I'm trying them this year because they are awesome summer grillin' and I was spending way too much for them at the farmer's market. I picked Little Prince cultivar because they had a short DTM and supposedly were less prone to problems.
Finicky is quite accurate. The seedlings grew slowly, took forever to harden off, and were promptly infested with aphids, flea beetles, and something that looked like whitefly. They sat in the ground for weeks and have just now started to flower, but are still less than a foot tall. I'll count myself fortunate if they end up being anything besides ornamentals at this rate.

We grow them to grill as 1" slices, a veggie steak of sorts :)....but as a side dish to the real steaks.

This plant is doing well - for now. The later planted row is doing better than the earlier one.

Galine

I grow them)

Love eggplant! One of my favorite dishes is Eggplant Parmesan. There's another dish that doesn't have a name which my mom just calls Italian Eggplant lol. It's one of those things Great Grandma just used to whip together. It's the Italian version of Moussaka... which is also delicious! And this may be the first time I try to make my own Baba Ghanoush - although around here the Tahini is so expensive and hard to find.

Anyway, I have 20-some-odd plants of Rosa Bianca. I picked the first one this morning. It's a little small, but it looked like it stopped growing, so onto the grill it will go. The plant it came off had 3 so far, and if I get 3 per plant, that's a lot of Parmesan!

The trick with eggplant is to make the dish and freeze it... which is fine because the tomatoes for the sauce should also be coming in soon.

The thing with eggplant is to wait until the soil and night air temps are higher than you might hope are necessary for transplanting. It's not just frost you are avoiding, eggplant needs warm temps and putting out too early will cause it to just sit there. A row cover or clear plastic tunnel can get your plants out earlier. That can also help with the inevitable flea beetle invasion... then the aphids... then the white flies... then the leaf hoppers... then... well yep, it seems to be many an insect's favorite plant.

Rosa Bianca...

I have Ichiban (last of my seed), Black Beauty, Edrine Purple Stripe, and Satin Moon growing this year. Make lots of EP Parmesan and Stuffed EP and freeze it.

Dave

I am new to doing a variety of eggplants, but I am becoming a big fan of them! We have ichiban, black beauty, green goddess, cascade, casper, and jade. So far, only the ichiban and black beauty have shown fruit. The ichiban plants we have are very fruitful. Even in early July we have taken 3 that were 8"+ and there are 12-15 growing on the plant. Our black beauty just started showing fruit. These are becoming a favorite of mine for sure!

By the way, great pics farmerdill!

Farmerdill, what is your location to grow all those beautiful eggplants with ease? I am in the Northeast so I think they are probably especially finicky here. I am not sure we have past 90 once, and temps have gone down in the 50s at night.. I think last night even.

Where are you Peter? I am on Long Island here and have had no issues with growing the eggplants. I have been very fortunate as I have had very few issues with any of my plants, even had all my cauliflower come in this year. So far this season I am having a blossom drop issue with two different heirloom tomatoes, one is striped and the other is white.

I am in Rockland County. Our climate is a notch cooler than yours.

I'm happy for your success. Some of my eggplants are dealing with various issues, wilts and pests, but are soldiering on and I am anticipating a better harvest this year. I started all mine from seed. The Bonnie's I planted last year did nothing. Neither did the peppers. They were all stunted plants. This year is much better with my own transplants. Did you buy transplants or start your own seed?

I have a thread here... http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2993293/tomatoes-and-eggplants-growing-fast

I also have a thread somewhere with an eggplant wilt issue.

Currently in Augusta Ga. But I also grew them with no problems in Virginias New River valley Z6b. They are not as susceptible to as many diseases as tomatoes otherwise culture is a bout the same. As with tomatoes there are varieties that are early as well as late varieties. Plants started in cool weather are susceptible to flea beetles and I have had Colorado Potato beetles attack certain varieties, control those and they are pretty bullet proof. Here my worst disease is Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus, which does a number on many tomato varieties, but eggplants are untouched. Ditto with Fusarium, Southern blight, and root knot nematodes.

I am having wilt issues that doesn't effect any other plants..See http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3134161/verticillium-wilt?n=12

and

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3171116/bug-id-please

Your advice is appreciated...

I had that with one cauliflower, one broccoli, and one brussel sprout. They all came back late in the day, a strong watering then and the next morning they looked good. They wilted as the day went on, though. To be safe I just pulled them all, which took virtually nothing since the roots were rotted. I brought them to a local extension and they said it was 'root rot'.

I have all raised beds and I noticed a lot of my heavy feeders all looked 'sad' until I started watering them fairly heavily. The crookneck above was one of the plants that looked 'tired'. I used some fish emulsion and then a couple of doses of Cal-Mag and those particular plants are all very vibrant. The zucchini is more than 50% of a raised 4' x 8' bed now. Maybe the rocky soil up there is provided very strong drainage for you?

This is how it looks now, two weeks or so later.....

You can see the leaves are now 'upstanding' as opposed to sagging down and outward. Maybe you have the same thing as I did, not enough watering?

Growing Diamond, Black Knight, and Ichiban - total of 13 plants.

I wasn't planning on growing that many, but saw a four pack of great looking Ichiban for $1.25 and wanted to try it. The four pack had 7 plants, so I separated them into larger containers and eventually planted all 7 along with the 6 I already had.

I may end up with an abundance of eggplants.

My garden soil is loamy. But I have noticed that unlike peppers, eggplant likes a lot of water.

It's Hansel... he's so hot right now.

For sure, I have a fair amount of varieties of peppers and the hotter the pepper the less watering I have found. The eggplant, squash, cucumbers I water daily and pretty heavily. When I had them growing, the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage were watered heavy, too. I don't know if I was right or lucky, but they all came in strong for me.

Maybe if you really water it every afternoon it will stop the midday wilt, either way that is a good looking eggplant there!

I always find eggplant difficult to grow, flea beetles being my #1 headaches. The Purple Charm was doing great, but when it reached 2 -3 feet high it suddenly wilted so I pulled it.

Right now I have one Green Raveena in the raised bed. There are many flowers and fruit, but the leaves look dull and grey.

I'm also growing Ichiban in a container. So far there is no flea beetles yet.

This mornings harvest.

farmerdill, what do you do with all that eggplant?

I do eat a lot of eggplant, but actually most of it is given to friends and neighbors.

Farmerdill is the most generous gardener. He has graciously shared his passion, experience, and knowledge in gardening with many many people. Here is a short description on Cornell website.

http://blogs.cornell.edu/garden/get-activities/signature-projects/veg-varieties/

I wish he'd tell me if my eggplants have verticillium wilt ;)

I have been most successful growing Orient Express eggplant which is one bred for regions with cooler temperatures. I get it from Johnny's, but it may be available elsewhere, IDK.

Sorry, this is Fusarium country, I have never encountered Verticillium. Fusarium is deadly on non-resistant tomatoes but does not seem to affect eggplant.

Thanks penny but I am just an old fellow trying to relive some areas of my childhood.

Ok well thanks anyway farmerdill.

Peter, you may want to contact these people and talk with them. My local office has been very helpful in the past and I am taking some of the spotted tomatoes I have to them for testing. The tests are $7.00, very very reasonable and they can be pretty precise as to what issues you may be dealing with.

j

I grow them! I had awesome luck with them last year. Nothing big this year yet, just a ton of flowers, some of which are dying and I assume are about to pop the eggplant nubs. I grow black beauties.

Last year I grew Rosa Bianca and Turkish red or orange. Rosa was extremely bitter and Turkish was just nasty. Had to get some excess from a friend's crop. This year I am growing ping tung long they are not supposed to need soaking and peeling. I will see. The weather is so cold eggplant and peppers are tiny, just seen first eggplant blossoms this week. I love good eggplant in my pasta sauce with spinach peppers onions tomato and zucchini or any combination. I try to use whatever I have. They are also good grilled sauteed or fried. My kids hate eggplant though. Lol. It can be a very underutilized vegetable in American cuisine, but in other parts of the world it is highly valued. I start mine from seed with tomatoes and peppers.

Jim - interesting, I was looking at the main Cornell testing lab and it was like $50. I will give the Rockland office a call.

That Hansel tasted great. No toughness or bitterness or seeds.

That is a lot more than I paid. I am going up later for analysis on potential bacterial speck and they said it was still $7.00 on the phone.

Ok well it is just ehat I remember reading on one of their websites. I will give them a call.

Not having an eggplant-specific forum is a bit of a frustration, but the search function works fine for what I need.

I'm growing Black Beauty (my "go-to" for Italian parm dishes) and Ichiban this year. I've also grown Rosa Bianca and Casper in the past. Even people who say they don't eat eggplant will eat the white ones; I don't know why. Maybe they are naturally less bitter (the eggplants, not the people)?

The world of eggplant cuisine is vast -- there are Indian/Pakistani curries -- some hot/spicy, some smooth/creamy and they could be served either hot or cold, temperature-wise. Similarly there is a plethora of Middle Eastern and North African (and even sub-Saharan African!) dishes to explore. BabaGhanoush (sp?) is easy and can be used as a veggie dip, a salad dressing or a bread spread instead of mayo. Healthy, too.

Flea beetles are a fact of life for me here in mid-Hudson Valley of New York State (Putnam County) but have not damaged crop output. Colorado potato bugs were new to me this year, but simple picking and squishing solved that problem.

Oh no I hope those Colorado Potato Beetles don't find their way over to my yard. I've already got the striped cucumber beetles which is new this year for me.