Gardening Question of the Week:
Help. My Eggplant Won't Set Fruit.
Common gardening wisdom says you need a long, hot growing season, or eggplant can be a frustrating vegetable to grow. But Dsl6625 lives on the Gulf Coast and is still experiencing problems .
"I need help in growing eggplant. I planted three Black Beauty eggplants this year and they flower well but not set fruit. After a short while, the flowers dropped off then new flowers appeared. Plants grow well and they are about over 2 feet tall and a foot across. I also planted three Chinese long eggplants in same row. They flower well and set fruit well. It is same thing for last several years. I always plant both side by side. Black Beauty eggplant does not set many fruits as long eggplants does. If lucky, I got one eggplant from each black Beauty plant, and about over 10 eggplants from long eggplant. Anyone can help me to figure out what I did wrong with it. I live in Gulf coast region, zone 9a."
Well, 'Black Beauty' is known for being beautiful, but not prolific. In general, the oblong eggplants take longer to mature than the long, thin varieties and they yield less in a season. Eggplant 'Hansel', shown here, is a compact grower with clusters of oblong finger length eggplants. It’s big claim to fame is that even if you don’t pick the fruits while small, they’re not supposed to get tough or bitter. Sounds tempting.
Here are more tips on growing and choosing eggplant for your garden. In my own Zone 5b garden, I tend to grow eggplants in pots, so they get a head start and lots of heat. If you have an eggplant tip to share, let’s hear it.
Photo: 2008 AAS Winer Eggplant ‘Hanzel’ © All America Selections. Used with Permission.
Comments
In chilly, unpredictable Seattle summers, I keep my eggplants in pots, in a greenhouse (or under a hoop house). I also keep a soft paint or eyeshadow brush on hand to hand pollinate my plants. Last summer, despite a cool growing season, I did manage to get several decent eggplant fruit.
Here’s my post on what I did last summer to get eggplant cranking out plus a recipe for what to do with the fruits: http://www.gardenhelp.org/food/growing-eggplant-with-success-in-seattle/
Enjoy!
Nice article. And the recipe sounds very tempting. Thanks for sharing it.
I grew 2 japanese eggplants in my back yard since the end of Apr09. They have had 9 big fruits. At first they bloomed and did not set fruits, but later they did.
A. Brooks. Lucky you! You’ll probably get even more as the summer heats up. Enjoy.
Boy this is discouraging. I usually never try to grow eggplant here outside of Seattle because of the normal climate. This year I decided to go for it, and as luck would have it, chose Black Beauty instead of one of the early varieties.
We have had an historic summer here in terms of sunshine and heat day after day, plus warm nights, so I thought I got lucky. However, despite having big healthy bushy plants and lots of flowers for weeks now, I can’t find a single fruit yet on the dozen plants I put in. It’s now Aug.3, so there’s still some hope left, but I don’t expect to ever get a chance like this again. I probably could have grown watermelon here this summer, it was so hot, but these things just don’t want to set. Bell peppers and tomatoes are both loaded. allimpossible.