Your comments and tips

08 Jun 10, Chris (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Hi, another thing which works well for indian-style recipes is to cook the eggplant in a steamer first, instead of frying it which so many recipes suggest but which soaks up tons of oil. After steaming then just fry briefly in a little oil to caramelise the surface, or just use as-is.

Reply or Post a new comment

04 Jun 10, (Australia - temperate climate)

Kevin, it could be anything! Not enough water, poor soil, pests? You could try a couple of new plants in different spots and see if that helps. Like tomatoes, eggplant like copious feeding - weekly feeding with liquid fertilizer can get them moving along.

Reply or Post a new comment

25 May 10, Elisa (Australia - tropical climate)

Can anyone help? How long can an eggplant plant produce good fruit for? I have harvested fruit from the same plants since 2008 but the fruit appears to be smaller than last years yield. Is it time to get younger plants? Prune the plants severly?

Reply or Post a new comment

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?

Reply or Post a new comment

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

Reply or Post a new comment

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

Reply or Post a new comment

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.

Reply or Post a new comment

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?

Reply or Post a new comment

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?

Reply or Post a new comment

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

Reply or Post a new comment