Eggplant 2020

[zipcode]

This year I went slightly overboard with eggplants, and am not growing any from last year because I was not fully satisfied with any of them, as well as having too many new to try.
I have one plant each on the balcony, from:

Kurume - a long japanese traditional, my seeds come from Daiso in Japan (like a 1 euro shop).
Aswad - seeds from habitat_gardener, straight from baker creek
Mitoyo - same as above
Xi'an Green - very early traditional big fat green eggplant from China, seeds from some company in China
Xi'an Early Purple Jar - big to very big normal shape but not quite dark purple, another traditional variety from China
Green Dragon - quite big green eggplant, longer than Xi'an green but not too long, so kinda normal shape. This I think should be a fixed variety. Again straight from China.

And in a friend's garden, mostly for testing to see what can survive in the colder nights he has (on the balcony the climate is much warmer). Irene F1 (the only repeat from last year, it was the only one that wasn't a tiny stunted plant, a cheap Italian hybrid that certainly surprises with cold tolerance and vigour), Almaz (Diamond) (seems that seeds are wrong or crossed, the plant is very purple looking and it shouldn't), Applegreen, Kashalot (this is again wrong seed, the plant doesn't have any purple, and it should).

The 'traditional' varieties (like Kurume, Diamond, Xi'an ones) are going to have variations depending on the vendor, especially in plant vigour and productivity etc, so hopefully I got some good ones.

Don't have any pictures yet since the plants are still not producing, we had a cold spring and june has been absolutely miserable, rainy with no sun and quite cold and it's continuing that way.

But some notes are that Aswad is in another league to any eggplant I grew, it's just so much more vigurous, also it will be way later to produce.

[taboule]

Good to see another member who likes eggplant. I too am growing more varieties this year than ever before. DW and I are both mediterraneans, eggplant is my favorite veggie along with tomatoes.

I'm growing:

No-name Greek, variegated pink/purple, medium elongated
No-name Greek #2, all white, medium elongated same as #1 above, we use both for stuffing
Black Beauty, a classic
Black Moon, a hybrid that looks exactly like BB
Long purple/Ping tung, super elongated, sweet
Rosa Bianca, variegated pink/purple, round bulbous shape, sweet

Most plants are planted in the ground, but also a few in pots (grow bags).

I'd love to try more of the Japanese varieties next year. I used to grow and enjoy Ichiban until I learned it's a hybrid. Would like to focus more on the OP types and save seed.

Never grown Aswad, I understand it's from Iraq, and Aswad mean "black" in Arabic.

[zipcode]

Which are the ones that you grew before?
I had Ping Tung last year and it had a unique thick cream texture, great for 'stir frying' style dishes. But it seemed to have very high heat requirements, more than all the others, so the production was not great.
Next year the goal is to do some sort of grafting, either on some Solanum torvum (random seeds, can't really find the ones selected fro grafting) and maybe on some tomatoes that I think would make a good rootstock.

[Tracydr]

I love eggplants too! I love them roasted as a snack, made into a weight watchers eggplant parm or as baba ganoush. Eggplant and basil green curry is a huge favorite.
I’m growing millionaire,viscerba and Rosa Bianca this year, about 12 plants total. I also grew a round Thai variety last year but really didn’t care it except fermented as a pickle. For,meted eggplant is amazing,btw, if you haven’t tried it.

[taboule]

I've grown them all before except Black Moon, that is new to me this year. I only got it because I was running low on Black Beauty (BB) and was curious of trying something similar with the possibility of fewer seeds. Time will tell.

Never got a huge production with any eggplants, with best success coming from plants in grow bags -10 or 15 gal, 2x plants per. Could be because their roots grow warmer than in-ground, supporting your comment about plants requiring heat. It gets hot in the middle of the summer where I am, but the cool spring this year is dragging on -we still have nights in the low 50s. We had HAIL 9 days ago -a rare and freaky storm but still.

Wont be doing any grafting anytime soon, already over committed with the gardening now I'm doing and need to draw a line somewhere

[gdaddybill]

I'm growing Louisiana Oval Green (LOG), Galaxy Green and Southern Pink (from Evergreen Seeds--not currently open for business--quarantined ? in Taiwan or China? Also Campana Negra from NESeed.com.


We mostly use them in cheesy casseroles after first frying them. Love to snack on the extra fried ones.

[mdvpc]

The eggplant I like the best, and grow every year is a Japanese variety named Kamo.

[habitat_gardener]

I also have many more eggplants this year! I got a bigger community garden plot and have been working nearly full time on weeding, digging, weeding, planting, watering, weeding, mulching, weeding....it was a big bindweed plantation last summer, so not only is it infested with big deep healthy roots, but also seeds!
I planted 34 plants!!! And have about 10 extras to give away. Anyway,

from zipcode I have
Xi'an Green
Green Dragon
Aragon F1
Madonna F1

from Nikitovka via another gardener I have
Sneg Sredi Leta, compact, white
Matrouk, dark purple
Gandia, white/lavender
Chornyy Krasen, compact, dark purple with light green pulp

from Baker Creek
Aswad (also grew it last year)
Mitoyo
Syrian Stuffing

had old seed
Diamond, another dark purple Ukrainian variety (also grew it last year)

purchased as plants
Calliope F1, white and purple variegated, small oval Indian type
Nadia F1 (also grew it last year)
Galine F1 (also grew it last year)

[zipcode]

gdaddybill, I have seen your thread of Louisiana Oval Green, most probably it's originating from India/Pakistan, I have seen on youtube harvesting a field full of plants with fruit like that. They seemed pretty big, around 300-500g maybe.

mdvpc, I have grown Kamo last year and it has been my most productive, with 5kg per plant, which is pretty solid for my climate. Very good taste (maybe the best), but the texture wasn't there for me, maybe it needed a lot more water? It was more dense, less spongy/springy, which makes cooking a lot slower, which is very important for the type of dishes I make with eggplant (mostly what is known as eggplant caviar I guess).


After a slow start Xi'an Green is finally showing that it has good vigour, with big leaves, compact, but at the same time an open growth (the side stems go at an angle from another, unlike others that grow all straight up). I had several sprouting and they were all much slower to grow (germination was quite fast) than the rest, so my hopes were low.

[zipcode]

Just a couple of fruits starting to form, more than half the plants still refuse growing any fruit despite a good leaf growth and flowers since a couple of weeks now, probably due to low light.
In order: Kurume, Xi'an Green, Green Dragon.

[GoDawgs]

We grow just one eggplant plant each year and that's Millionaire in a 15 gallon nursery bucket. It's the only one that produces consistently and it produces a lot all the way to fall although they do get smaller towards the end of the season. I used to grow several every year but that's just too much eggplant for this house!

[Black Krim]

Eggplant is growing on me. My first fruit were eaten by the chickens. The next year found a pkg of Casper at MI gardener...really liked the flavor and texture. Last yr bought a 6 pack of purple fingerling type. Very productive. Very. This year could only find Black Beauty and transplanted one Casper.

Very excited to see one 3" fruit on the Casper.

[Father'sDaughter]

I've tried many varieties over the years and none do well for me. Last year I had two that seeds were not true to type. This year with new seeds from a different vendor, I ended up with three plants that stalled out at about 10" and each produced one 3" eggplant with no new blossoms to be seen. So today I threw in the towel, yanked the three plants, and replaced them with some left over dwarf tomato plants I originally had no room for.

I will try different eggplants again next year. I know someday i'll find one that grows well in my garden.

[zipcode]

What are your night temperatures generally like? If it's under 15C (60F) all summer, you can probably forget about it.
Since I am trying also in a friend's garden a few varieties (two of which are not true to type, bummer), where it's really quite cold (rarely above 15 at night), I will have some things to report.

One thing I can say is that black mulch plastic foil spread over a nice size area (at least a square meter) seem to help visibly, this year was colder than last and even so plants are doing much better.
The second is that seed vendors should really bag their eggplants, they cross easily.

[Father'sDaughter]

We rarely get below 60F at night during the summer. It's usually over 70F, and days are typically above 80F.

I've been resisting growing hybrid varieties but next year I may give a couple a try.

While I love eggplant, I don't like the big bulbous ones typically found at the grocery store, and when they do have the long Italian or Asian varieties in stock, they cost a fortune.