Egg Plants

[davaroo]

Davroo - I need a bit of clarity. So thining back to 4-5 plants is that over the season or at one time. Like once the plant has 4-5 then stop all flowers until they have been harvested? And then let them grow again?

Or will each plant only produce for 4-5 per season?

Also other than Parm what can be done with eggplant? I roasted it on the grill added olive oil and salt and garlic but it was slimey. me no likey.

From what I understand, you dont want more than 4-5 fruit on the plant at one time. This is for the large fruit varieties like the large "Blacks." This also assumes that you will end them after they bear these fruit.

If you want them to go on, and IF there is time in the season (remember, the large fruiting egglants are also long to mature), then you allow some second growth flowers to form fruit.
Chances are good, though, that they will be smaller than the main fruiting (in both size and number) and will come right up on frost time.

Be aware, I am not an eggplant expert. This information came from research on the matter...

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi obsessed

Here are some recipes for eggplants/aubergines. It's a UK site so the measures are Btitish!

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search.do?keywords=Aubergine&searchType=recipes

[Edited to add a site for converting measurements between countries:-

http://www.hostelscentral.com/hostels-article-38.html ]


Hope this helps! There are 8 pages of them..........!! That should keep you going for a bit! :coolsun



:rose Hattie :rose

 

[obsessed]

Daveroo - ending the plant means no more plant right? That would be a good explanation of why eggplants can be so pricey in the market. Thanks for all the help.

 

[davaroo]

Daveroo - ending the plant means no more plant right? That would be a good explanation of why eggplants can be so pricey in the market. Thanks for all the help.

Yeah. As is often the case with fruiting annuals, the goal is normally to grow them, allow them to bear fruit and then to pull them up.

This is how most people do it and it's the way instructions on most seed packets are organized. I suspect it has as much to do with our northern growing traditions as anything, since that is mostly how it is done there.
In other words, it's just sort of assumed that you will plant in spring, harvest in summer - autumn and then be done.

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Eggplant are likely as expensive as they are for other reasons, though.
They arent terribly prolific, so right off they don't offer a lot of profit.
They take a long time to mature and they are fussy, demanding special consideration.
They only really do well in a narrow range of climate conditions, that being hot and moist.
Once they do mature, they must be very carefully packaged and transported quickly, as they dont keep exceedingly well.
And lets face it, they remain something of a specialty item... most people don't favor them. Growing eggplant for market is probaly a pretty intensive practice all around.

 

[obsessed]

THANKS DAVE!!!!!!!!!

I went to the farmer's market today and got two varieties of egg plant. I got the purple black one and a light lavender one. They also had a white variety but I can only eat so many eggplants in a week!-

 

[Texan]

Here is where I am going to buy my eggplant seeds next time. I have just ordered two different types of tomato seeds from them for my fall crop. They were very fast and so far germination has been high.

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/eggplant.htm

 

[davaroo]

Here is where I am going to buy my eggplant seeds next time. I have just ordered two different types of tomato seeds from them for my fall crop. They were very fast and so far germination has been high.

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/eggplant.htm

Very nice looking stuff! Ill log them into my favs for sure. Thank you.

I just got some myself, one packet of Ichiban (40-44 seeds) from ebay (early) and another from .... oh I can't remember now. Anyway the second ones are "Fairy Tale," also an early variety. Still hopeful, that's us, eh?

 

[Texan]

Here is where I am going to buy my eggplant seeds next time. I have just ordered two different types of tomato seeds from them for my fall crop. They were very fast and so far germination has been high.

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/eggplant.htm

Very nice looking stuff! Ill log them into my favs for sure. Thank you.

I just got some myself, one packet of Ichiban (40-44 seeds) from ebay (early) and another from .... oh I can't remember now. Anyway the second ones are "Fairy Tale," also an early variety. Still hopeful, that's us, eh?

Your Welcome. I had no idea that there were so many varities of eggplant. I really want to grow some of them red ones at the bottom of the page.

 

[davaroo]

Here is where I am going to buy my eggplant seeds next time. I have just ordered two different types of tomato seeds from them for my fall crop. They were very fast and so far germination has been high.

http://www.tomatogrowers.com/eggplant.htm

Very nice looking stuff! Ill log them into my favs for sure. Thank you.

I just got some myself, one packet of Ichiban (40-44 seeds) from ebay (early) and another from .... oh I can't remember now. Anyway the second ones are "Fairy Tale," also an early variety. Still hopeful, that's us, eh?

Your Welcome. I had no idea that there were so many varities of eggplant. I really want to grow some of them red ones at the bottom of the page.

They do look nice. Abit too long to mature for this year, though... well maybe not for you!

 

[Gloria]

This will be my first time planting eggplant too. Does anyone know if you can freeze eggplant or not?