Eggplant Growing Tips, Ideas, Secrets, and Techniques
Hello gardeners, we are back with a very helpful topic today. The topic is all about eggplant growing tips, ideas, and techniques. Do you want to grow eggplant and do you want to know all the growing tips, ideas, and techniques? Well and then you need to follow this complete article to know about all the tips, ideas, and techniques.
Introduction to Eggplant Growing
Eggplant, aubergine, or even called brinjal is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Solanum melongena is usually grown worldwide for its very edible fruit. Most commonly purple, the spongy and absorbent fruit is used in several cuisines. Typically used as a vegetable in cooking and it is a berry by botanical definition.
A Step-By-Step Guide for Eggplant Growing Tips, Secrets, Ideas, and Techniques
Whether you call it with different names like eggplant, aubergine, or even brinjal, it is very interesting to grow and even great fun to eat. Growing eggplant in cooler climates, but even if you have plenty of heat, then eggplant can be a very tricky plant. After growing eggplant in several different places, here are valuable tips worth sharing.
Eggplant Growing Stages
Eggplant Growing requirements
How to Grow Eggplant from Seed?
Starting from seed
Start your seeds indoors to urge a hop on the season. Eggplants require temperatures of 15.6°C or higher, which can be difficult to supply within the outdoors during spring. By starting your eggplants indoors, you’ll begin as early as April.
Fill your very small pots or trays with potting mix. The soil should be loosely placed into the containers, but it shouldn’t be compressed.
Poke a 1/2-inch or 1 1/4-centimeter hole within the center of every pot or tray compartment. Use your pinky finger or the rounded end of a pen or pencil to make holes with an honest diameter.
Place two seeds in each hole. Planting two seeds improve the chances of a minimum of one seed sprouting. Planting quite two seeds may deprive the seeds of the nutrition they have to require root, however.
Cover the seeds with a further potting mix. Lightly you can drop the soil over the seeds rather than packing it in.
Now set the pots or trays out on a warm and sunny windowsill. Choose a window fully sun, meaning one that receives direct sunlight for a minimum of 8 hours each day. Full sun provides enough light and heat to spur growth.
Water your seeds. Keep the soil moist to the touch in the least times, but don’t supersaturate, especially if using trays without drainage holes. You are doing not want to make puddles on the highest of your soil, but you ought to also seek to stop the soil from ever drying out.
You need to thin your seedlings once they sprout two sets of leaves. In each pot or tray compartment, keep the stronger of the 2 seedlings and snip the opposite one right down to soil level. Don’t yank the weaker seedling out, since doing so may disrupt the roots of the seedling you would like to stay.
Germinating Eggplant Seeds on a Paper Towel
Requirements are listed below:
- Container (Plastic food containers are my preferred option here mentioned)
- Paper towel
- Seeds
- Zip-lock bag
- Tweezers (For further use)
A method is mentioned below:
First of all, you need to take your paper towel and moisten it. Then make sure the paper towel is saturated, and then cover the bottom of your container with it.
Spread a few seeds across your paper towel. You need to ensure that you leave a few cm between each seed so they will not come into contact (this can help prevent diseases from spreading).
After, then cover your container with the zip lock bag. Essentially this will help to create an environment similar to a greenhouse, helping your seeds sprout a little quicker.
Then place your new mini-greenhouse anywhere that will consistently stay around room temperature and that also out of direct sunlight.
In around a week you need to start to see your seedling sprouting. When you see this, it is time to move them into a soil pot. Then take your time with this and use the tweezers, better try to avoid touching them with your bare hands as it can even cause them to die.
Congratulations, if you have followed all the steps correctly then you should now have successfully sprouted the seed with the help of a paper towel.
5 Tips for Growing an Excellent Eggplant
Eggplant Growing Tips #1. Try growing very small-fruited eggplant varieties
Just as petite cherry tomatoes are very easy to grow compared to varieties with huge fruits, eggplant varieties that produce modest-size fruits are the foremost trustworthy types for gardens. Long, slender Asian varieties like ‘Ping Tung Long’ never disappoint, otherwise, you might just like the shorter fruits of ‘Millionaire’, ‘Bonica’, or another oval-shaped eggplant.
Compact varieties that had best in containers or sq. ft. gardens are great fun to grow, whether you are trying heirloom ‘Morden Midget’ the ECU favorite called ‘Pot Black’, or ‘Patio Baby’, which won an All-America Selections Award in 2014. These bushy eggplant varieties produce numerous secondary branches because the season progresses, which provides them endurance within the garden.
Eggplant Growing Tips #2. Better to start seeds late
There is never a hurry to start eggplant seeds because the plants will grow best and well under warm conditions. A big thanks to their broad leaves, eggplant seedlings grow very quickly, gaining size faster than tomatoes or peppers. If you have a very long, warm growing season and then use a split season planting plan and you can start seeds in midsummer for a fall plant. Then set out the seedlings out during a spell of good cloudy weather.
Eggplant Growing Tips #3. Anticipate the eggplant flea beetles
Growing eggplant will be ridiculously very easy if not for eggplant flea beetles. These are tiny hoppers that will make minuscule holes in leaves of nightshade family plants they are potatoes, tomatoes, and even wild hosts like horse nettle and jimsonweed – but eggplant is their favorite food.
The first tip I ever learned for sidestepping leaf beetle problems was to grow the plants on a raised table, in dark-colored nursery pots, for as long as possible. Container-grown plants often escape damage, because eggplant flea beetles don’t venture onto decks and patios in search of host plants, and therefore the dark containers help warm the roots on sunny days. I pot up the seedlings as they grow, and set them out when their roots fill a 4-inch or 10cm pot and therefore the plants are quite stocky.
Eggplant is among the few vegetables that don’t mind warm roots so that they grow well in roomy containers provided the plants are given many glasses of water.
Large, vigorous plants can outgrow modest leaf beetle damage, and young plants are easy to guard with row covers made up of tulle that’s wedding net, which keeps out most flea beetles but doesn’t retain heat. When the plants start to bloom, then remove the covers so bees can reach the flowers. this is often an honest time to put in stakes to stay the plants from falling over as they load with fruits.
Eggplant Growing Tips #4. Invite the native pollinators
Self-fertile eggplant flowers are often fertilized by wind alone, but buzz-pollination by bees improves fruit set and fruit size. Many of the simplest pollinators are solitary bees – carpenter bees, bumblebees, and tiny sweat bees – who vibrate the blossoms to shake out pollen. If pollinators are absent otherwise you have only a couple of plants, you’ll hand pollinate them by dabbing a dry artist’s paintbrush within the open blossoms. Or, touch the rear of the blossoms with a vibrating toothbrush to simulate a visit from a buzzing bee.
Eggplants are self-fertile but will fruit better if visited by bees or are hand-pollinated
Eggplant Growing Tips #5. Provide them timely feedings
About six weeks after planting, when the plants bloom and set their first fruits, they enjoy extra nutrients. You need to side-dress the plants with organic or composted manure or give them a deep drench with a water-soluble fertilizer. Fertilize again in late summer, when the plants are holding an important set of fruits.
Container-grown eggplant needs almost constant feeding, though you want to look out for excessive salt buildup, which may cause the plants to prevent growing. Every fortnight approximately, drench the containers with clean water to leach out accumulated salts. Fish or even kelp-based organic fertilizers leave behind fewer salts than most of the other synthetic products.
Eggplant Growing Secrets
1. Choose the great and best location for growing eggplant
Eggplant prefers a sunny location with well-draining soil that’s rich in organic matter.
It is vital to rotate where you plant eggplant and other members of the nightshade family (such as potatoes and tomatoes) to assist prevent and avoid soil-borne pests and diseases. Wait for a minimum of 2 years between the plantings of the nightshade family.
If pest or disease has been a problem within the past, try growing eggplant in containers instead. Eggplant does well when grown in large containers.
2. Choose an eggplant type suited to your basic needs
Eggplant varieties differ in size, shape, color, and even maturation time.
Globe eggplants are very traditional large purple or even white oval fruits. They produce best in warmer climates.
Japanese eggplants have long slender fruits that mature quickly; an honest choice for cooler areas.
Small fruited eggplants (such as Indian and Fairytale) are more compact and are perfect for little spaces or containers.
3. Start eggplant indoors otherwise you can buy transplants
Eggplant does best when planted outdoors from transplants instead of seeds. Start seeds for eggplant indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last spring frost. Seeds sprout in 7 to 14 days. Eggplant seeds last up to 4 years. Eggplant seeds are available on Seedsnow.com.
Because eggplant is sensitive to transplant shock, start seeds in larger 4-inch containers (I like this sort from Amazon) and harden off plants before planting them within the garden.
4. The way to grow eggplant? Plant eggplant at the right time
Eggplant usually prefers very warm weather so don’t plant it before temperatures have warmed within the spring. Transplant eggplant seedlings into the garden when the soil is a minimum of 21° (the best thanks to checking your soil temperature is with a soil thermometer), with daytime temperatures at or above 21°C and nighttime temperatures above 10°C
In the low desert of Arizona, the simplest time to plant eggplant is during March.
Space plants 18 to 24 inches apart. If using sq. ft. gardening, allow 2 to 3 square feet for every plant.
5. Look after the plants throughout the season
Give eggplant a gentle supply of moisture, but don’t let the soil get soggy. If eggplant isn’t watered enough, the fruit is going to be small and bitter.
Eggplant also needs food to supply well. Feed the plant a minimum of once a month with fish emulsion or compost tea.
Eggplant is a self-fertile plant but it benefits from pollination from bees.
Remove withered leaves, and stake or trellis plants as required.
6.The way to grow eggplant? Get on the lookout for pests
Flea beetles, aphids, and even potato beetles are common pests of eggplant. Use row covers to discourage them until plants are large enough to face up to touch damage. If pests are persistent, leave row covers in situ through harvest.
Watering Tips for Growing Eggplant
- How much water does an eggplant need?
Eggplant consumes tons of water, especially during the growing period. This plant belongs to the ‘nightshade family’ alongside other vegetables like potatoes, green peppers, and tomatoes. Like other members of the family, it needs a substantial amount of water to grow.
The more water the upper the fruit quality. The dimensions of the fruits also depend on the number of water provided.
To get on the safe side you’ll get to water it about an in. hebdomadally. These increase because the weather gets warmer and reduces when it gets cooler. But as a rule of thumb, this plant needs moist soil.
Along with regular watering, the eggplant loves an honest soak within the sun and fertile soil. If these requirements are met make certain to possess an honest quality crop in no time.
When watering eggplant it’s important to concentrate on the soil. These plants usually love moist soil but if it gets soggy the roots will begin to rot. They’re going to also devour another disease leading to the plant wilting.
Secondly, it depends on where you propose to plant the eggplant. If you propose doing it indoors in pots or planters get larger pots with drainage holes at rock bottom. This may allow the surplus water to empty easily. We propose you employ plastic pots for this plant.
Given environmental safety, most folks avoid plastic but these pots will help the soil retain moisture. Plastic pots also are durable.
With earthen pots, the moisture is usually soaked up by the pot. This makes it difficult to possess moist soil. They’re also heavier as compared to plastic pots making it difficult to maneuver them around if needed.
Alternatively, if you plant them outdoors you’ll water them as soon because the soil seems dry. Because the area is greater there are several ways during which this plant is often watered and cared for. Alongside, this weather got to be taken into account also. These plants don’t have the best in cold temperatures and you’ll get to await the warmer climate to plant them.
- How to water the eggplant?
First of all, watering the eggplant depends on the situation. If you’re placing them indoors you’ll water them every alternate day. Before watering the plant check the quantity of moisture present within the soil.
This can be done manually by sticking your finger within the soil and checking for the quantity of potting mix that sticks to your finger. If that’s not something you’d wish to do regularly you’ll invest during a moisture meter.
A moisture meter is out there on e-commerce websites and therefore the gardening aisles at shopping centers. These are often left within the pot or within the ground to live the quantity of moisture present. In this manner you’ll know when to water the plant, making it easier to stay track of the requirements of the plant.
With eggplants that are planted outdoors, you’ll get to concentrate on the weather before watering. First of all, these plants will be got to be planted only the soil is warmer; in this manner, you lose tons of your time when it involves planting growth.
- When to water eggplants?
The best time to water eggplants is early morning or even late evening when temperatures are very lower. Watering eggplant plants is a smaller amount stressful as these plants like moist soil. Hence, they have to be watered early morning or within the night the plant has enough time to take in moisture before the sun comes up.
When watered during the day there’s a loss in moisture thanks to evaporation. Experts suggest that it’s better to water these plants within the morning so that the surplus water on leaves can evaporate during the day reducing the probabilities of fungus.
It may so happen that the plant looks a touch dehydrated during the day. This is often common in places that are hot and dry. In such cases, you’ll give the plant a mid-day watering. This may reduce the probabilities of the plant wilting and displaying curly leaves.
As stated, earlier eggplant love moisture but is it possible that you simply over-water this plant? This is often an issue that shows up several times where novice gardeners don’t understand if overwatering a plant that loves water may be a possibility.
Tips for Growing Eggplant in Containers
Better plant one eggplant per container that means a 2-gallon minimum. Fill the container with high-quality potting soil that will drain very quickly. Add a balanced and slow-release fertilizer at planting and then every few weeks during the season, especially when your plants start to bloom.
Water deeply and very consistently, but you should not overwater. Eggplants need to dry slightly between every watering and mulch with straw, leaves, or even pesticide-free grass clippings to help maintain soil temperature. If necessary, you can even use a stake or use a tomato cage to prevent branches that are very heavy with fruit from breaking.
One mistake usually eggplant gardeners make is waiting to harvest the fruit until they are as large as those found in grocery stores. If left on the plant too long, then eggplants lose their sheen, become seedy, and will not be as tasty to eat.
To avoid that problem, you need to use pruners or a knife to clip the fruit from the plant while still shiny and bright in color, even if they are very small. So, leave about one inch of stem and then calyx attached to the fruit.
Handle the fruit with care to prevent bruising. You need to use it within a few days to enjoy the flavor while at its peak.
Eggplant is a very versatile vegetable and is best used fresh from the garden. It can be grilled, fried, stuffed, baked, roasted, sautéed, or even stir-fried. The two main ways to preserve eggplant include pickling or even freezing in pre-cooked casseroles.
In case if you miss this: How To Grow Onions In Greenhouse.
Eggplant Fertilizing Tips
- How to Fertilize Eggplants
Eggplants grow best in compost-rich, fertile soil under full sun. Feeding eggplants during their growing and fruiting stages improve the general health of the plant. Healthy plants produce larger fruit in greater quantities. Also, when growing some sorts of eggplant, fertilizer may reduce bitterness caused by plant stress. Many gardeners begin the season by incorporating compost and fertilizer into the garden soil before planting. This provides young eggplants a lift of nutrients for a healthy start. Having garden soil tested takes the guesswork out of what proportion and what sort of fertilizer to use. Soil testing provides an NPK analysis, which tells gardeners what proportion of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are required to balance and amend their garden soil. Plants use nitrogen for green growth and therefore the construction of chlorophyll. Phosphorus benefits the formation of the latest roots and is employed in flower, fruit, and seed production. Potassium contributes to stem strength, disease resistance, and growth. Periodic eggplant feeding in the season also helps these heavy feeders with setting and producing fruit. A balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) is usually recommended for eggplant. Feeding an excessive amount of nitrogen at now may result in large, leafy plants that fail to supply fruit.
- Types of Eggplant Fertilizer
Fertilizers are often chemically manufactured or come from natural sources like plant matter, animal manures, or minerals found in rock. Some gardeners usually prefer bagged fertilizers since the NPK rating is listed on the label. Aged manure, leaves, grass clippings, and compost from one’s backyard or neighboring properties are often obtained for free of charge but lack a guaranteed NPK analysis. This material is often worked into the soil or used as mulch. Powdered, pelleted, or granular fertilizers are often applied as a side dressing between rows or to the soil at the bottom of the eggplant. Fertilizer applied during this manner should be worked into the dirt to stop heavy precipitation from splashing fertilizer onto the plant. Since plants can absorb nutrients through their leaves, foliar feeding eggplants are an alternate method for fertilizing. Eggplants that are underperforming are the simplest candidates. Use a billboard liquid fertilizer designed for foliar feeding or makes your own from diluted manure tea. Apply this liquid as precipitation, early within the morning when ambient temperatures are cool. Finally, when unsure about the way to fertilize eggplants, gardeners can’t fail when choosing a top-quality tomato fertilizer. Like tomatoes, eggplants also are members of the nightshade family and have similar nutritional needs. Of course, feeding eggplants can create a drag – it can cause you to envy all of your eggplant-loving friends!
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