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which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 6:40 pm
by habitat-gardener
I have room for at most 14 more eggplants, but I have about 26 plants left. I'd like to plant at least one of each of the following, so that leaves 7 more spaces. (I will give away the remaining plants.) Which ones would you choose (or leave out), how many, and why?

Aragon F1
Diamond
Gandia
Green Dragon
Madonna F1
Matrouk
Xi'an Green

(Given that I've already planted 8 other varieties, perhaps the question is moot. What am I going to do with all the eggplants if they are all productive??!!)

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:48 pm
by pepperhead212
I have only grown 2 of those. First, the Diamond, but which was good, but halted by a heat wave, which is why I stopped growing many of the varieties! And if Gandia is Listada De Gandia, that was very good - more heat resistant than some others I had the same year, but also smaller plant than Neon - a similar, longtime favorite of mine, otherwise I would have grown this again, so I would recommend that one.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:48 pm
by habitat-gardener
The photos of Gandia at Nikitovka don't look like Listada de Gandia, so I don't think it's the same. Gandia is also white with lavender, but more blurry, like a watercolor wash. I wonder if they're related. It will be interesting to see what I get!

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 11:15 pm
by Shule
I've only grown Diamond on your list. I wasn't a fan (especially as I ate an overripe one, skin and all, and got sick for about a week), but it didn't have great growing conditions for eggplant, and it was a very hot, dry year. I've seen pictures that tell me Diamond can do a lot better than it did for me. The fruits for me were tiny and few. Diamond probably just likes more temperate conditions, and more organic matter. That was my first year growing eggplant from seed, though (so take my thoughts with a grain of salt).

I replaced it with Aswad the next year or so, harvested the fruits on time, skinned the fruits, gave the plants more sun, and had a good experience.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 11:58 pm
by Gardadore
I also only know Diamond from your list with which I have had good luck. Used up my seeds last year and didn’t replace it because have 20 varieties as is. There really are a lot of varieties! Diamond was more prolific than many of my other varieties.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 11:04 am
by habitat-gardener
Gardadore wrote: Thu Jun 11, 2020 11:58 pm I also only know Diamond from your list with which I have had good luck. Used up my seeds last year and didn’t replace it because have 20 varieties as is. There really are a lot of varieties! Diamond was more prolific than many of my other varieties.
20 varieties!! Wow -- what are your favorites?

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 2:50 pm
by MissS
All that I have to say is that I did a seed offer this year of eggplant seeds purchased from Nikitovka. Gandia was by far the most requested eggplant in the offer. I myself am growing it for the first time this year.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 4:29 pm
by habitat-gardener
MissS wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2020 2:50 pm All that I have to say is that I did a seed offer this year of eggplant seeds purchased from Nikitovka. Gandia was by far the most requested eggplant in the offer. I myself am growing it for the first time this year.
Yes, you were my seed source for 4 Ukrainian varieties. I ended up planting all of the ones that germinated and survived! So I started with 4 seeds each and planted
1 Sneg Sredi Leta (3 germinated but only 1 survived)
4 Matrouk
4 Gandia
3 Chornyy Krasen

I was just looking at my two beds of eggplants and realizing that I have almost three times the number of plants compared to last year, all of which are much larger at plantout than the ones I grew last year. And I will have 11 healthy plants to give away!

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 5:25 pm
by MissS
I have a lot of eggplants this year too and I did have a bunch to give away. My daughter is very happy about them and she even partook in the planting of the seeds. She adores eggplant anyway that you make it.

I had good germination on all but Chornyy Krasen. I just had 2 of them finally poke up last week. Most likely too late for planting. For me, Send Sredi Leta is a very small plant. Otherwise I am quite pleased with this company so far.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 2:31 pm
by Gardadore
I have several new ones this year so will let you all know which ones were our favorites: Here is what I planted: 19 not 20 because my friend forgot to give me a Black Beauty but I ran out of space anyway! Planted a total of 29 in the end with the duplicates!

Annina; Aswad from a friend; Black King; Casper; Chornyy Krasens (supposed to be the same as Black Beauty which a friend is growing); Galine; Irene Ibrido; Kemer (from a Turkish friend); Long White; Lucky Green; Matrosyk; Millionaire; Mitoyo; Premier; Prosperosa; Rosa Bianca; Sned Sredi Leta; Thai Green; and Violetta Lunga.

Among my favorites from last year are Black King, Casper, Galine, Lucky Green, Millionaire, and Mitoyo. Love them all really but performance does vary. Most are grown in Earthboxes, 6 in Smart Bags and 3 in the ground.

Patti,
I had similar results with your seeds with Sned also being very small but is catching up. Chornyy Krasens gave me only two plants, one for me and one for my friend. Maytrosyk had the best germination of the ones you sent me so planted 2 and gave others away. Some really did take longer than others and I replanted just to have all the Matrosyk come up! I didn’t request Gandia because I thought it was the same as another one but see it is different. Perhaps should add it to the list for next year since it was so popular! Thanks again for your generosity!

Strongest plant so far is Millionaire but Casper and Kemer are very large as well! Casper already set flowers before being planted out! Basically despite our heat wave last week which caused new plantings to wilt a lot all are doing well. They are all covered as they can’t handle too much direct sun and high humidity that well yet. Today is cool and dry so everything is happy!
Hoping for a bountiful harvest since we will be home this summer the whole time to enjoy them!

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2020 3:04 pm
by habitat-gardener
Looking at my garden today, I noticed that the only flea beetle damage is on Sneg Sredi Leta! It’s minor, because the plant has been in the ground a while. All of my eggplants are in the ground with straw mulch.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 2:52 pm
by habitat-gardener
Update: the flea beetles found them all. Sneg Sredi Leta was the first, though.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 3:36 pm
by pepperhead212
habitat-gardener wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 2:52 pm Update: the flea beetles found them all. Sneg Sredi Leta was the first, though.
This is why I spray Surround on all of my eggplants! Been doing this for years, and this pretty much prevents flea beetles on EPs. Just be sure to spray the undersides of the leaves - where you find these, as well as aphids, though aphids are attracted to my okras, which I use Surround on.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 4:40 pm
by PlainJane
EE1CF89C-843F-45A0-9BC5-A2CE2071779E.jpeg
This year I’m loving Paloma F1 (white one)
It’s prolific and very tender.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 10:19 pm
by pepperhead212
I saw something promising today - the first eggplant on the Neon plant, grown from saved seed. I shared some of these with a fellow gardener, who also likes Neon, and recently he showed me a photo of the first one he got, which was black, proving that Neon is a hybrid. However, this one, on my F2 plant, is purple, like the Neon. I'll see how much like it the F2 does, production and heat resistance. I might save seeds again, and see if I can stabilize this in a few years.
ImageNeon, on saved seed plant, in purple. 6-30 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And here are those Hari eggplants, getting long and skinny:
ImageHari, 6-30 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 1:04 pm
by pepperhead212
I just saw my first Rosa Bianca formed today, which surprised me, as the only other time I grew them they were much later. There are quite a few more, too.
ImageFirst Rosa Bianca forming, 7-02 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

As usual, more Ichiban early, and it's usually later July before the heat stops them!
ImageMore Ichibans, with many more to come! 7-02 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:24 am
by pepperhead212
More eggplant today - the first Neon, and the Ichiban eggplants are still producing like crazy. However, the drawback is that the Ichiban (and many others, as with tomatoes) stops flowering when it gets very hot, and it seems to have happened a bit early this season, since it has been 6 days in the 90s, and every day in the 10 day forecast is in the 90s. Usually later than this in the season! However, all of the eggplants already formed on them will develop, and one of the Ichibans has at least 11 eggplants started that are at least 3" long, and a bunch more smaller ones - just no more blossoms. The rest of the varieties are still flowering.
ImageThe first Neon, plus more Ichibans, 7-6 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2020 3:51 pm
by pepperhead212
I picked 12 more eggplants today, from just 3 plants! I could have left some of the ichibans on another day, but there were so many on both of them, I just figured this would help those grow more.
Image5 Ichibans, 7-11 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Image5 more Ichibans, plus 2 neons, 7-11 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

You can see why I've been growing Ichibans since back in the 80s! Usually the heat stops them, but it doesn't seem to have made them drop any blossoms yet, this year.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2020 3:51 pm
by pepperhead212
I picked 12 more eggplants today, from just 3 plants! I could have left some of the ichibans on another day, but there were so many on both of them, I just figured this would help those grow more.
Image5 Ichibans, 7-11 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Image5 more Ichibans, plus 2 neons, 7-11 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

You can see why I've been growing Ichibans since back in the 80s! Usually the heat stops them, but it doesn't seem to have made them drop any blossoms yet, this year.

Re: which eggplant varieties to plant

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2020 10:24 pm
by MissS
It sure looks like you will be in eggplant heaven this week. Your plants are producing beautifully. What are you feeding them?