Are you watering them enough? I've found they get tough and bitter when I don't water them enough and it takes too long for the fruit to develop.

I know the variety claims they can grow 10 or so inches and not be bitter but have you tried small and medium sized one ?????? Are they still glossy or dull? Dull might mean they were let go on too long.

I have been watering them, and both plants and eggplants look good. I picked them small, maybe 5-6 inches. They had glossy skin. All I can think of is maybe the extreme heat. I am going to try them again. Might try salting them to see if it helps. Thanks for your replies.
mo

This is my first year to grow them, I have been picking them small too. I even sliced them in round thin slices like potato chips and soaked them in salt water for several minutes, then fried them in vegetable oil without any batter, just browned them on both sides. They were not bitter at all.

I just had some of my eggpant that ripened with 121 degree heat. Even worse, it's next to a brick wall, a side walk and thedryervent. The shiny purple oneswere great. The ones that turned a strange orangy color are slightly bitter.
I findthey are much better if picked right before preparing.

We are harvesting eggplants (purple, striped, green, white, round, long thin...)4-5 fruits every other day. I pick them when they are small and shiny. Over matured fruits will turn little bitter in this heat and skin also become thick. If your plants are very healthy and water them twice a week, so that fruits reach desirable size within 5 days from the fertilization and resulting fruits will not be bitter.

I also learn another very important trick that stripping old leaves in eggplants will produce more (garden folklore red somewhere..) I tried that trick on two plants, observed more blossoms and fruit sets compared to neighboring non-stripped plants! If anyone of you tried this trick, please share your experience

May be I am getting more eggplants, peppers, okra because hail shredded all old leaves encourage the new growth?

Thank you -Chandra

Chandra,

There is a reason stripped plants produce more flowers and fruit, and yes, this is a well-known phenomenon.

Think about why plants produce fruit. They have a biological imperative to produce fruit in order to produce seed that will perpetuate their species if they die. When you stress a plant by stripping its foliage (whether you're stripping the foliage on purpose or maybe the hail stripped the foliage for you), its' life is threatened. Without those leaves, it may not be able to conduct enough photosynthesis to keep it alive. So, it goes into a sort of 'hurry up' mode, rushing to produce fruit that will carry seed that will enable its species to carry on without it in case it dies.

Sometimes you observe the same phenomenon with an old fruit tree that is on its last legs. It will put out a tremendous load of fruit, often in the last year before it finally dies. There again, it is trying to form seed so that its species continues on after the plants' demise.

It doesn't always work though. Some plants are too weak to rebound after their foliage is stripped. However, if the plants are healthy and have fertile soil and adequate moisture, they'll usually rebound and produce very well.

Dawn

Chandra, Do you remember if the eggplant that you gave me has green fruit at maturity? It has a fruit about 5-6 inches long and about as big around as a golf ball and I don't see any color except green. I have never grown a green one. How do I know when it is mature enough to eat?

I have grown a small red one and all shades of purple, but not green. It only has one fruit but several more blooms and the blooms are light purple.

Dawn,
Thank you, well explained! I will keep track of the experiment, total produce and share results at the end of the season.

By the way, how you all weigh produce? I am thinking to buy a spring balance and hang in garden. else some time I am lazy to bring them to kitchen for measurements or often forget in the garden bench.

Carol,
That should be Thai Long Green �" heirloom eggplant from Thailand produces long, light green fruits. It produce very long (8-12") fruits, the white flesh has mild pleasant flavor. The tender skin does not require peeling. Very dominant in Thai recipes. A drought resistant variety, it also withstand light frost, so expect producing till late fall. I harvest when reach at least 8" long and diameter about 1.5 to 2", they taste better when they are shiny and tender to finger press.

Regards -Chandra

Thanks Chandra. I thought it must be a green variety and the size sounds right so it shouldn't be long now. Al will love it. He lived in Bangkok, you know.

I am glad you are having a good harvest. It has been a very hard year for me and my garden is ugly. I picked a lot of peppers today, another Nebraska Wedding slicer, several small tomatoes and one Armenian cucumber.

We can hear thunder right now but the storm is already east of us. We had one north and one south of us, but we were in the donut hole again. It looks like we have one more chance as another one moves in our direction.

About midnight last night I remembered that we hadn't gotten the mail out of the mailbox. I went out to get it and just as I came in, we heard this funny noise. Al said that it was raining. I told him that it must just be wind because I had just walked in the door and it wasn't raining. We realized we had left something outside that needed to be moved so we went out to move it. The rain drops were big and about 6 inches apart (I thought of Jay), and it rained for 3 minutes max. It is sad when you can hear the thunder, like tonight, and still not get a drop of rain.