My Alien Eggplants

[Angela5237]

Hi everybody! Eggplants are my absolute favorite vegetable to grow in my summer garden. However, this year something really strange is going on. I planted my eggplants in May (I live on Long Island) assuming that they were regular, purple plants. However, as they began to grow they are coming in bright, canary yellow (?!). Now, at first I didn't panic because I know that there is a type of eggplant that is yellow. That is, until more and more starting growing in yellow on different plants, and have these little brown dots on them. Those that are growing in look like they are rotting. I was curious so I took off a small one and cut it open. Inside was half black-ish, half seedy with these little little white worm like things that aren't moving at all. I have no idea what is going on with these plants. What makes it weirder was that the eggplant plants I have growing in my garden were not all purchased at the same time from the gardening store (at first I thought I bought a strange variety of eggplant). Has anyone ever had this problem? Any ideas what is going on with my plants? I doubt these things are edible, not that I would ever think about eating them but, it's sad.

Heeeelp !

I attempted to attach two photos of what these alien like vegetables look like. If the photo doesn't post, can someone guide me as to how I can get a photo up here? I'm new at this. Thanks!!!

[applestar]

In the first photo, I believe the fruit has become overripe and spoiled and the seeds inside are mature and have started to sprout. I think those white things are sprouted roots.

Not judging from this, and this is just a guess because I didn't know they mature into yellow skinned fruit, I think what you might have is a white or green variety of eggplant and they need to be picked while they are still immature and in this case, light colored. Purple eggplant fruits are dark purple from the beginning when fruits start to develop.

What color blossoms do they have?

[Angela5237]

The eggplant blossoms start out a slightly white color and then start growing in yellow. I have not seen on all 20 of my plants an eggplant grow passed the blossoming stage that was not yellow. I have so many little yellow eggplants hanging from my plants that are super small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. I've been growing eggplants for years and at first I thought this may have been a different variety but they're growing in yellow at this point..

[imafan26]

I have a young pepper plant that is doing that. It is a tiger eggplant which is a green variety. The purple eggplants usually get harder and darker brown rather than turn yellow when they go to seed. Green and white varieties do turn yellow when they go to seed.

Most of the time this has happened when the plants were old, then all of the fruit prematurely get hard and yellow. The other time is when the plant is in distress. I think that is happening with the young tiger as the plant leaves are getting smaller and sparser, so I think the plant is making more seed just to try to survive.

How does your plant look? Is it vigoruous or are the leaves getting smaller and sparser? It might be distressed. Hot weather and drought stress can cause the fruit to turn yellow.

I have successfully saved a younger eggplant by taking off the fruit, cutting back the plant, fertilizing and watering. Mine are in pots so I can move them to morning sun until they recover. I usually pull out old plants since they usually don't come back very well. I usually replace my eggplants every three years or so anyway because the production drops.

[Angela5237]

Hm, I wonder if the three week burst of serious heat we had here in NY a few weeks back is the cause of all of this. The plants themselves look fine, despite the occasional yellow leaf. Yesterday I cut off all of the yellow ones growing and the image below is what I collected afterwards I cut one of the small eggplants open yesterday after I cut it off of the plant and the whole inside was just seedy and black. Basically at this point I feel like there is no hope for eating some eggplants from my backyard this season.

[applestar]

Have you tried cutting open a much younger fruit with tender skin?
I'm really curious as to what that would look like inside.

...don't go by size, my eggplants never bear fruits as big as they are supposed to. -- I'm still working on getting that right.

[imafan26]

What variety of eggplant do you have?

When eggplants go to seed, they don't really have much of a green stage, they start to yellow very quickly.

[Angela5237]

Good idea, Applestar, I'm going to check that out and I'll post later on to let you know. So far I've been observing that it is only "not yellow" for such a short period of time when the fruit is the size of an egg or a golf ball.

ImAFan- To be honest, I have no idea what kind of eggplants I'm growing except that they were supposed to be normal purple ones haha. I got the plants from my father who got them from a gardening center. The little information insert in the plants said purple eggplants, the same thing I've been growing for years and years.

[applestar]

If it turns yellow while small, Abe it's an ornamental eggplant
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mv061