I'm giving up on eggplant growing

[Cole_Robbie]

I can never get my baba ganoush to not come out slimy. I wonder if I would like it better with an heirloom eggplant variety.

[Greatgardens]

Tried Rosa Bianca a couple of years ago. Had poor production with "interesting" shaped fruit -- mostly "double lobed" and smallish. Also tried a similar hybrid, Beatrice, from Johnny's with somewhat better results, but not "a keeper" for me.

Diamond? Never heard of it. I'll look into that. I've seen Casper advertised for several years, but never tried. it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

-GG

[Andrey_BY]

My aubergines are used to be eaten by local hungry Colorado beetles. It seems to me they like aubergines much more that potatoes ;-)

Best and most prolific aubergine varieties I grow:
Almaz (translated as "Diamond" in English) - 60-75 days, a compact and standard variety here. Ukrainian/USSR CV.
Little Fingers - 70 days, I like multi-clusters.
Patsekha ("Fun" in English) - 55-70 days,earlier than Black Beauty, Belarusian CV.
Lebedinyi ("Swan" in English) - 55-70 days, white skin, bitter-free, Russian CV.
Kashalot (=Cachalot in English) - 50-60 days, the most vigorous and prolific Russian aubergine. See it on the picture below:


I have trialed many aubergine varieties, but don't think it is a good idea to grow them in Zone 4a even in greenhouse. Beetles, low production and luck of space say it all.

[Zeedman]

Andrey, does Lebedinyi have the same elongated fruit as Casper? And does it have thorns? I am wondering how closely they might be related.

Kashalot looks interesting. I'm assuming that the crop in the photo is being grown for seed?

[Andrey_BY]

Zeedman,

I don't trial Casper so I can't compare them.
Lebedinyi ("Swan"): 110-120 days from germination, h 60-80 cm, white elongated 200-250 g bombs, mushroom flavor, bitter-free, no thorns, good keeper, Russian CV. This is it:


Kashalot photo was from Russian seed vendor.

Originally Posted by Zeedman

Andrey, does Lebedinyi have the same elongated fruit as Casper? And does it have thorns? I am wondering how closely they might be related.

Kashalot looks interesting. I'm assuming that the crop in the photo is being grown for seed?

[fantoma]

I never had much success with eggplants either.

[Anthony_Toronto]

I had pretty much the same results as Durgan, with 7 or 8 of the large solid purple pear shaped per plant, and 2 or 3 of the large roundish pink and white striped variety, with pretty much no care other than staking and occasional watering/splash of fertilizer.

[Redbaron]

You guys are all lucky. Last year I got my first eggplants ever. But this year? All my white eggplants are already dead. I have 1 Japanese eggplant hanging on by a thread and probably won't make it. And my black beauty's are looking VERY sad indeed. Not looking good for a repeat at all.

[PNW_D]

was checking out the seedling offers in a local big box yesterday and came across a nice healthy eggplant start - had no idea what Gretel F1 was like but it seems to get really good write ups from various sources - will keep you posted on how it does up here in PNW ...........

http://parkseed.com/gretel-hybrid-eg...p/05225-PK-P1/

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I can never get my baba ganoush to not come out slimy. I wonder if I would like it better with an heirloom eggplant variety.

I'm not a huge fan of baba ganoush. I do love grilled or roasted eggplants with a little EVOO, sea salt and garlic. I can eat them almost like chips. Especially made with the long, Asian varieties. I had a bunch of ping Tung long and Louisiana long, green two years ago and I was snacking on grilled eggplant all the time.
I also did a lacto-ferment pickle that turned out delicious. Actually, one of my favorite pickles, ever!

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Zeedman

"You don't say much about your growing conditions... I tried to grow eggplant for years and had very spotty results due to Verticillium Wilt. Some years the Vert. wasn't bad and I got a decent crop (mostly Black Beauty). Most years, the plants would load up and then the plants would wilt -- at most I'd get an eggplant or two!" (Greatgardens)

That was my experience in Wisconsin for many years - and I tried a lot of varieties, somewhere around 20. I think it is the occasional cool night temperatures here which weaken the plants' immunity, and the wilt attacks them when they are weak... which unfortunately, is usually just as they begin to bear. The same thing happened with many okra varieties, probably for the same reasons.

Fortunately, I eventually found two OP varieties which are highly resistant to wilt; Diamond (purple) and Casper (white). I'm actually surprised that no one has mentioned Diamond in this thread, because it is the most fool-proof & productive OP variety I know of, and is widely adapted. Casper is more temperamental, and some years doesn't set many... but it has a mild flavor and great cooked texture, and actually seems to prefer cool summers, when it really comes on strong. Most years, I generally grow both, and regardless of the weather, one or the other does well.
Casper (left), Diamond (lower right), a Filipino eggplant trial (upper right). (The Filipino eggplant is also very wilt resistant and productive, I've been selecting it for more consistently elongated fruit.)

For those who have mentioned having excess eggplant, don't throw it away - it freezes well. When mine really begin to take off, I steam them whole, allow them to cool, peel them, and freeze them in vacuum bags. The cooked & frozen eggplant maintains its quality well, we use it throughout the winter. Chopped & added to an egg batter, it makes omelets to die for.

(Edit: the forum software seems to go haywire if you try to use both a quote and photo in the same post, hence the quote format at the start of my post.)

Great tip on the freezing. I never thought to add eggplant to an omelet but I may have to try that.
You might try an eggplant fermented pickle.

[Ken B]

Steaming and freezing eggplants sounds interesting, need to give that a try. (I'm used to cubing + roasting them in the oven + then freezing.)

Another great use for eggplants is to use the puree like tomato paste! Since eggplants are thick and dense, all you have to do is to cook them and puree them and you've got a thick paste... then if you combine that eggplant puree with some cooked tomatoes, you've got a great tomato sauce, and you don't notice the eggplants at all.

...

Didn't see anyone mentioning it in this thread or in some of the other recent eggplant threads -- anyone ever have trouble with eggplants not setting fruit when it's too hot?

July 2012 was super hot here in Virginia, we had problems with a LOT of stuff not being able to pollinate because it was so hot -- snap beans, lima beans, squash, etc.... and it was the first time we'd ever noticed eggplants having trouble, we pretty much had no eggplants setting fruit in July, they waited til cooler temperatures in August to start setting fruits.

So in 2013 we tried a few varieties with good reputations for setting fruits in hot weather -- Florida Bush and Florida Market -- and of course 2013 ended up being the coldest summer here in 30 years, so that year's trial wasn't any use.

We're trying again this year, and along with Florida Bush and Florida Market, we're also looking at a Hawaiian variety, Nitta, so if it ends up being another hot summer, maybe this year we'll have some useful results!

[JJJessee]

I almost gave up too.

It was the flea beetle that turned the young leaves into a pall of lace that nearly drove me to eggplant despair.

But this year I set out healthier, larger, plants than I've ever had and that has been part of the solution. I'm growing Black Beauty and Wiamanola(long skinny black one), I had a little success with the Wiamanola last year in a container.

This year I waited until the weather the days and night s were warm( May 29) I put black plastic down as this also helps deter the FB, and put them under light row cover. I've had next to zero FB though I have had a few small grasshoppers, but so far, their damage seems survivable. I've also set planted a couple in 5gal Sub-Irrigated Planters (SIP buckets) these seem to be growing faster. They aren't covered but are sitting on a pallet somewhat away from the garden in a grassy area. I like the asphalt idea. Last year I almost had success with Diamond, but didn't have any seeds leftover. A variety that I wanted to try this year was Ratna -a round, black variety from India. I bought 17 lbs last year at our FM, roasted, peeled and froze them. I couldn't find seeds this year though. The farmer told me they were very productive.

Next year I want to trial several different varieties. Y'all have given me several good ideas.

[Ken B]

Well, so far 2014's summer hasn't been as *cold* as 2013's was, but it's definitely been mild -- so once again our trials for heat-resistant eggplants haven't been useful...

[Labradors2]

Last year I had good success with Swallowtail F1 eggplant.

This year I'm growing Swallowtail again and three Black Beauty. The flea beetles were fierce, but my little seedlings survived and are flowering and fruiting, but two of the Swallowtails have been stricken with what looks like Verticillium Wilt .

I'm not sure what to do, so have been removing the dead leaves and hoping that they will recover. I just hope it doesn't spread to my tomatoes!

Linda