fg62
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 7:57 am

droping leaves on my eggplant

plant was doing fine started to produce fruit now when in the sun whole plant starts to droop bad . its in a large pot so I put it in the shade half houre latter is doing fine no more droop. leaves are upright and looks healty. temp in sun is about 75 deg. because its in a pot do I have a nutrient problem

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

No, you either have a pot that is too small or you are not watering enough. Plants do droop midday, but they should come up again when it gets cooler even in the sun.
My final pot for an eggplant is at least a 15 gallon pot. I do have younger eggplant in 1 gallon containers but they need to be moved up to the larger containers once they start fruiting or they will become root bound and stunted.

My larger pots are made of plastic and terra cotta. The terra cotta, ceramic, and metal pots get too hot to touch in the sun so I usually group my plants together. The black plastic pots can get hot too especially if they are out in the sun on a concrete patio or driveway. Grouping the pots will help increase humidity and the outer pots will shade the pots in the middle. Outer pots are double potted and that will help insulate them from the heat.

pepperhead212
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2852
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

Welcome to the forum!

imagan26 touched on a topic that was my first thought when reading your post: the size of the pot. You say it is in a large pot, but what is "large"? A 5 gal bucket is large, to some, but a full sized eggplant, at least of some varieties, will suck that dry in less than 24 hours! I only grow EP in SIPs now, and I figured out, when I started doing this, that the large varieties would "drink" almost 2 gal of water a day! Large tomato plants even more. Maybe nutrients have something to do with the problem, as you noted, but more likely, it's water.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I have grown tomatoes in 18 gallon sips with a 5 gallon reservoir and at least 10 gallons of soil. The roots are huge and they will drink up about 4 gallon of water a day when in full production. I filled the reservoir every day.
Eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers and large peppers are in 15- 25 gallon pots
Eggplant 15-18 gallon pot, the smallest was a 16 inch pot, which I can't even find anymore.
Peppers 15-20 inch pots. Minimum is five gallons, but some of my peppers are over 5 ft tall and over 10 years old
Citrus trees 18-25 gallon tree pots. The lemon went through a 7 gallon nursery pot.
Ginger- I put it in a large tree pot 25 gallons but it does not need a deep pot it needs a wide one. I think it would have been happier in a rectangular rubbermaid tub. The rhizomes are growing wide but not deep. The 7 gallon pot is being pushed out of shape by the roots. I have to harvest or find a wider pot for it.
whisky barrels and 55 gallon drums cut in half make good planters for things that need width and at least 10 inches depth like lettuce, asian greens, beets, chard, short or baby carrots (regular carrots should have pots to accommodate a 10 inch roots with room to spare.
Trees=18-25 gallons minimum. Bigger trees need to be in the ground.
Always use potting soil in a container and you have to feed and water the plants regularly depending on their needs.
For starter I use 1/2 cup of a general purpose fertilizer and supplement monthly for the duration.
I don't have good luck replanting in the same soil and it is not worth me getting a soil test, so I dump out the soil in the yard or garden after it is done. Bleach the container and start with new potting soil.

Most plants with large root systems will do better in the ground. If you are going to grow in the pot, you have to know what the plant requires and the minimum pot sizes for them to do well.

fg62
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 7:57 am

thanks all for the helpfull tips try repotting today



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