Could be a number of things. The first idea that came to my mind was flea beetles. They do indeed chew little tiny holes in eggplant, tomato, and pepper leaves. Control them w. any insecticide that contains Sevin.

I agree, probably flea beetles. They are very tiny and move quickly so it is sometimes hard to see them in action. I have had alot of them on eggplants, especially when young. They never bother other crops enough for me to notice even though they reportedly like tomatoes and peppers. Maybe they just liked my eggplants better! Some people will use row covers on eggplants when they are young for protection. As they get older it seems the beetles aren't as much of a problem.

I agree sounds like flea beetles to me. Check for small black bugs, that jump away very quickly. I would suggest that you do something about them, because they may not completely kill the eggplant but can definitely keep them from growing and producing. Flea beetles always love my eggplant.

YES, YES. Those are number on eggplant bugs. They look like smaller flies. Is there a liquid form of sevin to spray eggplant leaves with? How about spraying with chili pepper, garlic, tobacco tea? I have heard that sevin harms earthworms and micro organisms in the soil. Is that true? I want to keep my earthworms. They are great soil amenders/aerators.
If you mulh with brown/semi-composted leaves the worms will eventually convert them into casting.

Back to subject: growing difficulties of eggplants.
I have managed to germinate/grow tomatoes and peppers, both in cold frtame and direct sowing. But no eggplants yet. I think they will germinate once nigt lows climb into 50s. I have to wait another 4-5 days to find out. It is strange though that potato, tomato and eggplant belong to nightshade family. But my potatoes are 15" high and bushy.
Tomatoes are doing ok. but eggplant is another story.

I found that eggplants (germinated indoors) do best when nights stay over 60F. They really like it warm. I try and wait until the nights are no longer below 55 before putting them out in the garden.

I never had luck planting their seed directly in the garden.

I have used coffee grounds on flea beetles; it worked.

Peggy

Peggy,
How did you use the coffee grounds? I have been saving lots of coffee grounds that I could use, and have been looking for a natural solution to flea beetles. I have had a hard time getting rid of them naturally, and if I do not do anything about them, my plants do not have a chance.

Do a google search on companion planting.

I just sprinkle the plants with the coffee grounds. If you have a Starbucks nearby, get some of their grounds...they are ground finer and are dry which would be easier to sprinkle on our plants.

Peggy

Well, If coffee grounds are repellant, then one can think that if very light coffee itself(beverage) sprayed on the plants should also repel them buggers.

I will give it a try on my beans. I think the same flies are eating the beans as well.

Also I am going to let my coffee grounds completely dry. Then will regrind them to very fine powder in coffee mill, to use it as dust.

I was going to post the same question/concern. I have about 10-12 eggplant plants , and 12 tomatoes, 4 jalapeno and 8 bell pepper plants in one raised bed. The eggplants are the only one that have those tiny yellow spots/holes. I looked under the leaves - there is some fine dark powder - but that might be soil splashing from watering. It does not seem , yet, to affect the growth of plant, but I don't want to take the chance.

I sprayed all plants with BT and Copper based fungiside. I will try Sevin -- we found it in a liquid form at Lowes-- you hook the bottle to your watering hose and spray. Worked great on tent catapillars.

Here are the pictures of leave damage.

http://public.fotki.com/LeylaM/garden/growing-from-seeds-2009/1008385.html
http://public.fotki.com/LeylaM/garden/growing-from-seeds-2009/1008386.html

So far the plants are still growing, some are even setting fruit
http://public.fotki.com/LeylaM/garden/growing-from-seeds-2009/1008369.html

Also, they seem to have suckers growing (kind of like tomatoes do) - should I keep pruning them off?
http://public.fotki.com/LeylaM/garden/growing-from-seeds-2009/1008371.html
Thank you

I've never pruned my eggplants. They don't get huge and unruly like tomatoes (unless maybe if you're in a zone where you can grow them as perennials). I'd let them grow as much leaf area as they can since they're having to contend with bugs.

Please read the label on Sevin very carefully, and consider the consequences of using a non discriminant pesticide in your garden. Sevin kills many types of insects including bees. I personally know of a local apple farmer that lost all of his bee hives. We think due to his use of Sevin on his apple trees to control gypsy moths. He did not heed the warning, and treated the trees, then found the hives were dead the same year! Now he has nice trees, but his pollinators are all gone, so the net result is less fruit produced. I would recommend finding a natural, organic, and especially bee safe product, as bees are required to pollinate the Eggplant.

You probably know by now but my eggplant have thousands of pin holes I have the same I have flea beetle there very small round shape and black they jump like the regular flea you can seem them if you are out there at the right time I fixing them the last few days

You can plant y our eggplants a little later to avoid the flea beetles. I find that keeping them inside for an extra week or two means that they have bigger leaves which help them to resist the flea beetle damage.

I am using Neem Oil for killing bugs.

Neem oil is organic and works great on so many issues