Container growing questions
 

I read somewhere on this forum that container growing eggplant gives a higher seasonal production than one would find from the regular garden as the soil warms earlier. As we have very cool nights, down in the 40's until July, I thought I'd give this a try, and today filled a dozen 5 gal containers with soil, all ready to go. I have eggplant seedlings that are on their 4th true leaf, about 3 or 4 inches high, in 4" x 4" x 6" deep pots, in the greenhouse, a couple Asian varieties, Apple Green, Listada di Ganja, and an African variety, 3 flats worth.

- Do I want to get them in the larger pots asap, or should I wait until they are larger, then bury the stem as one would a tomato?

- can I put 2 or 3 in a 5 gal pot, or should I leave it at 1? Figure a 110 day growing season, in the garden they get, maybe, 2 feet high.

- I mixed some compost, old used potting soil, and dried pond bottom soil as a mixture, which should have all the micro nutrients, any other feeding suggestions?

Thanks in advance!!

David-You will probably get varied opinions. You could try 2 plants in 5 gallons, but depending on how much heat you get or wind, you may have to water more than once a day. I generally dont put more than 1 plant in 5 gallons. With 12 eggplant plants, if you are growing only for yourself and family and a few friends, you should have a lot of fruit.

We've had great success growing eggplant in pots, and get not only early yields (compared to those planted directly in the garden), but consistently high yields right up until frost. I would put no more than 1 plant per 5 gallon pot - we find that they can get to between to 4-5 feet tall (a few varieties do get that tall!) - and actually stake them. I would plant them deeply (like tomatoes) into the large pots as soon as you can. For the potting mix, I use fresh materials - and mix soilless mix such as Fafard or MetroMix with composted cow manure (about 2:1), and feed monthly with a granular slow release fertilizer. We water them, once they get large, morning and night, until the water flows out the bottom. The key issues are flea beetles and Japanese beetles.

Thanks guys, I'll stick then with one per pot. I've seen here they need plenty of water, so I'll do that.

Would you characterize them as 'heavy feeders'?

David-I feed them just like my tomatoes-espoma tomato tone and monty's joy juice 2-15-15 foliar.

An update - This container stuff sure works. I've been busy snarfing eggplant off of the container plants now for two weeks, harvesting half a dozen every other day, while the plants out in the garden are half the size, and just now beginning to bear fruit.

In the containers, I used a compost that still had a lot of unbroken down newspaper in it, and this seemed to help the moisture issue. Only problem has been spider mites, but that has been controlled.

This is the first year my garden plants have produced earlier than my containers...I have been eating fruit from the garden eggplants for a few weeks too, but my containers are lagging...They are kind of partially covered by the tomato containers and must not be getting enough sunlight...Also only put Thai varieties in containers, and the garden are Morden Midget and Italian White, both early varieties...

Jeanne

Interesting post. I have pruned about 20 overwintered eggplants, fed them and am now seeing good regrowth. Hoping this works, after good feeding, for a new harvest.

while i am not a fan of container grown tomatoes, i think eggplant is an excellent choice for containers.

i have never grown it in the garden due to the cooler soil and flea beetle issues.

so 3 years a go i tried them in 5 gal pails, they sit in full sun all day on asphalt. i think the asphalt adds to the success because it is so darn hot.

i make a mix of 1/2 compost 1/4 dehydrated cow manure 1/4 garden soil with some osmocote and lime about 1/2 cup.

i water 1 time per day, 1 gal per plant, but now that i am retired i may water in am and pm on really hot days. i fertilize 1x a week with neptune's harvest fish and seaweed emulsion watering them but splashing some on the leaves too. 1x a month i fertilize with osmocote for garden veg i think it is 13-13-13 or thereabouts.

i get a lot of fruits and they produce early right up to late september.

i never saw a flea beetle (damage) the only problem is jap beetles and they are easy to pick off.

tom

What about a 4 gallon bucket(laundry soap) or would that be to small?