Growing Eggplants

Plant eggplants when temperatures reach 65° to 70° degrees.

Eggplants can be harvested any time they get to be at least a third of their normal size. They should be harvested before the flesh becomes tough and the seeds begin to harden. The fruit should still be shiny when you pick it.

Eggplants are warm-season vegetables that require more warmth than many other vegetables grown in Georgia. Eggplants are sensitive to cool temperatures and frost. They don't perform well when they're planted too early while temperatures are too low. In fact, the cool weather tends to harden and stunt eggplants. They recover very slowly.

The best time to set out your eggplants is when the daily temperature averages 65° to 70°. This will be late March in South Georgia and about a month later in North Georgia.

There are several varieties of eggplants available.

They vary in the shape, size and color of the fruit. The purple-fruited eggplants that are most popular in Georgia are Florida Hi Bush, Royal Knight, Black Beauty, New Orleans Market and Classic. The variety "green eggplant" is recommended for a green fruited variety. Seed and plants for this variety are difficult to find. Green fruited varieties are less bitter under dry conditions than the purple varieties. White varieties are also available.

Space rows generously…

Eggplants will get to be fairly large, so you will want to space the plants about two-to-three feet apart on each row. The rows should be at least three feet apart. Normally, you don't stake eggplants, but in some cases, where the fruit load is heavy, you may need to give the plants some support with stakes.

You will need only to do shallow cultivation to control weeds or to work in a side-dressing of fertilizer. The herbicide Dacthal can be used to help control weeds in eggplants.

Eggplants respond well to fertilizer and organic matter…

Work plenty of organic matter into the soil before you transplant. On soils with medium to low fertility, apply three-to four pounds of a complete fertilizer, such as 8-8-8 or 8-24-24, to each 100 feet of row. You should do this a week or two before trans-planting. Since eggplants will be in the garden for a long time, you will need to supply additional fertilizer, especially nitrogen, about once a month at the rate of a half-pound ammonium nitrate per 100 feet of row.

Your first eggplants will be ready to pick about 80 to 85 days after transplanting; if the weather is warm enough for the plants to grow as they should.

Cut fruit with sharp knife…

The fruit should be cut from the stems with a sharp knife or pruning shears so that you don't break the branches of the plant.

If you don't intend to use the eggplant immediately after you pick it, store it at about 45-to-50 degrees.

For more information on growing eggplants, contact your local County Extension Office.