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Vegetable Gardening

my Ichiban vs Black beauty eggplant

9 years ago

So i was away on vacation 2.5 weeks and had family member watering garden, came back to some huge plants (a lot happens in two weeks).

my ichibans started growing really nice fruit (below), but my large black beauty plant hasnt budged and even has some yellowing leave on bottom, just wondering if the black beauty plant is ok? normal? or just due to heat?

both plants planted around same time, and have similar conditions one doing much better, should i be concerned with the black beauty? or is patience key and yellowing ok. pics below first 2 ichiban, 2nd 2 black beauty

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Comments (9)

mdy113
Original Author
9 years ago
ichiban 2
mdy113
Original Author
9 years ago
black beauty, some slow flowering no fruit yet, and yellowing bottom
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I am so glad this post was here for me to read and learn about eggplant. My first year growing it and I have CLASSIC plants I bought at the nursery and been out in the garden. But after reading this I wished I had some of these mentioned here. Well, today I go to our local in town nursery and what do they have but Ichiban and Gretal. Gretal is white. I bought a plant of each! So excited as I have never eatten anything but the common grocery store bought purple eggplant. First year growing eggplant for me.
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I mentioned a fat tan beetle with dark stripes earlier. I found some pics online and it was either a colorado potato beetle or a false one. The wikipedia page says they also like tomatoes and eggplants: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_potato_beetle I think the green frog changed into a gray frog later in the day. Either that or there is more than one frog on the plant. Thanks Dave, I'll know how the eggplant tastes tomorrow evening (my wife has eggplant parmigiana on the menu). The black beauty was still shiny when I picked it so I guess it still wasn't fully ripened yet. I'll probably pick another one tomorrow which is a pretty good size and do a taste test. There are still a bunch of black beauties of different size on the plant so we're not worried about increasing production, but we'll pick early if there is a big difference in taste. Keep up the faith fauzie, give your baby time and I'm sure she'll grow. I've been adding some soluble fertilizer in the watering can every couple of days to make sure the fruit have enough nutrients to grow well too.
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Heh. Here it is a week later and I now have a load of fingerling eggplants on my plants. It has been several weeks since I'd seen any. Now, I think (hope!!) we've seen the last of the 100+ days, and we're now working highs of 95F or so. So I think that's all it took. Fruiting just turns off like a light switch when the high temps are over 100F. Looking ahead, I see it reported that in Solanaceae (peppers and eggplant) pollen production and fruit set is curtailed when nighttime temps are below 55F. I also now read that with regard to shaking flowers to encourage fruit set, that's essentially what bees do in eggplant. They don't move the pollen from pistil to stamen, but their activity just vibrates the flower and shakes the pollen off. So yes, although eggplants self-pollinate, bees can help.
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mdy113
Original Author
9 years ago
black beauty pic 2
seysonn
9 years ago
I have never grown Black Beauty but have grown Ichiban many times. They are very prolific and also taste very good and produce till fall.
I have tried 3 or more other varieties and have concluded that overall Ichiban is the best.
ChicagoDeli37
9 years ago
Looks like may have just got watered little too much or watered on those bottom leaves and sun burned them

I grow both but the black beauty is way better IMO

That plant looks healthy to me though.
howelbama
9 years ago
My black beauties always take a bit longer to start producing than my ichibans.

Yours looks pretty healthy. I cant really tell from the pic, but the container may be a tad bit undersized IMO. Also, does it have drainage?

Make sure you are fertigating regularly too if you want good production since you are growing in pots.

I dont see anything of extreme concern in your pics.

It may be lacking some nutes though which could be from not fertigating at all and/or over watering, or poor drainage.

Fyi, plain water on the foliage in direct sun does not cause any sunburn. A fertilizer or pesticide solution (neem oil? Etc...) applied in direct sun could though.
ju1234
9 years ago
I planted black beauty a week after Ichiban. Both were same size. Both in same soil and all other same conditions. In over a month, black beauty has tripled in size and is blooming while Ichiban has done absolutely nothing, same size as when planted. Figure that.
mdy113
Original Author
9 years ago
there is a drain hole and i have been using liquid plant food in the water mix about every two weeks. ya was just shocked to see so many ichiban growing fruit when i came back and none yet on the black beauty and also the yellow leaves, so just wanted to make sure. guess we shall see. pot may be tad undersized too i suppose, first year trying eggplants so all new to me
howelbama
9 years ago
They'll start producing soon. Mine are usually about 3 weeks or so behind the ichibans. Seysonn is right, ichibans produce early, prolifically, and through to fall. The black beauties are later, not as prolific, and don't last quite as long. They are still respectable producers though and are good for culinary variety.

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