Your Matrosik is way darker than mine, though I see a bit of striping. Must be another one of Nikitovkas that is not growing true. Tasted good though and looked beautiful, so in the end probably doesn't matter as long as seeds are not passed on as such. I don't know who my sister gave my extra plants to, would be interesting to see what their Matrosik and Gandia ended up looking like. But I doubt they saved the names.

I like Epic. Just a standard black italian style but it seems to do well and some of them develop a nice personality. Admittedly, this could be a Galine. They are about identical and I lost track of the planting...straight up chance is 70% epic.

Ddsack, The lighting was not optimal. In sunlight Matrosik looks almost magenta.

Shooting Star is the other eggplant I grew this year. Seeds were from Tractor Supply 2018 leftovers. Burpee, I guess, I can't find the package. They were very hard to germinate and I only got 4 plants up, 3 of which survived plant out. Beautiful eggplant. Taste good.
Does anyone know if this is a hybrid F1 or an OP? Various seed sellers list it as one or the other. Burpee's site doesn't list the status! I'm thinking about bagging one and leaving it on for seed but don't want to bother if it was a hybrid.

Edit added pic:

Looks good [mention]JRinPA[/mention]! Looks like Listada Di Gandia, but a little larger in diameter. I saved seeds last year for Neon - a favorite of mine that was dropped from the catalogs, and sounds like what you are describing, where some had it as a hybrid, and some not! It was definitely a hybrid - the one I grew from saved seeds looked the same, and grew well, but one another person I shared the seeds with got a dark eggplant on his, though it also produced well. I'm saving again this season, for some F3 seeds - I have to check the bags, to see if they have blossoms.

Anybody grew Ping Tung?

Here’s Matrosik in better light

Today’s harvest

I seem to be getting 3 different kinds from my 4 Gandia plants: a short narrow dark purple, a longer wavy lavender, and a squat medium purple.

Also, the Sneg Sredi Leta was so seedy at 4” that I’ve started picking them at 2”! It’s supposed to be a 7-8 oz. variety.

Syrian Stuffing is looking like the most productive.

Sounds like the seeds were saved, but the flowers weren't isolated. Eggplants cross easily.

[mention]arnorrian[/mention] I grew Ping Tung years ago, and it was good, but not as productive as others I tried, so I never grew it again. It was very thin - like 1" thick - and long, and ok flavor, just not productive, and, like most, it stopped producing when it got real hot. My ichiban is producing again, since it is cooler now, and it is loaded with fruits!

First eggplant of 2023, Black Beauty. Once they get going, these generally produce all summer and well into the fall, but they are slow to get going. Probably not the ideal eggplant for areas with shorter and cooler summers. Great Gulf of Mexico Coast variety as the worst that hot and humid summer weather can dish out here really doesn’t phase them. Nematodes leave them alone also.

Eggplant Parmesan tonight, already have the sauce made.

I just bought the baby patio eggplant for growing inside during winter Wich I just started because my racks are empty

I have three plants - Mitoyo, Listada de Gandia and Asian Delite. Mitoyo is just starting to set fruit, Listada is still flowering and thinking about it, but we’ve already harvested ten fruit off of the Asian Delite with six more on the way! It’s very early, incredibly productive and absolutely delicious. I will be growing this one every year from now on.

Cranraspberry wrote: ↑Thu Jul 06, 2023 4:49 pm I have three plants - Mitoyo, Listada de Gandia and Asian Delite. Mitoyo is just starting to set fruit, Listada is still flowering and thinking about it, but we’ve already harvested ten fruit off of the Asian Delite with six more on the way! It’s very early, incredibly productive and absolutely delicious. I will be growing this one every year from now on.

When did you put your plants in the ground? I'm way behind with mine, just starting to get blossoms now.

@Seven Bends I planted mine out on 05/11, was initially going to wait till Mother’s Day, but it had been such a warm spring that I set them out about a week early. We got our first couple of Asian Delite fruit around 6/20, which I think is very early for our area.

My Listada is still at the blossom stage (keeps dropping blossoms too) and Mitoyo just started setting fruit this week.

I'm sure I don't have blossoms yet up here. I had a weird start for spring, then they sat outside in a plastic greenhouse for a long time also, but after I put them in, still not much going. Except flea beetles. I think they'll take off this week with the summer weather.

Black beauty doing its late in the season get productive thing.

Cutting back for 2024 after a fairly successful 2023 eggplant summer. Will definitely grow Galine, Millionaire and Annina for larger ones. Galine and Millionaire start early whereas Annina comes later giving me a continuous supply. Those three are ideal for Baba Ganoush and Eggplant Lasagna or Parmigiana . For the long I will plant Ping Tung Long and Casper for white. Both nice sautéed. Casper can be tough to get started but does well once established. Might add Kamo but not as productive as I would have liked. Leaving out green even though I like them. Will plant 2-3 of each variety for no more than 12-13 plants. Plants do super well in Earthboxes as opposed to in-ground. Very impressed by the production some of you get! What are you feeding them!?

I feed my eggplant generally what my tomatoes and peppers get. TTF, miracle gro organics granular, tomato miracle gro granular, might have been some composted chicken manure in there. I’m not very much like clockwork or anything particularly structured with feeding eggplant. I haven’t been especially loyal to any fertilizer regimen or brand either.

Black beauty eggplant seems to really take off in a growth spurt come September hereabouts. Even this September when it has been abnormally extra warm. Is it related to light and the days shortening or some other factors or combination of factors, I don’t know, but the pattern is there.

I plan on trying a couple other eggplant in 2024. A sicilian white and purple large fruited type and one I think is from Persia that is globe-ish. I’ve got the seeds, names escape my memory at the moment.

Wife isn’t into something about the flavor or texture with long Asian eggplants even though they grow well here.

I one day want to nail baba ganaosh and eggplant caponata. I haven’t yet made a version of either that I like as much as I might find in a middle eastern/eastern Mediterranean/italian type of restaurant.

The one black beauty has no less than seven fruit on it at the moment. Looks like I’ll get to experiment with caponata and baba ganoosh in the not too distant future. Eggplant Parmesan and Norma sauce we have down. Ratatouille is another one I want to experiment with.

I grew Florida market one year.
It was really good.

Mine never got going this year. I continually ignore the geometric realities of running rows down that 20ft box bed. Eggplant went into lane 2 but were shaded and crushed by peas from row 3 in June, then lettuce from row 1 (row lane same thing), and lastly sweet potatoes vining from everywhere. And the flea beetles never let up.

I have one eggplant on, a Dancer, as of last week. Sad and lonely, it is.I had a standard type (santana) and the mild purple (dancer), all told, about 10 transplants down that row. They are both productive, but not when ignored like this year.

Clearly if I cared more about them I'd have more, but I just don't miss them that much. I need to plant horizontally across the bed, but instead I always revert to planting in rows to match the drip tape and the reusable black mulch already cut into row slots. And then one row of crops will surge and smother the slow growing neighbors. The truth of it is, sowing seed just doesn't work well in that bed, drip tape or not, and I should stick to transplants only.