Growing Eggplant, also Aubergine

Solanum sp. : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
                S S    
                    T T

(Best months for growing Eggplant in New Zealand - cool/mountain regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings

September: Bring on in pots - need a long growing season

  • Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4-6 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 24°C and 32°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 60 - 75 cm apart
  • Harvest in 12-15 weeks. Cut fruit with scissors or sharp knife.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Beans, capsicum, lettuce, amaranth, thyme
  • Avoid growing close to: Potatoes

Your comments and tips

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13 Sep 18, Mike (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
Google about flowers dropping off egg plants.
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03 Feb 18, Daisy (New Zealand - temperate climate)
Hi Diana, I have never grown eggplant but perhaps the plant that you have is a male one? I don't really know whether this is even possible. Also, it could be that you need to pollinate the flowers by hand? I hope this helps! xx D
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05 Feb 18, Kristin (USA - Zone 11a climate)
Why someone would suggest maybe yours is a male plant and saying "hope this helps" is hilarious. Eggplants do not need separate male and female plants. A quick google search can tell you that. Several reasons your flowers are dropping - lack of pollination or the plant is under stress being - 1) too cold or hot 2)lack of water or nutrients. Try hand pollinating your flowers and lookup the temperature your variety of eggplant will set fruit. I looked up the temperature for Tutukaka coast and the temperature seems too cold for eggplant. I could be wrong. But you will need find out what variety you have first.
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20 Jan 18, Alison (New Zealand - temperate climate)
I have eggplants in a tunnel house. The plants look amazing and are flowering like crazy and look to be pollinating but then drop off before fruit develops. They are getting plenty of water and tomatoes in the same greenhouse are fruiting happily. What am I dong wrong?
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14 Jan 18, Paula Mouat (New Zealand - temperate climate)
I am growing eggplant for the first time in a glasshouse. My plant is growing very well with lots of fruit. The fruit are large and pale. How long should I wait before harvesting?
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02 Jan 18, (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
Hi, is it worth trying to grow aubergines in Dunedin?
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14 Mar 18, Liz (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
I have successfully grown an eggplant in Dunedin in a tunnel house. I have just picked my 10th, and there are 5 more coming
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04 Feb 18, Heather (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
I have grown the smaller variety in a glass house with plenty of TLC. They don't survive outside as the temperature fluctuates too much and we can get cold spells during the growing season.
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15 Nov 17, Ian Gall (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)
I, m growing my egg plant in a tunnel house, the leaves are turning black? What to do?
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21 Nov 17, rachel (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
it's most likely a fungus, you need to spray with something like organic copper
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Showing 11 - 20 of 33 comments
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I know it's over a year later, but I've been looking for info for overwintering a huge eggplant plant, and saw your question here. Summer '22 I picked up three 5" Japanese eggplant plants from local Tractor supply store, on sale in 3 or 4" pots, for $4 each. I grew them in central MA, each in a 12 or 14" pot all summer. Got some good yield, and they grew to about 18" high, but I decided to bring them inside for the winter to see if I could get more fruit from them. I put them on a south facing bay window, air temp was never much above 68*, I watered, fertilized once (maybe 2x) from October-May, and hand pollinated flowers with a paint brush. Got about 10 fruits, which I thought was pretty good! Nice and tender and sweet. In late May/early June they went outside, (after hardened off properly) planted 1 into 2' tall raised wooden garden box (with tomatoes, potatoes, basil, borage), 1 into a large deep pot, and one in a conditioned straw bale. The pot one failed, the box and straw bale one thrived and are now 3' tall and maybe 2-3' wide. Tons of flowers, fruit, I couldn't keep up. I'm trying to figure out if I can bring one of them inside again (transplant into v. large pot) and get one more summer out of it! So you can probably grow Ichyban Japanese in your zone, just protect from cooler temps, and bring inside if your season isn't long enough.

- TMR

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