Your comments and tips

27 May 10, (Australia - temperate climate)

Have you been giving them fertilizer regularly - seaweed folia spray and tomato fertilizer? Maybe they are just running out of food to make fruit?

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09 Jun 10, John Bee (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I’ve grown several eggplants for the past three years with great fruiting results. Of course as soon as one plant started to look “oldish” I’d cut that one right back (quite heavily) give it a decent fertilizing (liquid if in a pot or granular if in the ground) and it would recover just great. I also gave it a really good soaking watering immediately after or with the fertilizing. I’d do that about every 6 months for each plant (but not at the same time so as to ensure a continual fruit supply). However just recently those plants have had it… Just plain worn out… I suspect a very heavy build up of root knot nematodes and the start of root and stem collapse. I reckon if you can get 2-3 years from an eggplant then that’s more than enough and then call it quits. From my observations you can get up to 3 years happily from a plant growing in the soil and about 2-2.5 years from one growing in a large container. The pruning back also helps a lot in controlling a pest problem like spider mites. I live in a lovely sub-tropical climate on the Gold Coast so the plants continually grow and fruit. The variety I like is the dwarf Lebanese type. I am about to publish an e-book on growing herbs and veggies in small spaces but more about that later Cheers John

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23 May 10, Lynn (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

My four eggplants look like they are healthy but no flowers have appeared yet. They are in a raised garden bed and have been in the ground about 12 weeks. Help please

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27 Mar 10, Kd (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi Al, there are a lack of bees this year, so many plants which are flowering are not being pollinated. Try hand pollination from the male to the female flowers.

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25 Mar 10, Mas (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I'm a first time eggplant grower, we picked our first eggplant last night and there's another growing at the moment. yum. Can I scrap out the fresh seeds, dry them and then plant again?

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24 Mar 10, Al (Australia - temperate climate)

Hello My eggplant plants seem healthy but they have not produced any fruit (although there are flowers). They were planted from seed in Nov/Dec last year. Any reason why no fruit is being produced?

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15 Mar 10, Barb (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Hi Glynis, Could be fruit fly. There are some good organic baits on the market these days - see www.greenharvest.com.au

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14 Mar 10, Glynis (Australia - temperate climate)

I am having the same bug problem as Diana, 7 Apr 09. What can I do about it. The plants are fruiting well, but by the time they are grapefruit size they are going brown/yellow and full of grubs.

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02 Mar 10, Pru (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

To stop flowers falling off plants put a 10 cm straight line of Epsom salts about an inch away from the main stem. Works a treat. I now have 9 fruit on one plant.

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26 Feb 10, Barb (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Hi Aurelio, If it's green caterpillars then try using Dipel, which is a bacteria product that only affects caterpillars. Best not to use sprays/powders as they don't affect caterpillars, but they will hurt beneficial insects. Some wasps will attack caterpillars, so make sure you have flowers around to attract the wasps, and don't use pesticides as they harm the good bugs that help keep things in balance.

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