Aubergine Problems

[brooli]

I have been growing Aubergines in a pot in a greenhouse and have had no problems until now.A flower appears and then dies off and then the stalk dries up and falls off resulting in no Aubergines. I have been watering them every day and feeding them when they have flowered two days a week.

I would be very grateful for any help given

[tamsin]

How are you pollinating them? If there aren't loys of bees in your greenhouse you'll need to do it by hand People seem to swear by different methods from shaking, to taping to poking with fingers, cottonbuds or paintbrushes

[smallblueplanet]

Aubergines will pollinate quite easily if the temperatures are high enough - they do like very warm humid conditions.

[Flobalob]

Aubergines will pollinate quite easily if the temperatures are high enough - they do like very warm humid conditions.

I somewhat agree. Yes they like warm humid temp. but they need more that to pollinate. If the bees don't have access you should try a small brush. I use the OH eye brush. I also spray with liquid concentrated seaweed extract.
Mine are producing between 5-7 fruits at the moment.

[smallblueplanet]

Do all the spraying and tapping and shaking you like - but if its not warm enough they won't set. If it is warm enough then as they're self-fertile they won't need much help.

Oh and some of the early flowers do just drop anyway...and thru the season...

[Alice]

Aubergines are self fertile and I think temperature is the biggest factor in getting them to set fruit.
They like it very hot and humid.
Brooli - you can join the nation with your aubergine problems. I had the same problem for years and said I wouldn't waste any more time on them. But I did - and Bingo. The year of the aubergines. Good luck.

[COMPOST CORNER]

Is that a small pot or the worlds biggest aubergine?

[Michael Johnson]

For all tomatoes, hot and sweet peppers, and Aubergines, you simply cannot beat a Sonic electric toothbrush, you just hold it on top of each flower or truss stem and give it a short burst of vibration-like an electric bee, and can do all you plants in about half an hour using one of these, it increases you final crop of all those mentioned species by as much as double or triple in most cases.

Sonic toothbrushes can be quite expensive to buy of the re-chargable type, but if you shop around you can find cheaper versions for under ten pounds, I bought mine from the German supermarket-Lidl's, sometimes Aldi also have them, and they usually last for several years, but the normal types they sell in Boots the chemist and the like can be up to a massive forty odd pounds-far too high a price.

when using them on plants you use the back of the hard plastic toothbrush head, not the bristle side, once you have tried one and got used to doing it-you will never look back as far as crop weight is concerned, I usually do mine an average of three times a week, anytime from around 12,00 midday to around 3.00 pm in the afternoon, is the time the plants seem to produce the most pollen.

The ordinary cheap battery operated toothbrushes at around £4.50 each from supermarkets will also act quite well too, but not on the same scale as a sonic one-which vibrates at thousands of times per minute.

Last season I had a wonderful crop of hot peppers of many varieties by using one on the flowers, but on the Aubergines an absolute shower of pollen used to fall from most flowers when it was used, it might also be ideal to place a small square of glass or plastic under the flower when doing it to collect pollen for crossing or fertilization purposes, and you could then brush it onto the female parts of the flower you select -with a suitable small squirrel hair brush or something like that.

[danmon_81]

what a great idea.....i'll try that!!

[annacruachan]

I have been growing Aubergines in a pot in a greenhouse and have had no problems until now.A flower appears and then dies off and then the stalk dries up and falls off resulting in no Aubergines. I have been watering them every day and feeding them when they have flowered two days a week.

I had exactly this problem and received the same advice that you have, Brooli. I moved them to a warmer spot and went round all the flowers with a paintbrush each afternoon. Now I have little aubergines popping up all over my three plants. There are a lot of wise peeps on this forum - and they're always happy to help.

[deezyb]

Aubergines are self fertile and I think temperature is the biggest factor in getting them to set fruit.
They like it very hot and humid.
Brooli - you can join the nation with your aubergine problems. I had the same problem for years and said I wouldn't waste any more time on them. But I did - and Bingo. The year of the aubergines. Good luck.
[ATTACH]9592[/ATTACH]

Hi Alice - that looks fab! do you keep your aubergines in the house all the time. I've got a greenhouse sort of, but maybe it's not hot enough...I've got two flowers on two plants...delighted with that...but if they need the heat, should I bring them inside? I'm happy to have on my windowsills!

[Printemps]

My aubergine is way off flowering just yet, but it is being munched by something. The entire side of one leaf has gone, with several leaves sporting big holes in them. There are no give-away signs of slug/snail slime trails. Any ideas what it could be and how to stop it?

[vikkib]

I was wondering what was munching one of my aubergines and yesterday I found a little caterpillar lurking so if no signs of slime if could be caterpillars.

I'm thinking of putting some fine netting/net curtain up over the doorway of the plastic GH where they are currently living as I've been leaving the door open day and night in this crazy weather!