Aubergines

[magz.mccarthy]

I wouldn't if it were me. They really are heat-lovers, more so than chillies - how many have you got? Keep potting them on if you need, but on occassion we've bought aub plants from garden centres and they're often about 12" tall in 10cm pots.

Hi Manda,

I'd love to keep them indoors until May, but unfortunately I'm off on holidays for a month next week and the poor things will go bone dry with neglect. I'll try to put them under fleece to keep them as warm as possible. A friend on the allotment will water them there so they should be ok if they can survive the cold!

Margaret

[smallblueplanet]

A month's holiday!

They might be okay well-wrapped and not overwatered - good luck.

[crichmond]

I have found that they are best started middle of feb inside under a grow light and potted on as they grow then taken to the greenhouse towards the end of april and as I am lazy I use the autopot system for automatic watering in 15 litre pots when transplanting into the autopot system I put about an inch of clay pebbles as used in a hydoponic system into the bottom of the pot this stops the roots getting drowned by water and the plant takes whatever it needs.

I had five plants on one side of the 8x6 greenhouse last year and they grew to just under five foot in height and the plants grew into each other width wise, as I have said in other posts the recommendation is that you only let the plant have 3 or 4 fruit at a time but I have found the the plant will find its own equalibrilum and when it has too many the flowers will either fall off or the baby fruit will go soft on one side in this case pick off the fruit that go soft and leave the rest on.

Last year I had around 15 fruit forming healthily on each plant at a time, obviously as with a lot of veg picking promotes new flowering and hence new fruit.


PS: (22:03)
They like feeding with tomato food or home made plant food from comfrey, nettles or seaweed or a mix of them all.

I dangle a hessian bag with a mix of all 3 in my water butt. (be warned it really stinks)

[HayleyB]

I've got to try outside with my babies as I know my Conservatory has RSM will have to hope for the best....

[wellie]

My best Aubergines are grown in the greenhouse, where you can control the humidity. They need high humidity to ward off Red Spider Mite, which, apart from Green and Whitefly, are their bigger threat pest-wise. I like to restrict their root-run, as I've found that they fruit better grown in a pot, than in a greenhouse border, but I can't prove that to be true! Dependant of the variety you choose, do think seriously about restricting the number of fruits and the size of those fruits that you'd like to grow from each plant. Lots of fruits per plant will mean lots but smaller fruits, as you'll know from other stuff you grow.

Besides the normal black large-fruited Aubergines to grow, I think it's Unwins that sell a packet of seeds with all different shapes, and sizes and colours of Aubergines, something like Chinese Ancestors?!? which I've grown before, and would be completely fun for Veggie Boxes (in my humble opinion), but you'd need to maybe 'back that up' with the odd suggestion of a recipe or two?!

Warm and Humid. That's the Secret!
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