Eggplant is a very common vegetable that belongs to the genus Solanum and nightshade species. This purple colored vegetable is also known as brinjal and aubergine to different continents, and the unique taste along with amazing adaptability in any dish has made this vegetable so popular around the world. It is easy to grow vegetable and claims comparatively low maintenance than other equivalent vegetables, thus several gardeners pick this veggie to cultivate in their own garden area. You can even plant eggplant in a small indoor part as well. Let’s check out the right procedure of growing this vegetable before starting the cultivation-
Growing Eggplants:
1. Soil
- Eggplant needs well-drained soil like other vegetables with a low-acidic quality.
- You must choose the loose type of soil to the perfect growth of your plants.
- Break all the buds from your soil before sowing the seeds. You can use a tiller or garden shovel to make the soil smooth and clod
- Mix organic matter into your soil and prefer a little sandy soil for this vegetable as it will help to provide the nourishment better towards the roots.
- Try to keep the pH level of you soil within 5.5 to 6.0 to get out the best outcome of your crop, though it can bare the pH level till 6.8 sometimes!
- Buy a soil test kit from the market if possible to be perfect about the pH level of your soil.
- Remember that eggplants couldn’t stand against too sweet or too acidic or too alkaline soil type, so always maintain a perfect balance in your soil to cultivate eggplant.
- This vegetable requires moisturized yet drainage soil type to grow in a healthy form, so be careful of not providing any kind of boggy soil to your plant!
How to grow eggplant Video
2. Season
- Eggplant could germinate in warm weather so try to begin your plantation in early April.
- The best time to sow the eggplant is that five to six week before the last spring frost.
- Seeds of this vegetable germinate in the temperature above 75 ̊ F, but you can reduce the temperature one they get germinated from the seeds.
- For the rest of the growing periods, eggplants need an average temperature of 55 ̊ F throughout the whole session.
- Growing eggplants are easy where the warmth of summer season is long.
3. Planting
- To plant eggplants in your garden area, select a proper sunny place first in your garden and prepare the spot with perfect soil type.
- Now, arrange a seed planter with peat moss and potting mix and sow 2 to 3 seeds in each section of that planter.
- Then, pat the soil a little with your hand a wet the entire soil with a sprayer. Make sure that the entire soil is moist enough but not soaked at all!
- Now keep the container in a sunny window so then it could get at least 12 to 14 hours of direct sunlight a day.
- Once you see the germination starts, water a little regularly and wait for the next step.
- When you see that the tiny sprouted plants have reached the height of 2 to 3 inches, transplant them in your previously selected garden area.
- Sprinkle 2 inches layer of compost from the top of your garden soil before sowing those germinated plants at that place.
- Dig some hole in that area in a row which individually has 2 to 3 inches depth into the soil.
- Keep 15 to the 24-inch gap between one hole to another to give each plant adequate space for growing properly.
- Now, place one plant in each hole and cover the base with enough soil to tighten the base accurately.
- Then, water your plants thoroughly and make sure that the drainage system is working properly.
- Generally, eggplant plants grow 14 inches tall, so it is necessary to provide stalk to the each plant because of their creeping stems. Thus, we have insisted on leaving such adequate space from each plant to another!
- Now all you need is to take accurate care of your plants so then they could able to give you a handful of healthy crops at the end of your task.
4. Care
- Watering regularly and fertilizing frequently is the initial stage of your caring process.
- After water thoroughly to the each plant, you must mulch them to hold the wet climate for a long while. This mulch also helps to keep the unwanted weeds away from the ground and clutch the sun heat after sunset as well.
- Give your plants liquid plant food to provide them healthier future and strong root system too! Bonnie herb, homemade or organic compost or flower plant food, etc. are some great choice to feed your eggplant plants.
- Water daily and with a huge amount of water if you want to avoid any bitter taste in your crops.
- After transplanting then into your garden are, cover them up with some raw covers for the first few days.
- Prune your plants when it’s needed to give the main stem enough strength to carry all its fruits effortlessly.
- When your plants reach the height of 6 inches or begin to produce fruits, stalk them with a proper stalk to bring them perfect support for their stems. Small cages work great for such purposes!
- Last but the significant caring method of your plants is protecting them from any kind of troubles that we are mentioning below!
How to Plant eggplant
5. Pest and Diseases
Eggplant plants easily get infected by pests, especially at the young stage and without a proper maintenance is also could get suffered by some disgusting diseases as well! Aphids, flea beetles, Colorado potato beetles, sunscald, hornworms, cutworms, etc. are some common pests which could frequently infect your eggplant plants along with their leaves and fruits. Early blight, damping off, mites, phomopsis fruit rot, powdery mildew, verticillium wilt, Colletotrichum fruit rot, Cercospora leaf, blossom-end rot, etc. are some typical diseases which generally infect eggplant plants for various reasons.
The foremost beetles and insects chew the leaves irregularly, weaken your plants, spread larvae and damage the entire fruits of your plant. It is better to cover each of your plants with row covers when they are in the tender stage. To kill those filthy worms, you can pick them individually and drown them in soapy water. You can try any of readymade pesticide too, but, it is better to apply organic products for the healthy future of your crops!
Soilborne fungus or the utmost fungal and bacterium diseases basically occur because of lack of warm climate and bad drainage system. So, if you want to avoid any type of fungal infection or bacterial effects on your plants then, always ensure the warmth and draining system of your eggplants plants from the beginning to the end! Using fungicide on the affected area would be an easy way to get rid of these sorts of troubles.
Don’t forget to check the chemical portions of a readymade pesticide of fungicide spray, when you are going to sprinkle it on the fruits too along with the whole plant; because, some kind of sprays is harmful to human consumptions!
6. Harvest
- When the fruits reach the full length, start harvesting eggplants from your plant.
- Usually, the perfect length depends on the variety you have chosen to grow.
- While the fruits get the proper ripe form the skin would look tender and glossy than ever!
- You can press firmly over a ripe eggplant, if you see a fingerprint quickly on the surface, be sure that the fruits are all ready to harvest.
- Generally, unripe eggplants are so hard to bear a fingerprint on its surface, so when you are able to press fingerprint on a fully grown eggplant, then decide to harvest it immediately!
- Take a pruner or pruning shear to pick each eggplant from every single plant by cutting them with their cap.
7. Storage
- Storing eggplants is very easy and hassle-free process indeed! You just need to keep them uncovered in a dark place of your room with normal or comparatively cool temperature.
- You can even store them in your refrigerator as well inside the vegetable bin, for a bit extended period!
- Try to keep your fresh eggplants below the temperature of 41 degrees F for the whole storing period.
- If you want to store your crops for more than 3 days, then, outside of your refrigerator is the better place to keep it in a crisp form!
Growing Eggplants in containers
Types of Eggplants:
Eggplants come in varieties of shapes and categories which are slightly different from the taste and shade. Let’s check out some top types of this vegetable in this article below-
Japanese Eggplants: Japanese eggplant is one of the commonest varieties around which, grows in a long narrow shape. Japanese eggplant comes with a deeper vibrant shade than its other correspondents and grows faster too! Thus, several gardeners pick this variety to cultivate in their own garden.
Novelty Eggplants: Novelty eggplant generally comes in various shades, shapes and species around the world. Thai, Indian, Italian, Turkish, etc. eggplants belong from this category. This type of things mostly uses in salads or some Thai or continental dishes.
Graffiti Eggplants: Graffiti eggplant comes with some shady white stripes on the purple surface. This kind of variety large long shade and lender flesh tends. Graffiti eggplant needs average time to grow or reach to the harvesting period. You can use this eggplant in any Asian and European dish swiftly, though the thin and fancy stripes disappear after cooking them on heat!
Small-fruited Eggplants: This type of eggplants is the best in taste! Such small-fruited eggplant could come with several shades and tiny shapes for the utmost times. The best part of cultivating this type eggplant is that it requires a very short space to grow.
White Eggplants: White eggplant comes with a perfect white skin and an oblong shape. The large pulpy flesh and the tender quality have made this variety so popular among its other eggplant varieties.
Oval Eggplants: Oval eggplant which is also known as oblong eggplant is another mentionable variety of this veggie. Generally, this kind of eggplant comes with a large oval shape along with dark purple shade and a green cap over the top. This variety grows best in high warm climate.
How to Grow Eggplant indoor?
- To grow eggplant indoor, you need to pick a perfect garden pot or container first.
- We will recommend you to pick clay made pot which must have 5-gallon capacity along with a wide space of 1-foot inside it.
- Make some drainage holes at the bottom first to make the drainage system appropriate, as well-draining system decreases the possibility of root-rot after watering regularly.
- Now, fill the pot with potting soil, sand and organic compost in equal amount. Time-release fertilizer goes best for this purpose as such fertilizer comes with a higher percentage of phosphorous which is great for a healthy root system!
- Then, dig one or two holes inside the loose yet compressed soil with the depth of 1 to 1.5 inches.
- Put two to three seeds in each hole and cover the holes with some extra potting mix.
- Now, set the container on a sunny windowsill and water thoroughly.
- After that, check regularly your container until they start germinating which may occur within a couple of weeks!
- After the plants reach the height of 2 to 3-foot, provide them a strong stalk to provide support to their growing stems.
- You can use tomato cages or teepee stalks to give that support to your growing eggplant plants.
- Now, you just need to take proper care of your plants as we have mentioned above to get the best of your crops.
Healthy Methods of this Veggie:
Eggplants are superbly beneficial and healthy vegetable of all time, which not only taste unique but work greatly on several health issues because of its high nutrient facts. This veggie contains a high amount of fiber, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, phytonutrients content, antioxidants, dietary fibers, iron, and magnesium, which provide numerous healthy benefits to our body.
Eggplant helps to control the blood cholesterol, reduces the possibility of heart disease, lower our extra fat, fight against cancer germs, and work as an anti-inflammatory object for our system as well.