Ichiban is productive and produced well into fall . This year
the only variety I'm growing is Thai Green. It's a long green eggplant.
It was even more productive than Ichiban for me, and the skin is
more tender.

Agree either thin out some plants and/or redirect or trellis the vines. Hacking off vines will eliminate future production.

Dave

You won't have to worry about only 2 or 3 fruit with Ichiban. :)

{{gwi:64932}}

I haven't had experience with H&G or Thai Green yet.

Here's one more for Ichiban, my favorite. Nice tasting, and they cook quickly. Just slice and add to the other vegetables sauteeing in the pan. Cooks in less than five minutes, so far as I remember. I looked for it this year (and last) but never see it sold in my area anymore. I need to start my own plants from seed.

Thanks for the input! I am so happy and excited about Ichiban!

roper2008, where did you get the Thai green seeds? I know I saw it somewhere but I can't find it anymore. I have had slender green eggplants in Asian cuisine only and I love them!

Thanks, K.

Hi K. I got them from Seed Savers Exchange. I can send you some if you
want for a sase. I think Heirloom Seeds also sells them.
Linda

For me, it has been the purple Asian type "Diamond", also from the Seed Savers Exchange. It does consistently well here... no small feat, given my climate. But in the coolest summers (perhaps like this one?) the white-fruited "Casper" out-produces it. I usually grow both, because they complement each other - one or the other is always bearing. They have also proven to be resistant to wilt, which is present in my soil & kills or stunts most eggplant varieties in my trials.
{{gwi:28111}}
"Diamond"

I have been testing eggplant varieties from Asia, and have found one from the Philippines that shows great promise. It was the earliest to bloom (by far) of 7 varieties in 2007, and blossomed heavily, with flowers in clusters. These were followed by fruit in large numbers, as you can see in the photo. They are an unusual satin-purple color, and are very slim.
{{gwi:77620}}
PI 302809

The fruit are mildly bitter, but not unpleasantly so... and they have a few more seeds than I am used to, unless picked young. But the earliness and the yield might make it worthwhile, especially for Northern climates. The one big drawback? Thorns, not only on the calyx, but on the stems & leaf surfaces. As the plants grew thicker, I had to wear gloves to harvest.

The original seed was from the USDA, and was highly variable; the fruits ranged from the long shape shown above, to some which were nearly round. I have been trying to stabilize the long-fruited selections, and am hopeful that I will see some results this year.

Hansel has been incredibly productive for me. Rosa Bianca hs been pretty good.

Michelle

Thank you many times for these suggestions. It seems I chose well for my first time.

Linda, thank you for your kind offer for those seeds. Its too late for me to start now with new seeds. Hopefully next SSE will still have these seeds and i will be able to get them.

K.

In our place in Tacloban City, after Typhoon YOLANDA or HAIYAN hit our place, every crops were almost wiped out. Today we plant eggplant in hydroponic system, using a mixture of 1 liter organic hydroponic solution and 10 liters rain water. The condition for growing is sunlight only no watering, it can be done even in walls, roof top, inside the house, as long as the place is hit by sunlight not by rain. You can grow lettuce, tomato, small vegetables, etc. Taste and size are not really that important, as long as there is food.

Hansel hybrid is a champion for me. It starts producing in my Worcester, MA garden in the middle of June, and finishes with the first frost in October. I have small garden, and 10 of them do our year. We eat them in summer and can or freeze for winter as eggplant spread, we pickle them, make frozen starter for sour cream eggplant fry for winter, give to the people around, and still have some issues to utilize all of them). And they are eatable in any age of the fruit! Bellow is photo taken on June 3, 2010

And this one taken on June 27, 2010

I'm planting Hansel this year Galinas. Had a terrible eggplant year last year, it was a cold and wet summer, hoping for some better luck! They grew very fast indoors and I am trying to keep my expectations in check. :)

When you ask for higher production are you referring to number of fruit or weight of yield. Everyone is referencing small fruited varieties that will produce more little fruits but if you want twice the yield of those you need a larger fruited variety. The ones that produce larger fruit will usually be a bigger plant as well. I have grown many of those mentioned above but the biggest sellers are the typical large teardrop shape varieties like Epic, Santana, Dusky or Vittoria. These will yield up to football size fruits if not harvested regularly. Most plants will produce ~30 larger fruit. If you only want quantity of fruit the African varieties like Cannibal Tomato or Red China will produce hundreds of fruits per plant.

Ichiban is wonderful, but be aware that it is going away. The rights were sold, and seeds are not being produced anymore. The plants and seeds you have now are from three years ago. When the supply dwindles, it's gone. This year I'm growing Ping Tung, and I'm hoping it will be as awesome as Iciban, flavor- and productivity-wise. My three Ichiban plants last year were producing a total of about one per day.

See here.

I like the Asian varieties (don't remember specifically what type) because there are only 2 of us, they don't need to be peeled or sweated before throwing on the grill along with some small squash, the neighbors are also 2 person households and won't turn them down.

Galinas....what is this eggplant spread??????? Nancy

I'm sorry to learn Ichiban is going away, and that it was a hybrid. However, if that is the case, and what is stated in the article is true, then good riddance. I've been switching over almost exclusively to open-pollinated and heirloom varieties. This year I'm trying 'Diamond' from SSE, along with my beloved 'Rosa Bianca' - they're so beautiful I wouldn't care if they didn't taste good!

Hansel is by far the most productive variety I've grown, in my marginal eggplant climate.

I like to save my own seed, and I plan on saving seed from Hansel and stabilizing it into an open-pollinated variety. You could do the same with Ichiban if you wish. Hybrids are how new varieties are started. Of course the stabilized variety would be a brand new variety, not the original hybrid, but it would be adapted to your climate and hopefully retain features that you liked about the hybrid.

Nancy, here is how you make eggplant spread)
6 lb of eggplants,
2 lb of sweet pepper,
1 lb of onions,
1-2 lb of carrots,
1 hot pepper pod,
salt to the taste,
2 tsp of sugar,
6 cloves of garlic,
dill,
parsley
oil,
1/2- 3/4 lb of tomato paste(I use one from store, to simplify the process)
Grease
your eggplants and pepper with oil just a bit and bake them the
oven(400F) for about 20 min until they soft. Take the skin out of them
while they still warm.(The most time consuming part) . Chop onions,
shred carrots and saute them on the pan with oil until golden.Chop
skinned eggplants and peppers, garlic, herbs, hot pepper, mix all
together with onions, carrots, salt, sugar and tomato paste, place in
the oven again and keep it there covered for an hour at about
350F.(Enameled dutch oven works great) Can be eaten cold or hot to your
taste as a spread on the bread or as a side dish. If you like really
smooth structure(I don't) you can smooth it in the food processor before
baking. If you want to keep it for winter, do not bake it yet, you
can freeze it in one gallon freezer bags and when needed take the bag
out of the freezer to the refrigerator , and bake it after it thawed.
Sorry, if I abused the thread)

Millionaire is comparable to Ichiban but IMO is a bit more productive. For the last few years I've grown Ichiban (or Millionaire), Ping Tung and Rosita. All have done well and have excellent flavor. Productivity as noted by barrie2m has been correlated with fruit size...smaller fruit equated to higher numbers harvested. One more factor we deep south gardeners have to deal with is mid summer heat survivability. With this, Ichiban has been a little less tolerant of our heat...it seems to be the first cultivar to "bite the dust"....pun intended.

These are Ping Tung...

That's useful to know about heat tolerance. As we all know, eggplants love heat ... up to a point. Last year my Ichibans were on a roll until August, then slacked off some, and came roaring back in September. Plants were fine, but they just didn't set fruit. Same goes for tomatoes (also Solanum), but eggplants are generally more heat tolerant.

daninthedirt, I concur - eggplant are very heat tolerant. So I probably should elaborate on my comment... I don't typically lose many plants. Out of 30 plants I may lose 0 to 4 plants. If I lose any it's usually Ichiban around late August. However, last year I don't recall losing any plants. Production does slack off during the mid summer heat as you noted. Surviving plants produce very well from late September to early November.

These are Rosita in 2007 and 2010 producing after slacking off during their summer lull.

Wow there are some nice plants on this thread.. I only have one and I still don't know what type it is... I have issues growing eggplant from seed and from the mix of 16 starter spaces X 3 seeds each, that's the only plant that survived... I'll have to wait for it to friut to know what it is...

I am relatively far north for eggplant, but we really enjoy them and so I am always on a search for productive ones for my area. Over the past many years I have tried Rosa Bianca, Hansel, Gretel, a couple of mini eggplants, and at least three large types, including Black Beauty. Hands down the most productive for me has been Orient Express. It produces early and in massive quantities every year I've grown it regardless of weather and my relatively short season. It's tender and delicious as well.

I've only grown black beauty. It produces more eggplants than we can easily use, although since my husband recently discovered eggplant rollatini that could change. :)

Does anyone recognize this eggplant?

That looks like Pingtung Long, or a similar variety.

Thank you

I agree. I have a plant that is suppose to be Ichiban.... but isn't... and looks like yours. I did some research and decided that mine is also the Taiwanese PingTung.

BTW: my new favorite eggplant is Shikou. It is one of the Japanese varieties and has been prolific. It is also a beautiful plant.

Is Shikoku more productive?

Shikou is very productive comparable to Ichiban. Not as pretty or as firm.

Black shine is equally productive, but better texture for me.

I LOVE the texture of Shikou... soft and creamy. It would never do for Eggplant Parmigania tho'... not firm enough.

I will have to try Black Shine next year. But, I will plant the Shikou again!

If you were to pick one eggplant variety considering yield, texture and flavor, what type would it be ? I bought three plants from a local nursery but they were not very productive and all the leaves were atttachd by the little black bugs. I would like to try a new variety.

The key is what plans do YOU have for them. Some folks like the mini-eggplants Hansel, Gretel, Pot Black. Patio Baby,Little Fingers, Slim Jim. These are good for grilling and suitable for growing in smaller pots.

For a short season medium size Asian type, Orient Express stands out. It is early and prolific. For longer season growers, it quits early about the time the full size varieties start producing.

Full size Black Beauty types, Night Shadow stands out for me.

😊 I only use the eggplant to make Mediterranean dishes ( you probably havn’t heard or seen) one dish is made with roasted eggplant on fire then mashed and sautéed with garlic, turmeric, tomatoes and eggs, has a smoky flavor and aroma to it. ( another dish is with sauted eggplants cooked with lots of garlic, tomatoes, dried mint, turmeric and a dairy product called Kashk. Also eggplant stew with lamb...all are very delicious. I’m more used to cooking with the long skinnier eggplants ( less seeds).