Will Eggplant Produce Through Fall and Winter?

Q. Will my eggplant plant
continue to produce through the fall and winter?

A. They are warm season vegetables so they slow down
considerably as temperatures drop.

Although eggplants will keep
growing and flowering, they are more productive if cut back and allowed to
regrow during late summer. Cut plants to about 6 to 8 inches in early August,
cut at a crotch, fertilize and allow them to regrow.

Fertilize and keep soils moist to
force them to regrow. The second crop will be ready to harvest in about six
weeks after cutting them back. In Louisiana, eggplants are sometimes trellised
and sheared late in the season for increased yield and quality.

The ideal temperatures for eggplant
is 70 to 80 degrees F in the day and 65 to 70 F at night. Very few places, outside
of a greenhouse, gives those types of temperatures consistently. Obviously,
they do well in temperatures higher and lower than this. Fruit abortion can
begin around 95 F even though the plant itself can handle heat.

As temperatures drop in the fall,
eggplant still sets fruit but fruit set is not as reliable and fruit development
is slower. Eggplant is generally more sensitive to cooler temperatures than its
cousins, tomatoes and peppers.

Flowers consistently set fruit down
to 60 F nighttime temperatures. Eggplants begin to get chilling injury at
temperatures below 50 F.

Staking may be necessary if plants
get big and full of fruit. Fruit touching the ground will spoil. Harvest fruit
when they are one third full size and shiny. Over mature fruit will be spongy,
the seeds begin to harden and the fruit surface becomes dull rather than shiny.

Snap fruit off of the plant but
they will keep longer if they are cut from the spiny stem. Mulching helps fruit
to set and improves fruit quality.