pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 10, 2021 9:44 pm @SQWIB Long time no see! I had a disease problem with both Rosita and Rosa Bianca last - nothing with the other 3 varieties, which were my standards every season: Hari, Neon, and Ichiban, the latter being my earliest every season, and the most productive, until heat stops it. This season, I'm not trying new ones.

pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 10, 2021 9:44 pm @SQWIB Long time no see! I had a disease problem with both Rosita and Rosa Bianca last - nothing with the other 3 varieties, which were my standards every season: Hari, Neon, and Ichiban, the latter being my earliest every season, and the most productive, until heat stops it. This season, I'm not trying new ones.

mama_lor wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:38 am Ichiban is long discontinued, a few good years. They say plants are still available from old seed stock. Maybe they are just f2s, who can say. Maybe also some selections are floating around with the same name.

pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 11:42 am

mama_lor wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:38 am Ichiban is long discontinued, a few good years. They say plants are still available from old seed stock. Maybe they are just f2s, who can say. Maybe also some selections are floating around with the same name.

Here is my source (though I've seen it, elsewhere, and in nurseries as plants), and they are fresh seeds (eggplant seeds get "old" much faster than tomato or pepper seeds, in my experience). I see that the price has gone up, and higher than some of the others, so maybe they are getting harder to find. https://www.seedman.com/eggplant.htm

Many years ago, they discontinued Ichiban, for about 5 years, and I tried many similar looking varieties (just growing one ichiban per season, until the seeds were gone), but not one was as early, or had the same production, despite the catalogs saying "Replacement for Ichiban", or something similar. Strange thing was, the first place I found it when it came back was on an ebay site, and I was skeptical, but it was the real Ichiban! Same thing happened with Neon, which also came back, eventually, though the neon has been discontinued again. I am growing saved seeds from Neon, and last season, the one I grew was almost the same, but somebody here, that I shared some seeds with, got both a lavender, like the original, and nearly black one, so it is definitely a hybrid. I'll see what happens this season.

LK2020 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 5:02 pm Thank you! I really wish they would bring back Neon.

pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 12:50 am

LK2020 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 13, 2021 5:02 pm Thank you! I really wish they would bring back Neon.

Hopefully, it will be temporary, as before, though some simply don't come back! I've had this happen with a few things, though none that I grew as much of as these! A few things have come back with the name, but not the same.

pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 11:42 am
Here is my source (though I've seen it, elsewhere, and in nurseries as plants), and they are fresh seeds (eggplant seeds get "old" much faster than tomato or pepper seeds, in my experience). I see that the price has gone up, and higher than some of the others, so maybe they are getting harder to find. https://www.seedman.com/eggplant.htm

Many years ago, they discontinued Ichiban, for about 5 years, and I tried many similar looking varieties (just growing one ichiban per season, until the seeds were gone), but not one was as early, or had the same production, despite the catalogs saying "Replacement for Ichiban", or something similar. Strange thing was, the first place I found it when it came back was on an ebay site, and I was skeptical, but it was the real Ichiban!