How To Grow And Care For A eggplant--Even If You Lack Experence Or A Green Thumb

Vegetable Gardening Home:

An Eggplant is a wonderful tender vegetable that can be used in many different types of cuisine.

Vegetable Gardening Tips:

The bushes themselves grow to be approximately 3-5 feet in height and feature hairy leaves that are gray-green in color. Fruit will vary in color and size. The Latin name for the plant is Solanum melongena.

Temperatures

The Eggplant will need warm soil accompanied by warm temperatures, such as above 68 degrees. The vegetable loves the full sun, and does not grow well in shady spots.

The soil itself should be heavily composted. Manure is best. The plant needs to be side dressed often, which refers to mixing the fertilizer into the soil, especially when the plant is in bloom.

Water

Egg plants are basically drought tolerant, thus one should be careful to not over water it, as the plant may suffer from root rot from over watering.

Most people also use mulch around the plant since that will help it to maintain an even amount of moisture. When the vegetable blooms finally make their appearance though, the plant may require more water at that time.

Seeds should be begun indoors approximately 8 weeks before putting them into their permanent position in warmed soil. Because of their love for bottom heat, some growers have special soil heaters that maintain the temperature at a balmy 75 degrees.

Be sure and make the transplant deeper than the location of the plant when it began its growth in pots. The plant is highly susceptible to cold soil shock and frost may kill the plant. If frost is expected, be sure to cover the young plants.

Once transplanted add only a tablespoon of balanced fertilizer. You will only need to fertilize once more when buds appear. Eggplants are also hardy when planted either in large containers or tubs, which may prevent the plant from developing any soil borne diseases.

Harvesting

From planting, most egg plants will be ready for harvesting approximately 65-70 days from the transplant date. Eggplants taste their very best when harvested young which means that you should begin harvesting when the fruit has grown to approximately 1/3 of their attainable full growth.

The plant is ready for harvesting when the outside of the skin turns glossy. Should you let them remain on the vine, then the skin will turn dull, and that means that they are past the prime harvesting time, and thus they will contain a lot of seeds.

When harvesting be sure and cut the stems with a sharp knife in order to not damage the vine, instead of pulling the fruit off the stem.

Gardening Disease and Pests

Unfortunately insects of all kinds find this gardening vegetable to be a complete delicacy. Within the Southern United States, where it is grow best, it is typical to find that only the stem remains when insects have found the fruit. This is possible in a two day time period!

Thus, egg plants grow best with a dose of herbal insect spray when you are transplanting them to the outdoors. The eggplants worst enemies are caterpillars, spider mites, and aphids .

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