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Side-dress with fertiliser half way in the season and again when you harvest the first fruits from the plant to ensure steady growth.
Needs a long season, so start under cover and plant out when frosts have finished, or grow in a heated greenhouse (reduce artificial heat in summer) 2. Mulch well and keep well watered 2. May need staking or support with canes 2.
More most varieties, remove flower buds and leave only 3-4 to set fruit. Ensure regular watering at this stage.
Plant in a location that enjoys full sun and remember to water often. Keep in mind when planting that Black Beauty is thought of as tender, so remember to wait until your soil is warm and the night time temperature is well above freezing before moving outside.Start indoors eight weeks before last frost date.
Sow 0.2 inches (0.5 cm) deep with a guideline distance of 1.95 feet (60.0 cm). Soil temperature should be kept higher than 20°C / 68°F to ensure good germination.By our calculations, you should look at sowing Black Beauty about 42 days before your last frost date.
Transplant to individual pots, grow on until large enough to plant out into grow bags or the greenhouse border.
Transplant out only when all danger of frost has passed, as they are very cold sensitive and will stunt or die if exposed to the elements too early.
Ensure that temperatures are mild (minimum night temperatures should be around 24°C / 75°F) and all chance of frost has passed before planting out, as Black Beauty is a tender plant.“Harvest eggplants when they are young. Size is not always an indication of maturity. To test, hold the eggplant in your palm and gently press it with your thumb. If the flesh presses in but bounces back, it is ready for harvesting. If the flesh is hard and does not give, the eggplant is immature and too young to harvest. If the thumb indentation remains, the eggplant to over mature and may be completely brown inside and bitter with large tough seeds.
There is long-standing controversy about male and female eggplants, which is an inaccurate approach considering the fact that fruits are the product of sex and do not have it. However, it is folk wisdom worth some attention. Eggplants have a dimple at the blossom end. The dimple can be very round or oval in shape. The round ones seem to have more seeds and tend to be less meaty, so select the oval dimpled eggplant.
Eggplants bruise easily so harvest gently, using garden shears or scissors to avoid twisting the fruit from the plant. Always cut the eggplant with the cap and some of the stem attached.
Eggplants do not store well. Harvest and use them immediately for best flavor. If you must store them, wrap them in plastic or use plastics and store for 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator. Be careful as it will soon develop soft brown spots and become bitter. Use them while the stem and cap are still greenish and rather fresh-looking." 1
Eggplants should be harvested when 15 cm (6 inches) long and when the skin is still glossy. Harvesting fruits too late will result in bitter tasting eggplants, so keep a close eye as they develop.
How do I know the eggplant fruit is ready for harvest?
A good test to see if the eggplant is ready is to hold the fruit in your palm and gently press the fruit with your thumb – if the flesh presses in then bounces back, then it should be ready to harvest. Hard flesh indicates that the eggplant is not yet ripe and needs to be left on the plant a while longer.
Wear gloves to harvest fruit as some varieties have sharp spikes on the calyx, sharp enough to break one’s skin 2.
Talong