I'd guess the string of Japanese-American nurseries on the border of Torrance/Gardena might be the best place for Konasu or Mitoyo eggplants. You could call Sunflower farms nursery (where my wife works) or try ones like Moneta or Toro. A bit of a drive from Mt washington, but right off the 110 so it's easy when downtown doesn't suck.

I can't imagine growing eggplant perennially in la. The disease pressure is soo high, especially powdery mildew. Plus the soil is super sandy in Mt. Wash and filled with root knot nematode.

I never have powderiy mildew issues BC I spray with bubbled worm compost brew. It takes care of all diseases. The only problem I have is spider mites. Where in Mt Washington are you?

elysian valley side

you must have well amended soil to not have rkn. I see it all over the hills in the lean sand.

Me too. South facing side of the hill. Awesome to know of another gardenwebber in MtW. I've been on this site for at least 15 years, and really enjoy it. I've learned a ton from this community. It's a little less wonderful since Houzz swallowed it but the people are still here -- and I so appreciate the expertese here.

Most of my veggies are in raised beds, but I do tuck several in the ground here and there. No problems that I can tell. But I grow a lot of nightshades -- does RKN affect tomatoes, etc? Maybe I'm just not familiar enough with RKN. I read a little last night -- yuk. My back yard soil is pretty nice though. Front is like dried spackle.

oh yeah rkn affects tomatoes.

What does it make the plant look like? Especially tomatoes?

Ohhh....Whoa. I have seen that in my older tomatoes, when I get lazy about spraying tea. I had sometimes blamed it on spider mites or normal life cycle death. Thank you for opening my eyes Nil13! Do you know which species of Meloidogyne are most prevalent here?

I've been looking at solutions for Root Knot Nematodes (Meloidogyne sp.)...

Organic solutions are: Shrimp Shell Meal, Tagetes patula (French marigold), Mustard Greens, vermicompost, vermicompost AACT (bubbled worm compost tea) and the "shaggy mane" mushroom, Coprinus commutas.

Semi-organic solution: neem cake (or neem cake + neem oil spray), the Cake is slower to break down so is longer acting, but is harmful to the soil's food web.

Have you experimented with all of these methods? When I spray regularly, I don't see it.

The shrimp shell meal would be a waste. It's just chitin. Bugs are made of chitin too. So a bunch of mulch filled with tons of pillbugs is the same thing just way cheaper.

So basically lots of mulch, compost, maybe some edible mushroom culture, and if it gets too damaging plant a marigold cover crop as a rotation. It's not a get rid of it situation but just something you have to deal with.