Indoor Eggplant Blooms Falling Off
 

Hi All...

This year, I've taken it upon myself to try an experiment with growing
some veggies indoors along with my steady herb garden. I'm in Omaha
Nebraska which is roughly a zone 5. I've got some good southern
windows as well as supplemental lighting and have had excellent
results with some herbs, lettuce and some varieties of chiles. In the
fall, I tried some other things including some heirloom tomatoes and
some Kemer eggplant which is a slender variety from Turkey. Anyway,
the plants themselves are extremely healthy. Huge green leaves and
each eggplant stands about 2 feet tall. They have been sprouting
blooms for about the past 6 weeks. But, what happens is that the
bloom stays for a few days and then shrivels up and falls off the
plant. Does anyone know why this is occurring? Do these blooms need
some type of special treatment? Do I need to pollinate them by hand
somehow? If anyone has any clues as to why this is happening, I'd be
greatly appreciative.

Thanks!

Dan

In article ,
Dan Charette wrote:

Hi All...

This year, I've taken it upon myself to try an experiment with growing
some veggies indoors along with my steady herb garden. I'm in Omaha
Nebraska which is roughly a zone 5. I've got some good southern
windows as well as supplemental lighting and have had excellent
results with some herbs, lettuce and some varieties of chiles. In the
fall, I tried some other things including some heirloom tomatoes and
some Kemer eggplant which is a slender variety from Turkey. Anyway,
the plants themselves are extremely healthy. Huge green leaves and
each eggplant stands about 2 feet tall. They have been sprouting
blooms for about the past 6 weeks. But, what happens is that the
bloom stays for a few days and then shrivels up and falls off the
plant. Does anyone know why this is occurring? Do these blooms need
some type of special treatment? Do I need to pollinate them by hand
somehow? If anyone has any clues as to why this is happening, I'd be
greatly appreciative.

Thanks!

Dan

Unless you have indoor insects, yes, you will need to hand pollinate.
That's the only way I'm getting tomato sets on my tomatoes in the
greenhouse since no bees can get in there!

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

There is no need to change the world. All we have to do is toilet train the world and we'll never have to change it again. -- Swami Beyondanada

,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,,

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra

In article KatraMungBean-
,
says...
In article ,
Dan Charette wrote:

Hi All...

This year, I've taken it upon myself to try an experiment with growing
some veggies indoors along with my steady herb garden. I'm in Omaha
Nebraska which is roughly a zone 5. I've got some good southern
windows as well as supplemental lighting and have had excellent
results with some herbs, lettuce and some varieties of chiles. In the
fall, I tried some other things including some heirloom tomatoes and
some Kemer eggplant which is a slender variety from Turkey. Anyway,
the plants themselves are extremely healthy. Huge green leaves and
each eggplant stands about 2 feet tall. They have been sprouting
blooms for about the past 6 weeks. But, what happens is that the
bloom stays for a few days and then shrivels up and falls off the
plant. Does anyone know why this is occurring? Do these blooms need
some type of special treatment? Do I need to pollinate them by hand
somehow? If anyone has any clues as to why this is happening, I'd be
greatly appreciative.

Thanks!

Dan

Unless you have indoor insects, yes, you will need to hand pollinate.
That's the only way I'm getting tomato sets on my tomatoes in the
greenhouse since no bees can get in there!


I have heard of swirling a small paint brush around in
different flowers. Is that what you use for the
tomatoes? Or something else?

Thanks...

--
Get Credit Where Credit Is Due
http://www.cardreport.com/
Credit Tools, Reference, and Forum

Actually, the tomatos seem to produce fruit OK. I've got a couple of
indoor fans that blow a gentle breeze that I think helps to move the
pollen. However, what I've noticed on both the tomato blooms and the
eggplant blooms is that there is little and mostly no pollen visible.
On most flowers you can see the nearly microscopic grains of pollen,
but on the eggplant blooms there appears to be none. So, I'm curious
if maybe the plants might not be getting the right nutrients or
something that is making them not develop pollen. Either that, or
it's just so microscopic, you can't see it.


On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 15:58:24 -0800, Antipodean Bucket Farmer
wrote:

In article KatraMungBean-
,
says...
In article ,
Dan Charette wrote:

Hi All...

This year, I've taken it upon myself to try an experiment with growing
some veggies indoors along with my steady herb garden. I'm in Omaha
Nebraska which is roughly a zone 5. I've got some good southern
windows as well as supplemental lighting and have had excellent
results with some herbs, lettuce and some varieties of chiles. In the
fall, I tried some other things including some heirloom tomatoes and
some Kemer eggplant which is a slender variety from Turkey. Anyway,
the plants themselves are extremely healthy. Huge green leaves and
each eggplant stands about 2 feet tall. They have been sprouting
blooms for about the past 6 weeks. But, what happens is that the
bloom stays for a few days and then shrivels up and falls off the
plant. Does anyone know why this is occurring? Do these blooms need
some type of special treatment? Do I need to pollinate them by hand
somehow? If anyone has any clues as to why this is happening, I'd be
greatly appreciative.

Thanks!

Dan

Unless you have indoor insects, yes, you will need to hand pollinate.
That's the only way I'm getting tomato sets on my tomatoes in the
greenhouse since no bees can get in there!


I have heard of swirling a small paint brush around in
different flowers. Is that what you use for the
tomatoes? Or something else?

Thanks...

Antipodean Bucket Farmer wrote:

In article KatraMungBean-
,
says...

In article ,
Dan Charette wrote:


Hi All...

This year, I've taken it upon myself to try an experiment with growing
some veggies indoors along with my steady herb garden. I'm in Omaha
Nebraska which is roughly a zone 5. I've got some good southern
windows as well as supplemental lighting and have had excellent
results with some herbs, lettuce and some varieties of chiles. In the
fall, I tried some other things including some heirloom tomatoes and
some Kemer eggplant which is a slender variety from Turkey. Anyway,
the plants themselves are extremely healthy. Huge green leaves and
each eggplant stands about 2 feet tall. They have been sprouting
blooms for about the past 6 weeks. But, what happens is that the
bloom stays for a few days and then shrivels up and falls off the
plant. Does anyone know why this is occurring? Do these blooms need
some type of special treatment? Do I need to pollinate them by hand
somehow? If anyone has any clues as to why this is happening, I'd be
greatly appreciative.

Thanks!

Dan

Unless you have indoor insects, yes, you will need to hand pollinate.
That's the only way I'm getting tomato sets on my tomatoes in the
greenhouse since no bees can get in there!



I have heard of swirling a small paint brush around in
different flowers. Is that what you use for the
tomatoes? Or something else?

Thanks...


Actually, tomatoes are so strongly self pollinating you don't need the
brush. Just flick the flowers with your finger and that should do it. No
need to transfer pollen from one flower to another.

Steve

In article ,
Antipodean Bucket Farmer wrote:

In article KatraMungBean-
,
says...
In article ,
Dan Charette wrote:

Hi All...

This year, I've taken it upon myself to try an experiment with growing
some veggies indoors along with my steady herb garden. I'm in Omaha
Nebraska which is roughly a zone 5. I've got some good southern
windows as well as supplemental lighting and have had excellent
results with some herbs, lettuce and some varieties of chiles. In the
fall, I tried some other things including some heirloom tomatoes and
some Kemer eggplant which is a slender variety from Turkey. Anyway,
the plants themselves are extremely healthy. Huge green leaves and
each eggplant stands about 2 feet tall. They have been sprouting
blooms for about the past 6 weeks. But, what happens is that the
bloom stays for a few days and then shrivels up and falls off the
plant. Does anyone know why this is occurring? Do these blooms need
some type of special treatment? Do I need to pollinate them by hand
somehow? If anyone has any clues as to why this is happening, I'd be
greatly appreciative.

Thanks!

Dan

Unless you have indoor insects, yes, you will need to hand pollinate.
That's the only way I'm getting tomato sets on my tomatoes in the
greenhouse since no bees can get in there!


I have heard of swirling a small paint brush around in
different flowers. Is that what you use for the
tomatoes? Or something else?

Thanks...

For tomatoes, I just manipulate them gently with my fingers.
A small paintbrush would probably work better. Eggplant blossoms are
larger if I recall?

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

There is no need to change the world. All we have to do is toilet train the world and we'll never have to change it again. -- Swami Beyondanada

,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,,

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra

Dan Charette said:

Actually, the tomatos seem to produce fruit OK. I've got a couple of
indoor fans that blow a gentle breeze that I think helps to move the
pollen. However, what I've noticed on both the tomato blooms and the
eggplant blooms is that there is little and mostly no pollen visible.
On most flowers you can see the nearly microscopic grains of pollen,
but on the eggplant blooms there appears to be none. So, I'm curious
if maybe the plants might not be getting the right nutrients or
something that is making them not develop pollen. Either that, or
it's just so microscopic, you can't see it.

A thought: might not be warm enough for the eggplants.

Eggplant flowers would need hand pollination in the absence of
insects. (Bumblebees seem to be the main pollinators of eggplants
in my garden.)

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)