I never grew eggplants before so I really don't know what to expect.
I'll be growing Black Beauty which is an old heirloom. I really don't
know how tall the plants get but I'm going to put stakes in just in case
their needed. I'm planting them in the same row as my tomatoes and
peppers. Not sure about production either. Not sure how many eggplants
to expect each plant to produce??? One thing I'm sure about is the fact
that I love them breaded and fried

Rich

On Wed, 3 Mar 2010 08:13:47 -0500, (EVP MAN)
wrote:


I never grew eggplants before so I really don't know what to expect.
I'll be growing Black Beauty which is an old heirloom. I really don't
know how tall the plants get but I'm going to put stakes in just in case
their needed. I'm planting them in the same row as my tomatoes and
peppers. Not sure about production either. Not sure how many eggplants
to expect each plant to produce??? One thing I'm sure about is the fact
that I love them breaded and fried

For a newbie especially with a limited space garden I strongly
recommend the long narrow oriental varietals.
http://www.burpee.com/product/vegeta...+-+long+purple
%2C+organic+%281+pkt.%29.do?search=basic&keyword=e ggplant&sortby=newArrivals&page=all

EVP MAN wrote:
I never grew eggplants before so I really don't know what to expect.
I'll be growing Black Beauty which is an old heirloom. I really don't
know how tall the plants get but I'm going to put stakes in just in
case their needed. I'm planting them in the same row as my tomatoes
and peppers. Not sure about production either. Not sure how many
eggplants to expect each plant to produce??? One thing I'm sure
about is the fact that I love them breaded and fried

Rich

Be patient they like a long hot summer and you may not get much growth or
flowering until it warms up. If your growing season is short you may have
trouble getting the fruit ripe before it gets too cold. If the fruit are
well grown on a large cultivar (which IIRC black beauty is) they can be
heavy enough to stress the branches. They will get about 2-3 ft (60-90cm)
high and should not need staking unless it is very windy or you get many
fruit maturing at once. Each plant will make only a limited number of
flowers over a period of time, up to about 15 in my experience, although
this may well vary with cultivar. If you are clever you may be able to get
all of them to set fruit and for the fruit to mature but count on about half
that. They are susceptible to a variety of bugs that like to eat the leaves
(eg 28 spot ladybirds) and bore into the fruit (eg eggplant borer) so keep a
close eye on them. The borer is very frustrating as you may not see the
hole, you cut into what looks like a great fruit and it it just a maze of
tunnels full of shit inside headed by a very fat grub.

David

EVP MAN said:

I never grew eggplants before so I really don't know what to expect.
I'll be growing Black Beauty which is an old heirloom. I really don't
know how tall the plants get but I'm going to put stakes in just in case
their needed. I'm planting them in the same row as my tomatoes and
peppers. Not sure about production either. Not sure how many eggplants
to expect each plant to produce??? One thing I'm sure about is the fact
that I love them breaded and fried

I find that eggplants (and peppers) are perfectly sized for those cheap
tomato cone things (three rings + three wire legs) which are far too small
and flimsy to use with tomato plants. Both are generally robust enough
to stand up by themselves, but prone to lean or have branches sag under
the weight of the crop.

Smaller fruited eggplants will produce many, many little ones. You will
get a few of the larger sized varieties per plant.

You want to pick them when they are a bit under ripe (by the plant's own
standard), that is, the seeds are not fully developed. The fruit should be
firm and glossy, and approximately the size you would expect from the
variety you are growing. Undersized is better than over ripe.

The only thing to really watch out for is verticillium wilt, and it's best to
avoid planting out your eggplants until it is reliably quite warm at night,
later than you would set out tomatoes or peppers, as they seem to be
more prone to wilt during cooler weather.

As for varieties, there are many, but they fall into two general classes,
the white fleshed (which often have white, green, lavender, or streaked fruits)
and the 'green' fleshed (mostly deep purple).

White fleshed types are (in my opinion) much better suited to frying or in
dishes where you need the eggplant to hold together, as it were.

Green fleshed types are perfect for dishes where you will mash the cooked
eggplants (like baba ganoush) or where you want the eggplant to blend into
a stew.

I'm pretty sure 'Black Beauty' is a 'green' fleshed type.

There are various beautiful Italian heirloom varieties such 'Violette di Firenze'
or 'Rosa Biannca' that are white fleshed.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of
important nutrients..."
Largo Potter, Valkyria Chronicles

email valid but not regularly monitored

(EVP MAN) wrote in
:


I never grew eggplants before so I really don't know what to expect.
I'll be growing Black Beauty which is an old heirloom. I really don't
know how tall the plants get but I'm going to put stakes in just in
case their needed. I'm planting them in the same row as my tomatoes
and peppers. Not sure about production either. Not sure how many
eggplants to expect each plant to produce??? One thing I'm sure about
is the fact that I love them breaded and fried

Rich



I might add that slugs and flea beatles will devour the plants. Around
here (mid Wilamette Valley, Oregon) slugs are *everywhere*, and they can
decimate a young eggplant plant overnight.

If your springs are long and cool, don't be in a hurry to plant the
seeds, or put them outside. As others have said, the plants won't grow
if it's cold - they will just sit there and be eaten by insects and
slugs.

If you are adventurous, try a few different varieties. Japanese white
egg grows well and sets dozens of white egg sized and shaped fruit per
plant, and they are tender and quite tasty. Ping Tung is a long dark
purple fruit that gets easily a foot long, and is (IIRC) green fleshed
and also very tasty. I think I got about 15 fruit per plant, maybe more
- they are very prolific. There is one that grows small oblong
lavender-white fruit (I forget what it is called) that does well here,
also.

I planted about 30 plants last year. I lost several to the slugs before
I got them under control, several were devoured by flea beetles before I
discovered Neem, and a few varieties just don't seem to like it here.
The ones that did produce did fairly well and I had eggplants coming out
my ears and then some. I must have chucked a hundred pieces of fruit in
the compost pile by the end of the season - 30 plants is really too many
:-)