Fairy Tale Eggplant 9/24/21 to 12/23/22 (461 Days)

[lynnee]

Day 261. First harvest from the Immortals since the last major pruning. These should have been harvested a couple of weeks ago, because the one the arrow is pointing to is 6 inches long!

They'll make good eggplant casseroles, though. I think that they may have begun to self-pollinate sometimes, which is mildly disturbing!

[Sher]

Jun 3, 2022 13:33:05 GMT -5 lynnee said:

Day 261. I think that they may have begun to self-pollinate sometimes, which is mildly disturbing!

Immortal and self pollinating!!! 

[Shawn]

They are nice sized.

[lynnee]

Day 295 (9 months and 21 days)

The two Fairy Tale eggplants are still flourishing, despite having been neglected for several weeks.



This is all the stuff that came off today (fruit and excess greenery). That's a very large mixing bowl.

Of course I made a big pruning error, and took off a big flowering branch.





A few of the eggplants were going bad on the vine. I was surprised at the big yellow-green ones, which are still firm.



Here are all the edible eggplants (top row a bit questionable), arranged on the top of my kitchen range. If I'd been paying attention, I'd never have allowed most of them to get so big. The largest ones are probably 6 inches long.  

I decided not to taste these, because I'm not cooking while husband Ray is in rehab.  Sad, but I'll probably see yet another harvest.



If there is any one thing that accounts for these plants' longevity and productivity, it is likely to be the Aerovoir. It gives them a constant supply of fresh water, and their roots don't ever get exposed by low water levels. Every 2 weeks, they get 24ml AG nutes, 10ml Koolbloom, and 10ml CalMag+. They get a siphon-only R&R every 2 weeks.

[Sher]

I am in awe of your eggplant results, lynnee!

[lynnee]

Day 330. The eggplants have been neglected--indifferent pollinating and harvesting--but they don't seem to know it. The plants need a bit more pruning.



Here's the latest harvest, which includes some huge eggplants. I need to cook these up just to find out how the oversized ones taste! That's a 12" bowl standing on four floor tiles.

[Shawn]

You are the Eggplant Queen!

[lynnee]

For some reason, the eggplants love that location. I guess that it's the coolest spot in the room. They also like the Aerovoir.

All plants seem to like having the stable water level made possible by the Aerovoir, or by a jug arrangement like the one that maskedsonnet has for some gardens.

I don't want to add Aerovoirs to the Farms in the carpeted living room, though, unless I can figure out something that will guarantee no spillage. The Roomba occasionally hits things fairly hard.

[Shawn]

I am looking at something like this tho put under the unit

[airscapes]

Aug 14, 2022 15:07:02 GMT -5 Shawn said:

I am looking at something like this tho put under the unit

add on of these to the tray since it won't hold 2 gallons if things go very wrong in some way... 


Water alarm

[lynnee]

Thanks Shawn and airscapes !  

Today I set an Aerovoir up on the carpet with an egg-carton-shaped refrigerator organizer holding the Aerovoir. I have only 5" between the Farm and the bookcase, so any tray is too wide for the space. I'm thinking about adding one of the water alarms if I can find a place to plug it in.



The refrigerator organizer raises the Aerovoir about 3/4" of an inch, which means it is a bit too high if you use the optional Aerovoir stand. I may need to put some rubber or plastic layers in the bottom of the organizer if the Aerovoir turns out to be too low for the siphon action to work properly.

That garden tray looks like the ideal shape to go under a Harvest or Bounty.

[Shawn]

While that tray is not deep, it is something to catch any overflow until you get to the plug.  Currently I have an absorbent towel under the farm and I think I will add that garden tray (36" wide) as an extra proctant.  I remember after my surgery the reaper tried to clean my deck and water flew everywhere... Reaper is never allowed near it again.

[lynnee]

Day 345. Today I pruned the two Fairy Tale eggplants, after harvesting another 14 eggplants.

Once again, I cut off a big flowering branch in error. The plants now have long vine-like stems, so it's hard to tell where the lush new growth is coming from. The plants have become hard to manage, but I really want to see how much longer they will continue to produce!

Here are the before and after photos of the pruning. The plants also got an R&R.

 

[Shawn]

Lots of pruning but still a beauty

[lynnee]

Day 365!

[lynnee]

Day 413. Today I did an R&R on the Immortals, and harvested 9 good-sized dwarf eggplants. Discarded two because they'd been left too long and were losing their color and gloss.

The plants still have lots of large leaves and big purple blossoms. They've been neglected of late--the R&R was a week overdue (21 days, not 14). Added the usual 24ml AG nutes, 10ml CalMag+, 8ml KoolBloom.

[Shawn]

They are immortal    I need to do R&R's on mine this week.  Way overdue

[lynnee]

The Immortals have another nice crop of eggplants ready to harvest! They sure do love that location.

The eggplants are more visible than usual, because I pruned the two plants a few days ago to remove most of the leaves that were showing calcium/magnesium/iron deficiency. I need to do a more thorough pruning soon to improve air circulation and remove the remaining unhealthy leaves (see lower right photo). Still giving these guys a Farm-pump R&R every two weeks (24ml AG nutes, 10ml CalMag+, 8-10ml Koolbloom). 

[Shawn]

Immortal is right

[lynnee]

Day 445. Another R&R, and another eggplant harvest! As usual, 24ml AG nutrients, 10ml Koolbloom, 10ml CalMag+.