Eggplant

About Eggplant

Eggplant is a heat-loving cousin of the tomato, grown for glossy purple, white or striped fruit. It needs warm days and nights to flower well, so it does best where summers are long and hot.

Grown as a warm-season annual in every zone; it is killed by frost, so plant it out after the danger of frost has passed. It grows best at 70 to 85F.

When to plant

Timing is counted from your average last spring frost (and first fall frost). Sow & Tell works out the actual dates for your ZIP code.

• Start seeds indoors: 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost
• Set out plants: 2 to 3 weeks after the last frost

Days to harvest count from transplanting 6- to 8-week-old plants (about 100 to 120 days from seed). Wait until nights stay above 50F before planting out.

Soil

Fertile, well-drained soil improved with compost or well-rotted manure.

Follow a soil test, work any pre-plant fertilizer or up to 1 inch of compost into the top 6 inches of soil, and keep soil pH about 6.0 to 6.5.

Feeding

• 3 to 4 weeks after transplanting: nitrogen fertilizer such as calcium nitrate (15.5-0-0) or 21-0-0. Use about 1/2 lb of calcium nitrate per 30 ft of row, or 1/2 Tbsp of 21-0-0 per plant, beside the plants and water it in.
• 3 to 4 weeks after the first side-dressing: nitrogen fertilizer such as calcium nitrate (15.5-0-0) or 21-0-0. Repeat the same amount beside the plants and water it in.
• right after picking the first fruits: nitrogen fertilizer. A light side-dressing beside the plants, watered in, keeps them producing.

Harvest

Pick while the skin is still shiny and the fruit is firm; a thumb press that springs back means it is ready. Dull or brown skin means it is overripe. Clip the fruit off with shears.

As long as you keep picking, plants keep flowering and setting fruit; harvest about once or twice a week while the skin is still shiny. Cold nights late in the season damage fruit left on the plant.

Varieties (30)

Good neighbors

Parsley, Lettuce

UMD Extension shows eggplant sharing space with parsley and shade-tolerant greens; this is about using space, not pest control.

Pests to watch for

Flea beetles, Colorado potato beetle, Twospotted spider mite, Aphids, Whiteflies, Tomato hornworm, Cutworms, Root-knot nematodes, Leafminers, Stink bugs, Harlequin bug, Leafhoppers, Eriophyid mites (rust, bud, blister and gall mites), Mole crickets, Red imported fire ant, Potato psyllid (tomato psyllid), Broad mite, Tomato pinworm, Beet armyworm, Pepper weevil, Pepper maggot, Fungus gnats

Diseases and problems

Verticillium wilt, Early blight, Phomopsis blight, Phytophthora blight, Bacterial wilt, Southern blight, Transplant shock, Too little light (leggy plants), Leaf sunburn, Magnesium deficiency, Black walnut toxicity, Blossom end rot, Herbicide injury, Frost and freeze injury, Bacterial canker of tomato, Fusarium wilt, Tomato spotted wilt, Powdery mildew, Damping-off, White mold, Root and crown rot, Sooty mold, Tobacco mosaic and tomato mosaic

In the kitchen

Roasted, grilled, fried or stewed; it is the base of dishes like baba ghanoush, ratatouille and eggplant parmesan.

Keeping it: Refrigerate eggplant and use it within several days to a week; long chilling pits the skin. Cut flesh browns fast, so cook soon after slicing.

Safety: Only the fruit is eaten. The leaves, flowers, stems and roots contain solanine and can cause a burning throat, nausea, vomiting and an irregular heartbeat if eaten (NC State).

Pets: Not listed as toxic by the ASPCA