What are your varieties this year?
 

I'm trying
kamo
listada de Gandia
tonda bianca sfumata di rosa

I wanted to include a skinny Asian type but don't have the space.

Black Beauty
Diamond
Lista de Gandia
Ping Tung
Rosa Bianca
Swallow

Linda

Not this year but next.
I have tried the shady areas to no avail, I need good long sunlight.
And when I do it will be Florida High Bush and Black Beauty in tub containers.
Both proven winners by me and others for many years.
I have tried the skinny Asian things and to me they suck.:lol:
Eggplant was one of my first ever garden vegetables to grow on my own from seeds when I was in grade school.

In addition to the Violetta Lunga I grow every year, this year I'm also trying Ping Tung and NY Improved.

I wish I knew the name of the one I am growing. I haven't been growing eggplants, just buying them because the past several years the CPB have been so bad and they destroy the plants and fruits.

While out at hardware store they had some Bonnie Plants and I saw one labeled Mini Eggplant. Normally I would just walk on by, but the name intrigued me, so I bought one to try. Came home and took the plant down to bare root and replanted in my type soil.

This is the cutest little eggplant and I haven't seen anything like it before. The whole plant is barely a foot and a half tall. Lots of leaves and at each leaf node it puts out a cluster of 6 to 9 blossoms. I have close to 50 blooms on this tiny eggplant. Thanks to a carpenter bee, it is making fruit like crazy. The fruit is a deep purple, not quite a black and all the eggplants are 2 to 3 inches long and nice and fat. Truly a mini eggplant.

The best thing I like about it, is so far, keeping fingers crossed, not one insect problem. No CPB or flatfooted bugs.

I have no idea if Mini Eggplant is what it is really called, but I do know that I am going to save seeds from it. May not be able to make a big dish from these small fruits, but they taste good seasoned and fried up in some olive oil or fresh on a salad.

[QUOTE=Starlight;647351]the past several years the CPB have been so bad and they destroy the plants and fruits.[/quote]

I discovered that CPBs love physalis species the most--I had them on my ground cherries but not on anything else. Nothing on the eggplants right "next door" to them. And because ground cherries, tomatillos, etc. put out more foliage than an eggplant, I would control them by just snipping off any leaves where I saw eggs or nymphs. Worked well to keep the damage down, and I still got tons of ground cherries anyway.

[QUOTE=Starlight;647351]While out at hardware store they had some Bonnie Plants and I saw one labeled Mini Eggplant.[/quote]

It's probably "Patio Baby". That seems to be the most common mini eggplant variety available to purchase.

Last year, I grew Mitoyo, which was the best tasting eggplant I had ever eaten in my life. Really amazing.

This year, I'm seeing whether Kamo is anywhere near as good. It has similar foliage to Mitoyo and also has black-purple stems and calyx. The fruit is smaller and rounder, though.

I also love the skinny Asian varieties, which are so tender and creamy, but I can buy those easily at markets.

Agree with Gorbelly on Mitoyo. Grew it last year, and it's definitely a repeater!
This is the one they say (BC does) is sweet enough to eat raw. It IS good.:love:

Mine for this year:

Mitoyo
Kamo (just about as good as Mitoyo)
Round Mauve (both Kamo and Round Mauve are softball-size for me)
Kurume (nice OP substitute for Ichiban, but even sweeter)
Listada di Gandia
Rosita
and one Ichiban I picked up at the garden center.

All except for Ichiban are OP.

Like Mitoyo, my Kamo plants are earliest. They all have slightly larger than golf ball sized fruit on them and tons of flowers. Tonda bianca and Listada de Gandia are about neck and neck in terms of flowering, but Tonda bianca is a much larger plant.

Black Beauty
Black King hybrid
Listada d G
Long Purple
PingTung
Rosa Bianca
Rosita
Turkish (with orange fruit but none ripe yet)

All of the others are producing. Black King is a little larger than Black Beauty but the clear taste test winner is Long Purple.

I grew Ping Tung last year too. Hard to germinate and doesn't produce very well for me.

My Ping Tung seeds were other so I need to contact the seller and try again

Edirne is somewhere under the tomatillos * I think * :o
Long Purple is trying but slowed by flea beetle damage
Mitoyo has already given us 3 tasty beauties and is looking great :yes:

Ping tung. Looking to expand with varieties suited to northeast zone 6.
Interesting lists.

[QUOTE=Nematode;652533]Ping tung. Looking to expand with varieties suited to northeast zone 6.
Interesting lists.[/QUOTE]

Nematode, I think the Japanese black-calyx varieties would do well for you. I'm relatively new to growing eggplant, but last year Mitoyo was my early variety, and this year, Kamo is ahead of the pack. As a plus, they're incredibly delicious.

I think I have some seed to spare. LMK if you'd like some to trial next year.

Thanks for the offer, I'll buy commercial. Kamo is on the 2018 list, looks beautiful.

Rosa Bianca
Black Beauty
Little Fingers

I never heard of Mitoya. Looks like it gets rave reviews. I will put it on my must-try list for next year.

Just Listada de Gandia and Little Fingers for me this year. I got what is apparently a bad pack of seeds of Black Beauty from an Ebay seller. Planted 10 with no germination.

I'm excited about my two Listada plants. Huge beautiful leaves with many developing eggies.

Diamond
New York Improved
Ping Tung

My eggplants are doing very well. Only two varieties, Machaiw F1 and Ichiban. They
pretty much taste the same, delicious grilled with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt.
I did try germinating ping tung long seeds earlier this year, but they did not germinate.
I will try again next year with a different source.

I like the bigger sized eggplants, but never have any luck growing them. That's why I'm always
doing the Asian ones. I may try again next year.

First eggplants of the season for me! Kamo:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/mMRR6IIl.jpg[/img]

Those are gorgeous, Gorbelly! My eggplants are just starting to open a few blossoms, after suffering with horrible flea beetle and hail damage. Black Beauty seems to be doing the best, followed by a Japanese one called Senryo Nigo and a Turkish one called Halep Karasi. Casper probably won't produce at all, and Pandora Striped looks iffy. It's not the best year for eggplants in my garden, but I'll have some eventually!

[QUOTE=HudsonValley;653876]Those are gorgeous, Gorbelly! My eggplants are just starting to open a few blossoms, after suffering with horrible flea beetle and hail damage. Black Beauty seems to be doing the best, followed by a Japanese one called Senryo Nigo and a Turkish one called Halep Karasi. Casper probably won't produce at all, and Pandora Striped looks iffy. It's not the best year for eggplants in my garden, but I'll have some eventually![/QUOTE]

Thanks, Hudson. I just remembered that I was supposed to arrange with you to send you some Aswad seed for this season. Would you still like seed? I actually forgot to save seed from mine last year, but I still have enough from my original packet to send about 20 seeds to you while having enough for a future growout for myself.

PM me if interested.

To taste these first Kamos, I roasted them with simple salt and pepper and good olive oil from Crete.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/Q0w0AJcl.jpg[/img]

My eyes rolled back in my head. Excellent sweet, rich, lovely flavor. Just a little more satisfying tooth and chew than Mitoyo, which is a very soft and creamy eggplant. Hard to say which one is better. It really depends on what you want to use it for and what mood I'm in, I guess.

Yummy! Those are looking good, Gorbelly...

[QUOTE=gorbelly;653878]To taste these first Kamos, I roasted them with simple salt and pepper and good olive oil from Crete.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Q0w0AJcl.jpg[/IMG]

My eyes rolled back in my head. Excellent sweet, rich, lovely flavor. Just a little more satisfying tooth and chew than Mitoyo, which is a very soft and creamy eggplant. Hard to say which one is better. It really depends on what you want to use it for and what mood I'm in, I guess.[/QUOTE]

That looks awesome - nice variety. I have about half a dozen that are taking off right now. Can't wait.

The nice thing about the Asian ones is they grow fast. I've been eating eggplant for a month now.

Nice gorbelly, looks delish.

Looks fabulous Gorbelly! I'm so jealous as mine are nowhere near producing yet :(

Linda

Nice eggplants! I'm determined to grill some and yours look very appetizing. Unfortunately I'm having spider mite and aphid problems. Louisiana Oval Green are the only large ones I'm harvesting for now.

Been picking eggplants daily for a while now. Happy with productivity of all three varieties, and all taste very nice, but the Kamo is definitely the best. I think I'll stick to almost all Japanese varieties next year with maybe one or two plants for trialing new varieties.


Tonda bianca sfumata di rosa:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/azZLLgSl.jpg[/img]

And again, this time with some Listada de Gandia:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/85nWVWhl.jpg[/img]

Gorbelly, I came across your posts on Kamo and Mitoyo and was wondering which one is the heavier producer? I grew Mitoyo and put the plants in late this season so they're bit a slow but it is the best eggplant I've ever tasted. I like that full, rich flavor with no bitterness. I've yet to try Kamo but will try it out next season. I run a garden center with my family where we do a small produce stand and I like to experiment a bit. We've grown Rosa Bianca, Violetta di Firenze, Ichiban, Mitoyo, and Rosso di Rotondo. The only one I didn't like is Rosso...extremely bitter and I picked them at multiple stages. Perhaps it was an offyear for whatever reason, but I won't be using garden space on those again. How is Listada? I've heard it's very good.

Lebanese Bunching - Over-wintered from 2017 season, meh taste.


I just harvested my 2018 eggplants. only one fruit per plant so far:


Mitoya - tasty which was expected based on reviews.


Ping Tung or Long Purple - Tasty but not in a standout way, I won't rule out that the fruit will get tastier down the line.


Casper - Now this was a revelation, I was mostly interested in this as a novelty but the one fruit that I harvested and cooked thus far has knocked my socks off in terms of taste.