Ukrainian Eggplant Seeds

[habitat-gardener]

I planted 1 Sneg Sredi Leta, 3 Chornyy Krasen, 4 Matrosik, and 4 Gandia. I'm just starting to pick them and haven't tasted any yet!

Sneg Sredi Leta is loaded with white eggplants! All of them are still very firm, so I haven't picked them yet.

The Chornyy Krasen plants are among the largest of my 15 varieties, even though Nikitovka describes it as a compact plant. The dark purple eggplants are squat, like Aswad, and a little fluted -- so beautiful! (But Nikitovka says they're round-oval and shows a photo of smooth eggplants.) One plant is so wide it's taking over the nearby peppers and the path. I do plant to grow it again, but will give it more space. iirc I spaced them 24" apart, but only 16" from the peppers.

Matrosik hadn't produced any fruit the last time I looked. I will check again today. It's also supposed to be striped. https://nikitovka.com/en/eggplant-auber ... 00183.html

Gandia does not look like the photo at Nikitovka (https://nikitovka.com/en/eggplant-auber ... 07309.html). One plant has long thin purple eggplants, and another has fruit that looks like the ones on Chornyy Krasen! The young plants looked different, so I was wondering about them. One plant had prickles along the midrib on the upper side of the leaf.

[Ginger2778]

I planted 1 Sneg Sredi Leta, 3 Chornyy Krasen, 4 Matrosik, and 4 Gandia. I'm just starting to pick them and haven't tasted any yet!

Sneg Sredi Leta is loaded with white eggplants! All of them are still very firm, so I haven't picked them yet.

The Chornyy Krasen plants are among the largest of my 15 varieties, even though Nikitovka describes it as a compact plant. The dark purple eggplants are squat, like Aswad, and a little fluted -- so beautiful! (But Nikitovka says they're round-oval and shows a photo of smooth eggplants.) One plant is so wide it's taking over the nearby peppers and the path. I do plant to grow it again, but will give it more space. iirc I spaced them 24" apart, but only 16" from the peppers.

Matrosik hadn't produced any fruit the last time I looked. I will check again today. It's also supposed to be striped. https://nikitovka.com/en/eggplant-auber ... 00183.html

Gandia does not look like the photo at Nikitovka (https://nikitovka.com/en/eggplant-auber ... 07309.html). One plant has long thin purple eggplants, and another has fruit that looks like the ones on Chornyy Krasen! The young plants looked different, so I was wondering about them. One plant had prickles along the midrib on the upper side of the leaf.

Hmmmm. Sounds like those are unstable seeds.

[MissS]

[mention]habitat-gardener[/mention] Thank you so much for letting us know how these seeds are working out. I hope that others will chime it too with their results. I agree with Marsha that there is some issue with their seeds. I am going to watch Rajun Gardeners offer of tomato seeds from this company and see if those seeds are coming true or not. Interesting results that you are getting.

[habitat-gardener]

Oops — I have Matrouk, not Matrosik! One plant has a little eggplant starting to grow, and it is purple striped.

Added: hmm. Funny— I wrote down Matrouk on my plant labels in the garden and in my garden notebook but It looks like the original offer was for Matrosik. Matrosik it is!!

[NarnianGarden]

As much as I like Nikitovka as a vendor (and enjoy their varieties I ordered when it still was possible)....I know their varieties don't always grow true... there have been issues before. The descriptions don't always match with the results...

[Ginger2778]

I bought my own eggplan seeds from Niktovka. Chornyy Krasen had 1 seed out of 24 germinate. All the others from them and my greek ones all germinated quite well. At least that one looks very healthy.
Did anyone else get poor germination from that one?

[MissS]

I bought my own eggplan seeds from Niktovka. Chornyy Krasen had 1 seed out of 24 germinate. All the others from them and my greek ones all germinated quite well. At least that one looks very healthy.
Did anyone else get poor germination from that one?

I planted 3 seeds and one germinated.

From what I have seen here and on Rajun's tomato offer thread, I will not be endorsing or buying seeds from here anytime soon. Just too many off-types and germination problems.

[habitat-gardener]

I planted 4 seeds and got 3 healthy plants of Chornyy Krasen

[Ginger2778]

I wonder if it was my batch? Only 1 out of 24 germinated!

[ddsack]

Did not have any Chornyy Krasen seeds, but the Aysberg, Matrosik, and Gandia all had good germination 4/4 or 3/4 this spring, so maybe just that variety had problems? Matrosik and Gandia were not like the website photos, but nice looking and eating quality was good just the same.

[Ginger2778]

I also bought Matrosik. I had very good germination with it.

[MissS]

Yes, germination was not so bad but the fruits of some where not as described. I have enjoyed eating them nonetheless. The off-types have good flavor and texture.

[Ginger2778]

That's good news about the flavor. Just today a second Chornyy K. popped. Still dismal though. Is it normal for eggplant seeds to take more than 15 days? Today is day 15, one popped on day 10, one today. Should I be adjusting my expectations?

[MissS]

[mention]Ginger2778[/mention] You might be interested in this thread here viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1252. There is more discussion about these seeds there.

To answer your question, I had a terrible time germinating Chornyy Krasen. It took forever and a day. Over 3 weeks and thus it never made it into my short season garden. If I try it again I will start it a month earlier than the others.

[Ginger2778]

[mention]MissS[/mention] thank you for the link. I see you had trouble germinating Chornyy K.too. At least I know it wasn't just me!

[habitat-gardener]

Looking at my notes, it did take a long time for the seeds to germinate! About 16 days for the first Chornyy Krasen, another 7 days for the second, and an additional 16 days for the third one!!

But Mitoyo (fresh seed from Baker Creek) was even slower, as were a couple large green varieties. About 23 days for 2 out of 6 to appear, and 8 more days for the next 2.

[Ginger2778]

Looking at my notes, it did take a long time for the seeds to germinate! About 16 days for the first Chornyy Krasen, another 7 days for the second, and an additional 16 days for the third one!!

But Mitoyo (fresh seed from Baker Creek) was even slower, as were a couple large green varieties. About 23 days for 2 out of 6 to appear, and 8 more days for the next 2.

Wow!

[OhioGardener]

PLEASE NOTE: NOT ALL OF THESE SEEDS ARE GROWING TRUE TO TYPE!!!!

Just curious which varieties turned out to be true to type. Have you grown them all?

[MissS]

I have not grown all of them out. I'm still watching the reports but it does not look very good. We will just have to wait and see.

[Ginger2778]

I have now 5 seeds out of 30 of Chornyy Krasen germinated after about 4 weeks! At least I will get 2 plants.