so I pruned back, almost as you just described. There is suddenly a burst of bright new leaves and blossoms, despite just finishing two weeks of + 110 degree weather, which was what I thought was causing them to look so bad.
I fertilize sporadically. Usually I hit them with alfalfa pellets a couple of tines s year and probably four times a year with fish/ kelp solution. I do have eggplant producing heavily in spring and fall with a slow down in the summer and none in the coldest winter months of December, Jan, and Feb. I thought I had lost my plants to a severe freeze this winter when we had several days in the lower twenties. I pruned back all the obviously dead branches, after giving it two weeks. After pruning, I again had an amazing amount of new growth and even blooms, despite being winter and having pruned back to nearly nothing!
These plants apparently love being pruned. I've now come to believe in pruning eggplants, and have even started to do the same on some of my indeterminate tomatoes this summer, to see if I can get similar results.
Oh, the main stem on these two eggplants are about two inches in in diameter, about the size of a young tree and almost appear woody. My pepper plants do this, when I'm lucky enough to get them to overwinter, as well. They are not quite as tolerant of the cold, it seems, as they perished last winter under their blankets in that freeze, although they have overwintered for me before.

Iva · September 9, 2011

Wow, Tracy, thanks for that info! I have some eggplants planted in pots, so I will surely try to prune them and overwinter them inside. Hope this works! Thanks...

September 7, 2011	#1
peebee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Southern CA Posts: 1,714	Japanese method of growing/pruning eggplant? I watch a weekly local gardening program here in CA that is in Japanese, and enjoy watching this experienced, weathered guy talk and demonstrate various growing methods. This time the subject was eggplants. He brought in a beautiful, huge Japanese long eggplant in a pot, and proceeded to cut off all the suckers on the bottom, and even the robust second and third stems, leaving just one main one. He said even tho it is painful for the grower to cut these healthy stems with flowers and small fruit, if you prune you will have more fruit later. He said to fertilize a week before, and a week later. Oh, and he even cut off the top of the remaining stem, about almost a half. Also, and this I have read online on different forums, eggplants benefit from sidedressing during the season, so he made at least 4 deep holes with a thick stick around the perimeter (not so close to the plant, but circling it) and he put in time-release fertilizer. I'm thinking of trying this method cuz I have nothing to lose--my eggplants are just so-so this year and I have always wondered if pruning would help. I trust this guy cuz I've watched his shows and he is right on about growing stuff. Anyone else heard of this drastic pruning?

September 8, 2011	#2
dokutaaguriin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alberta, Canada Z3a Posts: 905	Hi Peebee, Here is a link where I posted about this very topic: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=18633&highlight=eggplant&page=2 Jeff

September 9, 2011	#3
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	I prune back my eggplants pretty severly a couple of times a year when they start to seem pretty worn out. I'm rewarded with bright new growth and tons of fruit. My eggplants are three years old. I thought I was losing them this summer. They looked just awful recently so I pruned back, almost as you just described. There is suddenly a burst of bright new leaves and blossoms, despite just finishing two weeks of + 110 degree weather, which was what I thought was causing them to look so bad. I fertilize sporadically. Usually I hit them with alfalfa pellets a couple of tines s year and probably four times a year with fish/ kelp solution. I do have eggplant producing heavily in spring and fall with a slow down in the summer and none in the coldest winter months of December, Jan, and Feb. I thought I had lost my plants to a severe freeze this winter when we had several days in the lower twenties. I pruned back all the obviously dead branches, after giving it two weeks. After pruning, I again had an amazing amount of new growth and even blooms, despite being winter and having pruned back to nearly nothing! These plants apparently love being pruned. I've now come to believe in pruning eggplants, and have even started to do the same on some of my indeterminate tomatoes this summer, to see if I can get similar results. Oh, the main stem on these two eggplants are about two inches in in diameter, about the size of a young tree and almost appear woody. My pepper plants do this, when I'm lucky enough to get them to overwinter, as well. They are not quite as tolerant of the cold, it seems, as they perished last winter under their blankets in that freeze, although they have overwintered for me before.

September 9, 2011	#4
Iva Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Slovenia, EU Posts: 249	Wow, Tracy, thanks for that info! I have some eggplants planted in pots, so I will surely try to prune them and overwinter them inside. Hope this works! Thanks...