I've grown the Asiatic "Ichiban" Eggplant for a couple of years. In fact, I just put in a few more of them for this year. They're great. Very productive, and the productivity runs right through the whole summer. In the worst months of heat, they're blooming and fruiting like crazy. The fruit I get are about 6 inches long, and look more the shape of a small zucchini. A bit bigger than the ones you're talking about. As a result, the support requirements are pretty easy. The skin is quite edible, unlike the larger, more conventional eggplant, for which the skin is somewhat bitter. One plant doesn't take much more than two square feet of garden space, if your soil is good.

Thank you, Daninthedirt.

I think I'll try the 'Ichiban'
as I have seen plants of that variety for sale here.
I would have to order seed for the 'Fairy Tale' and 'Caliope' ,
which would be quite a lot more expensive
than buying a six-pack of little plants.

Plants are a lot quicker, too.

Rusty

you can`t kill eggplant in Texas I don`t think, it grows in the middle of summer, in full sun with no supplemental water, even Ike didn`t kill it. The chickens won`t eat it.
I hate eggplant and it grows so well!
Tally HO!

Thanks for responding, beachplant and daninthe dirt.

I was mainly curious about the varieties Fairytale and Calliope.
But found some plants of Ichaban yesterday,
so will try that variety this year.

I've never been able to get much of a yield from Black Beauty,
They've made gorgeous plants,
but not much fruit.

I'll be laughing all evening,
picturing a couple of squirrels dragging a grill
across a yard & up a tree!

:>)

I have an idea 'possums will get it, too.

Rusty

I had never heard of Fairytale or Calliope, but thanks for pointing them out. They look great. I'll keep an eye out for them. Actually, although I've never planted eggplant seeds to make seedlings to transplant, these varieties would be a good excuse to try. Next year!

I found a Fairytale eggplant at a Houston Garden Center for a buck. Wasn't really expecting much but it's doing really well in the middle of a 4x4 raised bed, surrounded by tomatoes. Too early to tell if it can survive me yet.

It's nice to hear others are having good luck with it!

Does anyone know if eggplants will come back after winter? One site I went to suggested they will. If so, should I cut them back?

Eggplants (like tomatoes and peppers) are formally perennials but, also like tomatoes and peppers, are highly frost intolerant, and don't much like cold either. I've never done it with eggplants, but I suspect it would work if you treated them right. I do it routinely with peppers, and it works very well. Pretty slick to have peppers on mature plants in March and April.

My parents grew fairytale eggplant one year, I wasn't crazy about the taste, I prefer the Japanese or Black Beauty and will try others next year, but the fairytale was kind of hard and stayed tiny to me. But you may get better results with it.

I actually overwintered Hansel (8-10" Black) and Gretel (8-10" white) eggplants here in Houston. I wasn't exactly trying to, but, we had a pretty mild winter and they were against a wall all winter. They were protected from the dreaded blowing winds, which, I find, does more harm to the plants (especially seedlings) than frost and heat.

I trimmed them down to about 6-8" from the soil line, and kept them out of the blowing winds. I only watered every now and again to keep them hydrated, and, I didn't feed them during the winter (maybe very lightly, once).

When the weather started warming up, I noticed new buds forming on the plant. I gave it a weak feeding until the buds started really poking out, then, a regular feeding about 4 weeks after the 1st one. Don't use too much nitrogen, or you'll end up with all greenery and very little actual fruits!

As with all eggplants, pick the fruits often, and while they are very shiny. This will encourage the plant to continue throwing out new fruits. Dull eggplants are bitter eggplants!

Hugs!