Eggplant plants small?

[highridgejoe]

This is my 1st attempt at growing eggplant.....after about 6 weeks the plant is only 1 1/2 ft high...planted from nursery stock at about 8 inches....
Ground has been weeded and fertilized as best as I can think of..but I must be missing something...all my other plants are flourishing except for the eggplant and the pepper plants...small plants will yield small fruit and even less of them...any suggestions as to what might help solve my problem and save my season?

Thanks

joe t

[purduevet]

Hey, my first year too, and I have one pepper and one eggplant. The plants seem to be doing fine, and are only about 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall also. I have four peppers on the plant now, and they are 1/2 to 2/3 the size of grocery store varieties, and they're nowhere near done growing, so I wouldn't give up yet. My eggplant has flowered, but the fruit is not really evident yet, but seems ok. Best of luck.

[hendi_alex]

I find pepper plants and to a less extent egg plants ot be a little temperamental. Cool temperatures, excess moisture, compact soil, weather conditions outside of their comfort zone,...... My jalapenos did wonderfully last year. This year we have been early cool, followed by prolonged early hot, then cool, then hot. We have had prolonged drought followed by the last couple weeks of near daily rains. My jalapenos are alive but are doing almost nothing. I think that most of the problem lies in my overwatering however and somewhat compact soil. Was gone much of the spring and watered via an automatic sprinkler which waters pretty indiscriminantely. If your plants look healthy but are simply undersized, I would perhaps step up the fertilizer a bit, but really just be patient as they should perform well and may just be a little behind their "normal" schedule.

[highridgejoe]

Lots of rain this year in NY....maybe thats part of it...My eggplant is only about 1 ft not quite 1 1/2' yet...will pray it begins to shoot up....tomato plants almost 3 ft high high now...my 6 yr old can play hide and seek in them...

[57ChevyChick]

I raised eggplant last year and one thing you have to watch out for are "fleas"....Eggplant plants seems to draw them to a garden and then they will get on everything you have....They are not normal fleas like you would find on a dog , they are tiny black bugs...I looked it up last year and found out they were garden fleas.....This year I decided not to plant eggplant because of that....Good luck and spray at the first sign of them....