Are my Aubergines ready to harvest

[mosscoone]

I planted the Aubergine seeds that came with this magazine this year. The plants are good and strong and the Aubergines are light purple at the top by still creamy colour at the bottom. Are they ready to harvest or should I wait for them to turn dark purple.

[rustylady]

Do they look like the picture on the packet?

[Florence Fennel]

What a good question RL and welcome to the Vine Mosscoone, hope you enjoy the fruits of your labour - if they're ripe. I think you can have white ones, as well as purple.

[Alison]

You can pick aubergines at pretty much any stage although don't wait for them to go dull or they'll be rubbish.

[northepaul]

When they're nice and shiney and a lovely purple colour - unless they're not a purple one of course

[Jono]

Mine are a lovely purple colour, but the biggest is only the size of a tennis ball. Will they still be tasty to eat?

[jacob]

Yes -- you can basically eat them at any stage.

[Zenithtb]

Mine look like so: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

When they get, basically, bigger than a large orange, we consider them ready for roasting :-)

[jacob]

It all looks so... warm.

[maytreefrannie]

We've aubergines, all looking round (about tennis ball size) but really shiny. I thought they had to go oval but I take it from this thread they're OK to pick now?

[rustylady]

Depends what variety they are Maytreefrannie - some are round, some are oval. I would think tennis ball size is OK to pick and eat.

[smallblueplanet]

Yes -- you can basically eat them at any stage.

As Jacob says - you can eat any variety at any stage. It's just normally you let aubergines grow to size ie size for that particularl variety. But at the end of the season, when the weather gets colder or maybe if a plant gets disease/starts to die - pick and eat any aubergine fruit as and when!

[binley100]

I think mine are finally coming to an end ......a few fruits left but they are pathetically small even tho the plants still seem to be going strong