Bea, in the summer a lot of crops take a bad turn in the garden. And yes, I had done the cutting of the eggplant and other crops like peppers, kale, etc. But, in my experience I would rather start with new plants, fresh and no disease.

The only thing that I cut now and let them grow again are the fruit trees after they finish producing.

Silvia

yes, several times..... I grew them in 15 gal pots and they kept producing throughout the summer heat n North Fla, Eggplant can last 2 years if you keep them protected from cold damage

I had a Japanese eggplant when I lived further south that lived for 3 years until a cold snap got it. It was HUGE and its last summer, I got around 100 eggplants from it.

FYI: I was taught, and have since read, that in their native environment, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are perennials. In southern FL (zone 9b and up) they are tender perennials or short-lived perennials. (I'm sure someone will chime in to say I'm wrong, but that's o.k.) That's why I don't feel bad about bringing buckets of them inside in the winter to grow again the next year, although I haven't had much luck doing that. I feel like if you overwinter them, you need to repot them in fresh soil the next year, which I didn't do.

I'm trying to make a bonchi (bonsai chile pepper) out of my Tabasco pepper and make it last more than one year. They are very tough peppers that can live for many years even in the ground in native soil and never fertilized. I'll be interested to see how long it lives.

I've been there... Had a container black beauty eggplant that lived from 2014 to early 2017. Almost pulled it out a few times. It would shed most of its leaves after a crop and look like twigs. Suddenly leaves would burst out a month later and the cycle would begin again. Did some research and apparently most nightshades (eggplant, peppers, and some indeterminate tomatoes) can live 2 to 5 years if cared for properly in warm climates. I think my secret was grouping all my nightshades together and I made sure to cover them if the nighttime low was less than 39-41F in order to keep their growth positive... (plants dont like the the wild temperature swings that occur during Florida winters). Secondly, consider using agfabric to reduce heat over 90F.

eggplants love heat, sun, good draining soil and steady heavy feedings. If you want to see an eggplant production machine, feed it a TBSP of water soluble once a week and give it all the aforementioned and you will be sharing eggplants with whomever you choose...