Black Beauty Eggplant pest control and harvest

This is one of my frequent black beauty eggplant harvests from 2 largely forgotten medium-sized 8-month old plants in the ground. I actually had not invested much time and effort in these plants. I left smaller fruits on the plants that I could pick about 1.5 weeks later. The only attention that I gave them was my homemade garden garlic spray on the leaves.

Six eggplants harvest on 10th June. (Some smaller fruits remained on my 2 plants)



My eggplant harvest on 10th June2012. A few jalapeño peppers on the side.

My observations about eggplants (aka aubergine):
Garden pests:

• They are not susceptible to many pests and therefore very easy to grow. However, when the leaves were being chewed up in their infancy stage, the plants became completely transformed after I sprayed  garlic spray on the under (and topside) of the leaves. The leaves became green and large withim days.
• On 2 ocassions, mice or rats were eating the fruit. I sprinkled a lot of powdered pepper and grounded cinnamon as natural deterrents. Since that was not as successful alone when it rained, I placed rat poison in an old laundry container between the plants. I used the container to prevent the poison from contaminating the soil. I camouflaged the container with straw for aesthetic purposes.

The Summer season:

• The plants were always healthy and produced many eggplants. However, I find that the eggplant production seems to have increased quite notably since the more intense heat began.

Using my eggplant harvest:

• With the frequent and abundant eggplant harvests, I started to see the value of advice to grow only what you like to eat. I quickly learnt how to make vegetable pasta-free lasagna. The eggplant slices became my pasta substitutes. I am harvesting peppers that I can not use. I have made pepper sauce but begging people to take peppers, including postal workers. Fortunately, I will no longer be doing this with eggplants.

More about my eggplants:

• Photo & written diary of my 2 eggplants from seedling to abundantly harvesting shrubs
• My eggplant gardening journey
• How to identify non-GM fruits and vegetables

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