Growing Eggplant, also Aubergine

Solanum sp. : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
  S S                  
        T              
        P              

(Best months for growing Eggplant in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
  • P = Sow seed
  • Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4-6 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 75°F and 90°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 24 - 30 inches apart
  • Harvest in 12-15 weeks. Cut fruit with scissors or sharp knife.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Beans, capsicum, lettuce, amaranth, thyme
  • Avoid growing close to: Potatoes

Your comments and tips

11 Oct 23, TMR (USA - Zone 6b climate)
I know it's over a year later, but I've been looking for info for overwintering a huge eggplant plant, and saw your question here. Summer '22 I picked up three 5" Japanese eggplant plants from local Tractor supply store, on sale in 3 or 4" pots, for $4 each. I grew them in central MA, each in a 12 or 14" pot all summer. Got some good yield, and they grew to about 18" high, but I decided to bring them inside for the winter to see if I could get more fruit from them. I put them on a south facing bay window, air temp was never much above 68*, I watered, fertilized once (maybe 2x) from October-May, and hand pollinated flowers with a paint brush. Got about 10 fruits, which I thought was pretty good! Nice and tender and sweet. In late May/early June they went outside, (after hardened off properly) planted 1 into 2' tall raised wooden garden box (with tomatoes, potatoes, basil, borage), 1 into a large deep pot, and one in a conditioned straw bale. The pot one failed, the box and straw bale one thrived and are now 3' tall and maybe 2-3' wide. Tons of flowers, fruit, I couldn't keep up. I'm trying to figure out if I can bring one of them inside again (transplant into v. large pot) and get one more summer out of it! So you can probably grow Ichyban Japanese in your zone, just protect from cooler temps, and bring inside if your season isn't long enough.
06 Jan 22, Anonymous (USA - Zone 5a climate)
Plant Feb to May - look on the internet for some varieties.
10 Dec 21, Annamarie (USA - Zone 9b climate)
Can I grow eggplant year round in zone 9b? I’m hoping to use cuttings taken from existing plants. Thanks
04 Feb 22, Donna (USA - Zone 9b climate)
I grow mine in a pot and bring them in for winter. I am not sure about cuttings, but I have had a mature plant produce two years in a row growing it that way. Same for tomatoes. Fun to have fresh
28 Dec 21, Elisabeth (USA - Zone 7b climate)
YES! I lived in zone 9 in Florida. You can most definitely grow them. Start your seeds indoors in early January and put them out in mid February. They will be producing by April and over it by mid June when your temps start in the 90s. I then always planted okra in June where the eggplants were. They were a nice succession planting in zone 9.
14 Dec 21, Anonymous (USA - Zone 9b climate)
Probably not, Most crops are seasonal, usually temperature reasons. Very few crops produce all year.
19 Mar 20, Kahyun Yoo (USA - Zone 9a climate)
Last fall, I harvested some of the eggplants in my back yard. Then now the color of branches turned into yellowish-brown. Is it able to have more fruit in this coming summer? Or should I sow some seeds in the bed after rooting out the former ones?
18 Mar 20, Vhy sanders (USA - Zone 5a climate)
How well will eggplant grow here ??
28 Oct 13, Jim Petterson (USA - Zone 7a climate)
Is egplant perennial in zone 7a Charlotte NC
13 Nov 20, CAD (USA - Zone 10b climate)
Jim, if grown outdoors, eggplants are annuals in North Carolina. NC gets some tropical-feeling summer weather, but the winter frost and snow would keep eggplant from being a perennial in that climate. It's an annual here in zone 10b too!
Showing 11 - 20 of 21 comments

Do I pull the eggplant bush up or cut back over winter?

- Julie Tasker

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