Pruning Eggplants

Hasselback 6/18/2012, 12:02 am

Hello all.

I'm growing my first eggplants and have no experience with them. I've done some searches on pruning eggplants, and have foun the same recommendation almost word-for-word from several sources. It is:

"Prune staked eggplant to three branches using hand shears. The two main
branches are the primary division of the plant where it first branches
out. Leave one branch below this division."

Now, can anyone give me a picture or a sketch of how this looks? It seems to me that if you leave the primary division, there will not be any branches below the primary division. Is that accurate, or am I mistaken here. I'm confused as to which "one branch below this division" to leave.

Thanks,
G.

**Turan** 6/18/2012, 12:40 am

I would not prune it until it slows down in production. Then prune it back and simplify the branches. Feed it afterwards and it should make a new set of growth and then blooms etc. In the right climate eggplants can be perennials and with pruning keep producing.

It sure has been a long time since I thought about such things. Nowadays I just hope to get fruit this year before frost.

**camprn** 6/18/2012, 6:42 am

I, as does Turan, live in a colder climate and limited growing season. Mu eggplants never get bigger than about 3.5 feet tall. Here the Aubergine plant does not sprawl like tomatoes will. I usually want mine to grow more than they naturally would so I just pinch the top most growing tip, called the terminal end or the basal tip. This will make the plant put out lateral branches which will increase fruit yield. I will take off the spent large leaves that are turning yellow. I love me some eggplant! Very Happy

littlejo 6/18/2012, 6:52 am

Welcome G.

Where is Saipan?

I've never had an Eggplant get so big that it had to be trimmed. We usually get winter that kills in back.

I believe when it gets older, it will start branching out. Depending on the supports/trellis you have available, just trim the branches to fit the support that you have. You will probably be tired of eating Eggplant before this happens. Last yr, my Eggplant just loved the MM and put out so much that I was having trouble giving it away, and I was praying for winter to hurry up.

Jo

elliephant 6/18/2012, 11:09 am

Interesting. My eggplant is producing like crazy and we don't really have a chance of frost until January, and that's only a 6 week window when it might happen (didn't last year), so good information for me to know.

Hasselback 6/18/2012, 7:14 pm

I'm about 130 miles North of Guam. We're right beside the Marianas Trench...you know, that part of the ocean that James Cameron just took the submersible down?

Needless to say, we don't have frost. Ever. While it's nice to have a year-round growing season, the down-side (I know, it's small) is that all gardening advice/direction is centered around when things will die off because of cold. If you don't have it, you don't know how long something will live!

So you're saying that my eggplant plants can keep producing in perpetuity?

G.

littlejo 6/18/2012, 7:42 pm

Supposedly eggplant and peppers are perenial, and will live til next yr. In Southern Calif. many yrs. ago, the bell peppers in imperial beach were like small trees, the stems were real woody but the peppers were good!

Jo

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