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tjg911 · May 16, 2006

i love eggplant and as a vegetarian eggplant is a wonderful additive to many different 'things' i dream up based upon what i just picked.

i grew eggplant for the 1st time last year. i bought 3 ichiban plants from the local greenhouse as that variety had a low dtm and was supposed to produce well based upon feedback from veilchen at gw. i grew each plant in a 5 gallon pail with the same 'soil' mix as for tomatoes in containers, fertilized with osmocote and watered daily. i put the pails on the asphalt part of the driveway so they had plenty of heat! they thrived and produced a lot of fruits.

much to my surprise, flea beetles were never a problem. in the garden they are on mustard, turnips, other greens and i think potatoes so i was not willing to allocate space in the garden just to have the plants defoliated. the plants were about 100' from the garden and the only problem i had was with tiny white flies. not sure what they were and they appeared enmasse over night. some insecticidal soap eliminated them.

i did learn that eggplant do not store well. whether on the counter or in the fridge, in 24 hours they were getting soft and difficult to peel. they tasted the same as store bought so i am not sure that different varieties have significantly different taste. like someone else said, eggplant is like tofu or a sponge, they just absorb whatever flavors they are cooked with.

i intend to grow them again this year and i was wondering if 'they all taste the same'? the greenhouse had several varieties to chose from that i recognized by name. is ichiban as good as any other when it comes to taste or would you recommend something different this year?

thanks,

tom

May 16, 2006	#37
tjg911 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: zone 5b northwest connecticut Posts: 2,570	i love eggplant and as a vegetarian eggplant is a wonderful additive to many different 'things' i dream up based upon what i just picked. i grew eggplant for the 1st time last year. i bought 3 ichiban plants from the local greenhouse as that variety had a low dtm and was supposed to produce well based upon feedback from veilchen at gw. i grew each plant in a 5 gallon pail with the same 'soil' mix as for tomatoes in containers, fertilized with osmocote and watered daily. i put the pails on the asphalt part of the driveway so they had plenty of heat! they thrived and produced a lot of fruits. much to my surprise, flea beetles were never a problem. in the garden they are on mustard, turnips, other greens and i think potatoes so i was not willing to allocate space in the garden just to have the plants defoliated. the plants were about 100' from the garden and the only problem i had was with tiny white flies. not sure what they were and they appeared enmasse over night. some insecticidal soap eliminated them. i did learn that eggplant do not store well. whether on the counter or in the fridge, in 24 hours they were getting soft and difficult to peel. they tasted the same as store bought so i am not sure that different varieties have significantly different taste. like someone else said, eggplant is like tofu or a sponge, they just absorb whatever flavors they are cooked with. i intend to grow them again this year and i was wondering if 'they all taste the same'? the greenhouse had several varieties to chose from that i recognized by name. is ichiban as good as any other when it comes to taste or would you recommend something different this year? thanks, tom