Growing Eggplant, also Aubergine

Solanum sp. : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
								S	S
										T	T

(Best months for growing Eggplant in New Zealand - cool/mountain regions)

S = Plant undercover in seed trays
T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings

September: Bring on in pots - need a long growing season

Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4-6 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 75°F and 90°F. (Show °C/cm)
Space plants: 24 - 30 inches apart
Harvest in 12-15 weeks. Cut fruit with scissors or sharp knife.
Compatible with (can grow beside): Beans, capsicum, lettuce, amaranth, thyme
Avoid growing close to: Potatoes

Your comments and tips

06 Apr 09, Wendy (Australia - temperate climate): Egg plants are very hungry for Nitrogen. Mine are fed abundantly, mostly with horse manure and compost and some chook manure. I have at least 10 good size fruit per plant. However they do not seem to fully ripen, always a little greenish just under skin when cut. They still taste fine but I am told they are much richer in taste if fully ripe. any clues??
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05 Apr 09, (Australia - temperate climate): I too have a problem with the Aubergine not going dark, actually is yellow sometimes the growth is stunted. My soil type is almost neutral.
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31 Mar 09, marina (Australia - temperate climate): Thanks David. I suspected too much water could be a culprit and I'm going to do the potash thing. Happy eggplanting!
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30 Mar 09, David (Australia - temperate climate): Marina: I was having the same problem (West Sydney). I finally solved it by watering every other day and 1 application of a handful of potash. 2 plants have so far given 5 with 5 more fruit growing and 4 more flowers
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28 Mar 09, marina (Australia - temperate climate): It's late March. My purple egg plants have lots of blossoms but most fall. Very few carry to fruit? Any ideas on why this is so?
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22 Mar 09, Kim (Australia - temperate climate): Same comment as Greg, I'm in Adelaide and the longer I leave the fruit on the tree the paler they seem to become. Is it still okay to eat?
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13 Mar 09, Alex (Australia - temperate climate): I think I made the mistake of only planting a single Eggplant seedling. It seems to be growing very very slowly (if at all). Are there any tips on having them flower and fruit. It is currently planted in ground, facing north and getting full sun.
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04 Mar 09, Mohan U. (Australia - temperate climate): Planted five into the ground and two in pots. All are fine and have yielded on an average two fruits. Quite some pests - mites etc. Regular spray of fine water to dislodge them. The only fertiliser used was blood n. bone with some calcium nitrate.
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02 Mar 09, Julian (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): I am growing eggplant in Wellington in a plastic house. Plants seem healthy enough and keep putting out flowers but i only got one fruit from the very first flower on one of the plants. I started catching bumble bees and putting them in the plastic house to pollinate the flowers, but still no results. Any ideas???
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15 Feb 09, Tandara (Australia - temperate climate): Can eggplants become poisoness if left too long after ripening? Mine have become soft and lost there nice shiny lustre and have become dull and have green patches.
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Replying to:

I know it's over a year later, but I've been looking for info for overwintering a huge eggplant plant, and saw your question here. Summer '22 I picked up three 5" Japanese eggplant plants from local Tractor supply store, on sale in 3 or 4" pots, for $4 each. I grew them in central MA, each in a 12 or 14" pot all summer. Got some good yield, and they grew to about 18" high, but I decided to bring them inside for the winter to see if I could get more fruit from them. I put them on a south facing bay window, air temp was never much above 68*, I watered, fertilized once (maybe 2x) from October-May, and hand pollinated flowers with a paint brush. Got about 10 fruits, which I thought was pretty good! Nice and tender and sweet. In late May/early June they went outside, (after hardened off properly) planted 1 into 2' tall raised wooden garden box (with tomatoes, potatoes, basil, borage), 1 into a large deep pot, and one in a conditioned straw bale. The pot one failed, the box and straw bale one thrived and are now 3' tall and maybe 2-3' wide. Tons of flowers, fruit, I couldn't keep up. I'm trying to figure out if I can bring one of them inside again (transplant into v. large pot) and get one more summer out of it! So you can probably grow Ichyban Japanese in your zone, just protect from cooler temps, and bring inside if your season isn't long enough.

- TMR

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Growing Eggplant, also Aubergine

Solanum sp. : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Your comments and tips

GardenGrow

Keep your garden growing - see what to plant right now

Growing Eggplant, also Aubergine

Solanum sp. : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Your comments and tips

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