Help - Eggplants in Cold weather

[Wildcat82]

I planted out my eggplants on 19 February and now they are blooming. Over the next 2 weeks I see temperatures will be dipping down several times to 40 degrees at night. I've read temps like this might permanently stunt the eggplant. Is this true in your experience?

I've not run into this problem before so I'm not really sure what to do, if anything. I suppose I could dig them up, put them in pots, and move them in if necessary but that seems like a lot of messing around.

[GoDawgs]

Wow. I have no idea how much cold they'll take but I do know everything I've read says to plant them out when frost is past or "the weather has settled" . For me that's around the last week of April. They haven't been in the ground too long so I think it would be OK to dig them and pot them up. And I would leave them in the pot for a while until you're really sure you won't have to bring them back inside again. The weather has been pretty cantankerous this year so it might be good to play it safe for a little while. The things we do for our plants!

[Rockporter]

Wow. I have no idea how much cold they'll take but I do know everything I've read says to plant them out when frost is past or "the weather has settled" . For me that's around the last week of April. They haven't been in the ground too long so I think it would be OK to dig them and pot them up. And I would leave them in the pot for a while until you're really sure you won't have to bring them back inside again. The weather has been pretty cantankerous this year so it might be good to play it safe for a little while. The things we do for our plants!

And millions take for granted the food they buy in the grocery store and think it magically appears for them to eat. They will be quite surprised if one day there isn't any fresh produce in the stores.

[MissS]

My mother always told me to wait to plant eggplant because it would stunt the plants if they got cold. Was this a wives tale, I don't know. But I'm sure that they probably would not appreciate being in the cold. Wouldn't be easier to take the pots and put them over the top of the plants if it gets cold to help keep them warm than to dig them up and haul them around? Just makes more sense to me but either way would work.

[Tomatina]

I would put them in pots & take them inside. From what I know, temps below 55 will stop them growing.
If you have lots of them, you could try to leave one outside & just cover it over night - but my feeling tells me, they won't be happy even with a cover.

[karstopography]

Eggplant seem to be the most heat loving or cold hating of the three, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. I haven’t planted mine yet and it’s something I generally wait until close to April to get in.

I’d probably dig them up and bring them inside. Otherwise, I might surround the plants with a small tent of plastic tarp, maybe some type of breathable insulation and put a gallon jug of extra warm water or a good sized hot rock or two inside, but not touching the plant. Maybe the jug or rock would stay warm enough, long enough to make a difference. Seems like digging them up would be easier than rigging up a mini impromptu greenhouse with a heat source.

[Cranraspberry]

Just wanted to confirm - we planted at the end of April last year, and of course there was a night that dipped down to the low 40s. The peppers and tomatoes got stunted but recovered, the eggplant did not. Ended up replacing with a nursery transplant which did very well. This year I’m planning to put eggplants and peppers out two weeks after the tomatoes, end of May-ish (our last frost date is technically April 15th, but the old-timers at our garden use Mother’s Day as the unofficial warm weather planting out date).

[pepperhead212]

I always put out my EP in between when I plant the tomatoes and the peppers. 55° is always what I look for as to the lowest forecast low temp, around May 10th here, a little higher for peppers. I would never put them out in the 40s! The weather has been crazy, the last several years, and I've been getting very cool first weeks of May, after very warm Aprils, growing the seedlings faster than usual! So my tomatoes and EPs I am planting a week later this year - peppers I'll leave the same, as those can be delayed longer, as they don't grow nearly as fast.

[worth1]

Darn it I was going to plant an eggplant this year.
I still have plenty of time and the weather is still too cold anyway.

[karstopography]

Reifels had zero eggplant sets today. I was going to set aside a couple in the garage until after this upcoming cold snap. 4” sets are still $2 there, but I don’t want to pay $5+ each at the big box for a couple of black beauty eggplant sets.

My eggplant get rolling later in the summer anyway on production.

[Wildcat82]

Reifels had zero eggplant sets today. I was going to set aside a couple in the garage until after this upcoming cold snap. 4” sets are still $2 there, but I don’t want to pay $5+ each at the big box for a couple of black beauty eggplant sets.

My eggplant get rolling later in the summer anyway on production.

Normally I would plant out later than I did this year. Last year I planted 4 Millionaire eggplant on 1 April. When the annual summer furnace temperatures arrived in early May I ended up only getting 4-5 fruit before the heat and mites finished them off. My weather forecasting could use a little more work.

[GoDawgs]

Normally I would plant out later than I did this year. Last year I planted 4 Millionaire eggplant on 1 April. When the annual summer furnace temperatures arrived in early May I ended up only getting 4-5 fruit before the heat and mites finished them off. My weather forecasting could use a little more work.

We all try do do our best when if comes to forecasting but Mother Nature seems to take particular delight in kicking us all in the pants now and then.

[Shule]

What is your definition of stunted in this context? How much does a normal eggplant produce there?

[Wildcat82]

Well, I went ahead and dug up the plants this evening and moved them inside. It was surprisingly easy. The root balls weren't that big - just popped them out with a spade and put the roots along with big clump of soil into some old planters I had. The plants all had 3-4 blooms. It's 79 degrees right now but it will drop to around 40 tonight and 36 tomorrow night.

[pepperhead212]

Good luck with them - they should do ok, now that you get them warmer, for those cold nights.

[Wildcat82]

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[bower]

I have to say that we've tried to grow eggplant in unheated greenhouses here as we grow tomatoes, peppers, cukes etc, but eggplant is a "no". Not worth the attempt.

[Wildcat82]

I have to say that we've tried to grow eggplant in unheated greenhouses here as we grow tomatoes, peppers, cukes etc, but eggplant is a "no". Not worth the attempt.

Eggplant hate cold snaps we get in early spring then refuse to set when it gets too hot, similar to tomatoes. I'm getting the impression there is about a 2 month window (April and May) for eggplants grow and produce in a bed here.

Bottom line: I think San Antonio gardeners pretty much need to grow eggplant in containers. Sow early, plant outside as early as possible and bring them in if temps drop below 50 degrees. That's seems to be the only way to get a reasonably long harvest period.