Aubergines

[crichmond]

Most instructions tell you to only let each plant have 3 or 4 fruit at a time but I have found that letting the plat decide for itself how many it can cope with is no detriment o the plant at all.

I hand pollinate every flower by rubbing a finger across it, this esures a high pollination count, let them form on their own some flowers will just drop off and some fruit will start to go soft remove these and leave any that stay firm and allow them to mature I had around 15 fruit at a time growing to a nice size and regular picking promotes fresh flowering, my plants eventually reached just under 5ft high and 5 plants filled the whole side of an 8ft greenhouse.

[Johan]

I agree with you on this. I have never culled fruit to reduce the load and I have never experienced problems before.
I also found that Aubergines, or Eggplant as known to us, can last for several years in a pot. I am pushing a plant now through its third winter as an experiment to see how long it can live and syill produce. The stem is about 1½ inches thick at the bottom and I have pruned it now back to 6 inches high at the last two months before winter. I leave it in the cold throughout the Winter. It is not so cold in SA.

[selfraising]

I agree with you on this. I have never culled fruit to reduce the load and I have never experienced problems before.
I also found that Aubergines, or Eggplant as known to us, can last for several years in a pot. I am pushing a plant now through its third winter as an experiment to see how long it can live and syill produce. The stem is about 1½ inches thick at the bottom and I have pruned it now back to 6 inches high at the last two months before winter. I leave it in the cold throughout the Winter. It is not so cold in SA.

That's interesting Johan. I wonder if I could bring mine indoors over winter and put it outside again in the summer?

[Johan]

You must just make sure that they do not dry out, is not too wet (May rot), and still get light.

I got some seed (10) and only one germinated as the seed was rather old. It germinated after three months and then it was too late to develop fruit. That was late summer 2007 (Southern hemisphere). It survived the winter of 2007 and in the 2007/2008 growing season I did not get fruit as I watered too litle due to stopping all vegetable growing as I was building a braai area. It went through the 2008 winter and thereafter it grew like no tomorrow and there were a lot of fruit. I pruned it two weeks ago to six inches high and now new leaves are about 2 inches long. I think the new growth will do the plant good. It is still in the same pot with the same soil. I fed it twice a week with hydroponics solution. I will repot after the winter just to see how long an aubergine can live and this I will repeat until it dies. I want to see what happens.
Peppers and chillies can survive also for more than one year. I am now sowing plants two months before winter so that it will have some height after the winter in September.
Yes, our winter is short for plants as trees start budding in July or August and here in Cape Town I have never yet experienced frost. I however experienced rotting of bean seed due to cold and wet conditions.

[selfraising]

Thanks for all that information Johan. I might try to keep one this year and see how it goes. Not sure how it will cope with the reduced light levels in winter here but it will be interesting to see what happens. What other vegetables do you grow?