Hi Writersblock

In my experience oriental eggplants are very productive! in our weather. One time I planted about 8 different eggplants one of them the Black Beauty and like yours it was not productive and the fruit that I got was slightly bitter even when picked at the right time. From the small size eggplants Orlando is always loaded with fruit.

I planted last year Nubia F1 and that is the one that is producing now, I also planted recently Listadia de Gandia and Prosperosa eggplant, I hope that they will be slow in the production because I just have too many eggplants now and to me I only like them picked and used the same day...

A past harvest

Silvia

Black Beauty was abandoned as a commercial variety years ago when more productive plants were hybridized. I like it because it's easy and because I don't eat a lot of eggplant, so it's production is fine for me. I also like the stronger taste, and find most orientals bland. I guess it's what you are used to, and I was raised on Black Beauty, so that's what I love. It may put out fewer fruits, but they are larger, so you end up with almost as much meat. The only oriental I like is Ichiban, which you can only get from Bonnie Plants now. It has the most flavor of all that I've tasted. Like I said, though, it depends on what you like. Most people tend to like the milder flavor.

I've grown Florida HIgh Bush eggplant. It's an old variety bred for commercial use, but it's pretty easy to grow and pretty prolific. It is a large plant, though, so you might want to think about where you would put it. Mine got about 4 feet tall, and lived for 3 years.

Thanks, Silvia and DG.

Interesting that you also found it didn't produce much, Silvia. Beautiful plants as always.

Yes, I like Ichiban, too, DG, but since I only have space for hydroponic growing, I prefer not to use starts since it's hard to prevent soil contamination with plants already started and you can't get Ichiban any more except as Bonnie plants, no seeds now. You have to wash starts so much and they don't always like the transition to rockwool. Also, I've found that whatever nurseries use to push growth tends to be an ant attractant. I don't do strawberries for the same reason. The year I tried them my system was just filled with ants that wanted to be in those strawberry roots.

I like Kuruma almost as much, but AFAIK Kitazawa is the only place for that and it doesn't seem worth placing an order for just one packet of seeds.

I like High Bush, too, but it doesn't share space well with others, like the Brandy Boy tomato I tried this year. One of the disadvantages of my setup is that I have to pull everything at the end of the season and start fresh every fall. If things are allowed to get too large they can break the tower sides. I've got about three weeks before it will be time to put it to bed till I start seeds in August. It could go a little longer but I'll be traveling a bit and there's nobody to keep up with the nutrients while I'm gone. So Black Beauty better hurry up! :-)