Eggplant Propagation

[Sorellina]

Ciao all,

I was wondering if eggplants can be propagated from cuttings the way tomatoes can. My adorable boyfriend "accidentally" ran over one of my Caspers with the lawnmower. This takes considerable talent as the eggplants are in a raised bed. Anyhow, I've got the beheaded seedling in a cup of water just in case. Should I expect it to root?

[Sorellina]

Ciao all,

I never got any responses on this, so I went ahead and experimented with my decapitated eggplant and stuck it in a glass of water along with my poor Opalka sucker to replace the one that was eaten by pill bugs. The Opalka quickly outpaced the Casper Eggplant, but after 2 weeks, Casper finally grew 1" roots and is now potted up in a 1 gal container. I'm going to leave him in there until he gets big and stocky so he can withstand the inevitable bug damage. I just thought you all might like to have this information in case you ever do want to propagate your eggplants from cuttings. It works, you just need to be more patient than with tomatoes.

[nctomatoman]

This is really good to know - it means that eggplant stems will likely root along the area under the soil, so transplanting eggplant deep, like tomatoes, is probably a good thing! And, of course, rescue is possible, as you found out.

[giardiniere]

Good job Julianna, but if your boyfriend does that again, he may not be as adorable, huh?

BTW, I've always meant to ask, does your username mean "little sis"?

Ciao

[Sorellina]

Ciao all,

Right, Craig, it appears the eggplants do indeed make little roots up the stem as you've suspected before my little experiment. As an update, the little Casper is doing quite well in the pot and will probably be transplanted next to his buddies this week.

Dave, you're quite right, my nickname means 'little sister' in Italian. Funnily enough, Duane found a push mower at a garage sale this weekend for $4 and it has replaced the electric one, so that "accident" shouldn't happen again. He knows he'll be in deep yogurt if it does, though, lol.

[Sorellina]

Ciao all,

I'm happy to report that both the beheaded Casper and the headless Casper parts of that same plant are doing well. The headless Casper put out several side branches and now has 5 blossoms on it, one looking very much like it has set fruit. The headless Casper is out on the driveway in a pot and has 3 flowers on it. My main reason for posting here is to give any of you some hope that with some patience and perserverence, eggplants can be rescued from lawnmower madness. They do grow much slower than tomatoes, however.

[chilhuacle]

Originally Posted by Sorellina

eggplants can be rescued from lawnmower madness.

That's good to know in case I snap one off. I don't think I would have tried to root it.