Eggplant

Thanks camp.... I guess I should have done a search before making a new topic. Hard headed and slow to learn in my old age. Looks like my answers all all here.

bnoles wrote:Thanks camp.... I guess I should have done a search before making a new topic.  Hard headed and slow to learn in my old age.  Looks like my answers all all here.

NO worries, the mods live to serve.
It was easy enough to unite the threads.

RoOsTeR wrote:One of my favorites is to slice them up about 1/4 to 1/2" thick. Brush with olive oil and season with a little S&P, then toss on the grill. If you slice em up nice and thick, they make a great burger substitute IMO.  

Rooster...how do you know when they're "done" ? We grilled a few last year, some were really good, and the others not so much...I can't remember how we did the "good" ones lol  

I hope I'm not repeating, I read most of the posts...

After you slice your eggplant, salt it generously and let it sit in a colander for about 1/2 hour. Then rinse and pat dry. You'll notice a brown water has leaked out of them. It removes some bitterness, and improves flavour tremendously! Then you can go on to sauté or deep-fry or whatever you please.  

I like it best sliced lengthwise a bit thicker than 1/4 inch them, right away put it into a hot pan with olive oil and sea salt and coarse cracked pepper. When pan roasted both sides, lightly sprinkle with fresh grated parmesan and ribbon cut basil.
There are a lot of recipes on the web, especially mid east or Turkish dishes........ OMG, I can hardly wait for my aubergine....  

Just 3 days after posting the photo I have reinserted below, the whole blossom and stem fell off.  No sign of pest or disease.  Three more flowers are budding so I still have hope.  Is this fairly normal?

Sometimes, but typically it's a sign of stress. Eggplant loves A LOT OF WATER. make SURE you are giving it enough and the mix is moist to the bottom of the box. If not, soak it. You don't want it sopping wet, but the plants require a lot of water. They are also heavy feeders. NOT a lot of nitrogen. Top dress with a good compost if you have it.
http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scene26b5.html

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/cornucop/2000073525003506.html

If your daytime temps are above 95ish they will drop blooms.
http://ag.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/pubs/0203/eggplant.html

camprn wrote: Eggplant loves A LOT OF WATER. make SURE you are giving it enough and the mix is moist to the bottom of the box. If not, soak it. You don't want it sopping wet, but the plants require a lot of water. They are also heavy feeders. NOT a lot of nitrogen. Top dress with a good compost if you have it.

Camp, Is there anything else that's a water hog like eggplants?

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:

camprn wrote: Eggplant loves A LOT OF WATER. make SURE you are giving it enough and the mix is moist to the bottom of the box. If not, soak it. You don't want it sopping wet, but the plants require a lot of water. They are also heavy feeders. NOT a lot of nitrogen. Top dress with a good compost if you have it.

Camp, Is there anything else that's a water hog like eggplants?

CC

Tomatoes like regular watering, but not as much as aubergine. sanderson, I just looked at your Weather Forecast and history and the temperature is not currently in your favor. Just keep plugging away with the plants, when it cools down some, you should get fruitset.

Camp, The soil has good moisture. But, we have had 100+ temps for a few weeks. I will be patient, and top dress with a little of my new homemade compost.

I have been finding that the eggplants respond like the tomatoes do to being buzzed by my sonicare toothbrush.  They send out a plume of pollen.  I have more eggplants set than I have ever had.  More peppers too, they also like being buzzed. I do my bee work in the morning when it is warming up but before it is hot in the greenhouse (my mini California).  I have a sprinkler set up to water over the greenhouse while it waters the garden at about 1pm.  That cools the greenhouse a tad for the rest of the afternoon.

I have a Japanese Eggplant growing. What have any of you done to use them in cooking. They're long and narrow so the only thing I can think of is to saute' them with other veggies. Any ideas?

My Aubergine plants are starting to really take off. All of them are volunteers from my compost pile transplanted into squares. I'm going to have TONS of eggplant, LOL!

I slice them length wise, a bit more that 1/4 inch and pan roast them with very little oil. If you put oil in the pan use olive oil as the aubergine will absorb it like a sponge. You can also bake them and stuff them.

There are a ton of recipes online, look for middle eastern cooking. If you have a plathors, the best way to preserve the harvest is to dehydrate small pieces 1/2"cubed fur use in soups during winter.

This is what I just made for dinner, it was amazingly good. I just sort of winged it but this is basically what I put in it

Used a large non-stick frying pan.

I julienned into thin strips, 2 large japanese eggplant and 2 mexican zucchini
3 heaping TBSP of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 heaping TBSP of minced basil
I used 1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 white onion (from my garden)
2 TBSP avocado oil (you can use your fav oil)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 cup parmesian cheese large flaked style

Sauteed the onion and garlic in the oil then added the tomatoes and basil.
Then I tossed in the eggplant and zucchini and stir fried until transparent. Maybe 10 minutes?

Tossed in the parmesian cheese and flattened to cover the pan, cover with a lid and let cheese crisp and brown a few minutes, carefully turn over and repeat browning. Salt and pepper to taste.

This is what I just made for dinner, it was amazingly good.  I just sort of winged it but this is basically what I put in it

Used a large non-stick frying pan.

I julienned into thin strips, 2 large japanese eggplant and 2 mexican zucchini
3 heaping TBSP of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 heaping TBSP of minced basil
I used 1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 white onion diced (from my garden)
2 TBSP avocado oil (you can use your fav oil)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 cup parmesan cheese large flaked style

Sauteed the onion and garlic in the oil then added the tomatoes and basil.
Then I tossed in the eggplant and zucchini and stir fried until transparent.  Maybe 10 minutes?

Tossed in the parmesan cheese and flattened to cover the pan, cover with a lid and let cheese crisp and brown a few minutes, carefully turn over and repeat browning.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Sounds very yummy, AJ!

I use Oriental eggplant in many of the same dishes as I do the big ones.  Just think of them as cubed big ones.  We love them in ratatouille, and curries, and sweat and sour, and moles, and lentils.  I think the trick to all eggplant cooking is to give them a spalsh of an acid to let flavors bloom (tomatoes, lemon, juice, vinegars).

Audrey,  

This beauty fell off a few days ago.  Then I saw 4 more buds and one of them just fell off today.

sanderson wrote:

Rowena provided some good information in this Topic thread.

So I took iPhone photos.  Maybe someone can help identify this pest??  Leaf hopper??  It kept hopping around.


Here it is RIP.


ID and treatment suggestions will be appreciated.

Looks like an assassin bug nymph, a good guy.

My eggplant flowers like being buzzed with my sonicare toothbrush, just like the tomatoes enjoy it.  It stimulates them to send out plumes of pollen.  I just picked 5 biggest fruits from 2 plants.  They have some sort of something discoloring the leaves a bit but I am ignoring it.  I will give them a bit of Tomato-Tone today and water it in well.  I am hoping they will respond with another flush of growth and then flowers and fruit.  This is my best year for eggplants since I left SanDeigo, I think because I built them a micro So Cal  

Camp, I think you are right. I just looked at pics of CA assassin bugs.

Now, the next problem for me to solve is "What was it after?" I found another one this morning, at a bud that had holes in it's stem and bud. [Just lost one of the new buds yesterday.] I dispatched the good guy before I read your reply. I think I will start with a soap, baking powder and cooking oil wash and hope I wash off the bad "invisible" pest.

Thanks for your help.

If you leave it be, there will be food for the assassin bugs and they will hang around and do their worst (best) to keep the insect population under control. If you are not seeing symptoms od pest infestation, why treat? Eggplants are pretty sturdy plants and it typically takes a heavy infestation to cause problems. Disease is a different matter.

This moth was also on the Eggplant this morning.  The closest California ID I could make was the tobacco budworm moth.  The chevron marking are similar but the terminal wing shape is different.  Maybe it is simply that my guy (gal) had his wings completely folded.  ??  This may be what pierced the flower stem and bud.

Bad guy?

sanderson wrote:
Bad guy?

Without positive ID, it's impossible to say. It doesn't look the same as the photos I'm looking at. The moth itself is probably not doing damage, but the worms may. Do you see eggs anywhere?
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/field/tobacco_budworm.htm

I have always planted Black Beauty eggplant.  I purchase starts from a local garden store.  This year a strange thing has happened.  The plants are not tall like other years, the fruit is yellow and small but quite a few on the plant.  I'm beginning to wonder if the label was incorrect in the first place.  

They started out greenish and then started turning yellow.  No rot is present.
I did call the garden store a few minutes ago and talked to the owner.  He said that it doesn't sound like the plant really is a Black Beauty.  It's too short and the way the fruit is all in a cluster, it does not sound like what the label said.

Pictures: