{"id":2136,"date":"2019-10-08T03:05:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T03:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/?p=2136"},"modified":"2019-10-08T03:05:41","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T03:05:41","slug":"eggplant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/08\/eggplant\/","title":{"rendered":"Eggplant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Solanum melongena<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong>: This subtropical species was first cultivated by the great\ncivilizations of China and India almost 6000 years ago. It gradually moved west\nto the Mediterranean with early traders and has been grown in the warmer\ncountries of Europe since at least the 16th century. It is a tender perennial,\nbut is treated as an annual in temperate countries. It is one of the prettiest\nvegetables and doesn\u2019t look out of place in the ornamental garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nutritional value<\/strong>: The fruit are a useful source of vitamins A, C and some B\u2019s, including folate,\nas well as calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorous. They are a very good\nsource of various antioxidants and phytonutrients. They contain about 110\ncalories per pound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ease of growing: <\/strong>Eggplant can be quite slow to get going initially, but once it is\nestablished in the right growing conditions it isn\u2019t too difficult to grow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crop value: <\/strong>Eggplant is a fairly nutritious plant, but it isn\u2019t eaten in\nquantity It isn\u2019t particularly productive or easy to grow either, so isn\u2019t a\nvery important crop from a food self-sufficiency standpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate<\/strong>: The eggplant is of subtropical origin and needs a long (3 – 5\nmonths), hot (70 – 90\u00b0F) growing season for best growth. It won\u2019t grow well if\nit isn\u2019t warm during the day and doesn\u2019t like cold nights (below 70\u00b0F is cold\nfor eggplant). However there are some varieties that do okay in cooler\nclimates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In cool climates it is sometimes grown in a greenhouse or tunnel\ncloche. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did I mention that eggplant doesn\u2019t like extreme heat either?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About Eggplant<\/strong> \u00a0

Seed facts<\/strong>
Germ temp: 60 (75 – 90) 95\u00b0F
Germ time: 14 – 21 days
13 days \/ 68\u00b0F
8 days \/ 77\u00b0F
5 days \/ 86\u00b0F * Optimum
Viability: 6 – 10 years
Germination percentage: 60%+
Weeks to grow transplants: 6 – 10 \u00a0

Planning facts<\/strong>
Hardiness: Tender
Growing temp: 65 (70 – 85) 90\u00b0F
Plants per person: 2
Plants per sq ft: \u00bd
Plant size: 24 – 72\u02dd tall
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 18 – 24\u02dd wide \u00a0

Planning <\/strong>
Start: 4 – 6 wks before last frost
Plant out: 4 wks after last frost \u00a0

Harvest facts<\/strong>
Days to harvest:
From seed: 100 – 150 days
From transplant: 55 – 85 days
Yield per plant: 4 lb (5 – 20 fruit)
Yield per sq ft: \u00bd – 1\u00bd lb sq ft \u00a0
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

Soil<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

pH 5.5 – 6.8 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eggplant likes the same kind of soil as peppers, fertile,\nwell-drained, deep and loose. They need a fair amount of nitrogen and moderate\namounts of phosphorus and potassium (a fair amount is slightly more than a\nmoderate amount).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soil preparation<\/strong>: Incorporate 2\u02dd of compost or aged manure into the top 6\u02dd of\nsoil. Raised beds are good as they help the soil to warm up faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plastic mulch<\/strong>: When\ngrowing eggplant in cooler areas, some people use plastic mulch to keep the\nsoil warmer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where<\/strong>: Eggplant\nneeds a warm, sunny spot, sheltered from cold winds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eggplant is quite slow growing, so you\nmay want to plant a fast growing intercrop (lettuce is good) in between the\ntransplants. This may even be beneficial as it acts as a living mulch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When<\/strong>: The seed must be started indoors quite\nearly (10 – 12 weeks before setting out), so the plants have enough time to\nsize up before transplanting time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must emphasize again that eggplants\nmust have warm conditions if they are going to make much progress (80 – 90\u00b0F is\nideal).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transplants<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eggplant is usually grown indoors and transplanted, because it\nneeds warm conditions for germination. If you waited until the soil outdoors\nwas warm enough (at least 60\u00b0F) before sowing seed, you could waste a lot of\ntime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting inside<\/strong>: Eggplants don\u2019t like root disturbance, so are best started in\ncell packs or soil blocks. Plant 2 – 3 seeds per cell and when they all emerge,\nthin to the best one. Be careful when transplanting, as any damage will show up\nas poor growth and delayed fruiting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eggplant is one of the most temperamental of all the common crop\nseeds. It germinates best at higher temperatures than most crops (ideally 75 –\n85\u00b0F) and even at the optimal temperature of 85\u00b0F, you should only expect about\n60% of seeds to actually germinate. Soaking them overnight may speed up\ngermination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your greenhouse (or other growing setup) isn\u2019t warm enough you\ncould try using heating cables, or simply start them indoors somewhere really\nwarm. Just be sure to put them out in bright light as soon as they start to\ngerminate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most rapid growth you should feed the seedlings twice a week\nwith a dilute liquid kelp (use double the recommended quantity of water).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your seedlings have 2 sets of true leaves you should prick\nthem out into individual 4\u02dd pots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardening off<\/strong>: By the time it is warm enough in spring to plant your eggplants\noutside, it will be pretty hot in the greenhouse. To avoid any kind of\ntransplant shock, you should harden off the plants to get them accustomed to\nthe cooler conditions outside. Do this slowly over a week, by reducing the\namount of water they get and by leaving them outside for longer periods each\nday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardening off isn\u2019t necessary in warm summer weather, but it\ndoesn\u2019t hurt to keep them outside in the shade for a few days before planting\nout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buying plants<\/strong>: Because eggplants are so slow to start, many people prefer to buy their plants. The only drawback to this is that you have a lot less weird and wonderful varieties to choose from. When buying plants look for stocky ones that aren\u2019t rootbound, don\u2019t have any flowers or fruit and look deep green and healthy (with no signs of disease, pests or deficiency). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planting out<\/strong>: Eggplants can\u2019t tolerate cold weather, so they are among the last plants to go outside in spring (usually a couple of weeks after tomato). The soil temperature should be at least 60\u00b0F and the air temperature at least 70\u00b0F. It is possible to set them out earlier, if you warm the soil with black plastic or cloches (and then protect them with cloches). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t\nusually need many eggplants, so you can take special care when planting them.\nMake a fairly big hole, throw in a couple of handfuls of compost and a handful\nof organic fertilizer mix and then plant the seedlings up to their first true leaves. Water straight after planting of\ncourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Direct sowing<\/strong>: If you have a very long growing season you could start the seed\noutdoors. The best way to do this is to plant them in a nursery bed (a small\narea specifically designated for growing seedlings) and later transplant them\nto their final\nposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spacing<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beds<\/strong>: Put transplants 18 – 24\u02dd apart in the intensive beds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rows<\/strong>: Space them 18 – 24\u02dd apart in the rows, with 24 – 36\u02dd between the rows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Care<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weeds<\/strong>: Eggplants are quite shallow rooted, so don\u2019t use a hoe around\nthem. Weed carefully by hand\ninstead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water<\/strong>: The plants are fairly drought tolerant, but if they are to\nproduce an abundance of tasty fruit they need plenty of water. Keep the soil\nevenly moist by watering deeply once or twice a week (never allow them to\nwilt). Don\u2019t over-water them though, they do not like wet soil. They don\u2019t like\nwet leaves either, so drip irrigation works best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fertilization<\/strong>: Once the seedlings have started growing\nwell, give them a dose of compost tea or liquid kelp (they especially need\nnitrogen and potassium). Repeat this every 3 – 4 weeks for maximum production.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mulch<\/strong>: In warm weather mulch is helpful to conserve soil moisture and\nkeep down weeds (in very hot conditions it also helps to keep the soil cool).\nThis shouldn\u2019t be applied until the soil is warm though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pruning<\/strong>: Pinch out the growing tip when the plant is about a foot high,\nto make it branch and get bushier. If you want large size fruit, don\u2019t let a\nplant produce more than a half dozen. Prevent this by pinching out new flowers\nand any lateral side shoots. You might also do this if you live in an area that\nis marginal for growing eggplant, so at least a few get to ripen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support<\/strong>: Eggplants are usually fairly sturdy, but the fruiting plants can\nget top heavy and fall over. If this starts to happen you can carefully add\nsome bamboo cane supports (or try and coax them into a tomato cage). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An arch of concrete reinforcing wire makes a great support. While\nthe plants are small it can be covered in plastic to keep them warm. As they\nget bigger they can grow through it and sprawl on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protection<\/strong>: If a frost threatens (in spring or fall)\nyou should protect the plants with a frost blanket, or anything else you have\navailable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Problems<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To produce well, eggplant needs warmth, good soil and abundant\nmoisture. They are somewhat temperamental though and sometimes you give them\nthese things and still they don\u2019t do well. Planting out too early is a common\ncause of failure; if a young plant gets severely chilled it can be permanently retarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it is too cold (especially at night) or too dry, the plant may\ndrop its flowers\ninstead of setting fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pests<\/strong>: Eggplant is a member of the Solanaceae <\/em>and is susceptible\nto the same pests as tomato and potato. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flea\nbeetles<\/strong>: These pepper the leaves with tiny\nholes and are a common problem. Fortunately they are not usually serious and\ncan be ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cutworms<\/strong>: If these are a common problem in your area, protect your\ntransplants with cutworm collars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disease<\/strong>: Eggplant is affected by most of the same diseases as the tomato\nand potato. Avoid getting the leaves wet and give the plants good air circulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvesting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When<\/strong>: Traditionally the fruits are harvested just as they reach full\nsize, while their skin is still shiny. If the skin has turned dull, the seeds\nare ripening (they turn brown) and it is too old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small<\/strong>: In Asia they often pick the fruit while it\nis the size of an egg, or only slightly larger. These young fruit are tastier\nand have a better texture than older ones. Picking smaller fruit also increases\nthe harvest, as a plant can produce many more of them. It also lengthens the\nharvest, as they will produce over a longer period of time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How<\/strong>: Cut the fruit from the plant with a knife or secateurs, without\npulling on the plant too much. Leave an inch of stem attached to the fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storage<\/strong>: Eggplant should be treated like a tomato, which means picked\nwhen ripe and used immediately (it doesn\u2019t mean eat them raw). Keep them at a\ncool room temperature (not in the fridge) and they should be good for a week or\nso. For longer term storage they fruits can be cut up and frozen.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seed saving<\/strong>: The plants are generally self-pollinated, but some cross pollination\nby insects also occurs. To keep a variety pure only one variety should be grown\nat one time, or it should be isolated by at least 50 feet. To ensure genetic\nvariability, you should save the seed from at least 6 plants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get ripe seed, you need to let a fruit ripen completely.\nSeparate the seed from the fruit by grating the seed bearing flesh and then\nmashing it in water. The seed is then dried for storage. Eggplant seed is quite\nlong lived if stored properly and may last for up to ten years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unusual growing ideas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ornamental<\/strong>: With its mauve flowers and shiny fruits, eggplant is one of the\nmost attractive vegetables and can easily blend into the ornamental garden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Containers<\/strong>: If you live in a less than ideal climate you might try growing\neggplant in a container. You can put it outside when it is warm and bring it\nindoors if it gets too cold. It also helps that the soil in a pot will get\nwarmer than it would in the ground. It should be a fairly big pot (at least 12\u02dd\ndeep) though and you must take care to keep the soil moist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunnels<\/strong>: In cooler climates eggplant may be grown in plastic tunnels to\ngive it additional heat. Open these up whenever it is warm enough, so bees can\npollinate the flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Varieties<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t have the ideal climate for eggplants you should\nchoose an early maturing variety. Most of the eggplant varieties that are\navailable are of two main types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American\n\/ European<\/strong>: These are the eggplants you see in\nstores, fairly big and somewhat pear shaped with shiny purple skin. There are\nalso some less common white fruited varieties that are the reason this plant is\nknown as eggplant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black\nBeauty – <\/strong>An old favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casper\n– <\/strong>A beautiful and tasty white variety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asian<\/strong>: The small Asian eggplants are considered to be tastier than the\nlarger western varieties. They can also be more productive, as the fruits are\npicked when smaller (so more will form.) They are often more attractive too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is another crop where F1 hybrids are taking over the seed\ncatalogs. However there are still many fantastically multi-colored (orange,\nwhite, green, yellow, purple) open pollinated heirloom varieties from Asia.\nThese are becoming much more widely available and can be quite spectacular. In\nfact they are some of the prettiest vegetables you will ever see. I make no\nclaim to be an eggplant expert, but these varieties are highly rated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ichiban\n<\/strong>– Long purple fruit,\ndoes well in cooler areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little\nFingers <\/strong>– Small\npurple fruit, not much bigger than your fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millionaire\n<\/strong>– Purple fruit, very\nearly (54 days from transplanting). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orient\nexpress F1<\/strong>– Does well\nin cooler areas. Fast maturing (6o days from transplanting).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosa\nBianca<\/strong> – Italian\nheirloom, medium size, purple fruit (80 days from transplanting).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosita<\/strong> – Pink \/ purple fruit (80 days from\ntransplanting)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thai\nGreen <\/strong>– Long\nnarrow green fruit, vigorous (80 days from transplanting)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fairytale\nF1<\/strong> – One of\nbest tasting varieties, white \/ purple fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kitchen use<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably more than any other common vegetable, cooking and recipe\nis all important with eggplant. A badly cooked eggplant is almost inedible,\nwhile a well-cooked one is absolutely delicious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eggplants have a natural affinity with barbecues and are an excellent\nmeat substitute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garlic, basil and marjoram all go well with eggplant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eggplant with Garlic<\/strong> \u00a0
3 or 4 oriental eggplants chopped into 1\u02dd cubes
2 cloves garlic
4 green onions chopped
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp chili sauce
1 tsp wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
\u00bd tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp cornstarch
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil \u00a0

Mix the sugar, soy sauce, chili sauce and pepper in a bowl. In another
bowl mix cornstarch and water. Saute the garlic, 2 green onions and
ginger in a little oil for several minutes. Add the eggplant and soy sauce
mix and simmer 15 minutes. Finally add the cornstarch and rest of the
onions and cook for a few minutes more. \u00a0 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Solanum melongena Introduction: This subtropical species was first cultivated by the great civilizations of China and India almost 6000 years ago. It gradually moved west to the Mediterranean with early … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[242],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fruit-veg","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Eggplant.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2136"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2138,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions\/2138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}