Ultra: Nightshade Garden (12/29/17)

[jcosmo]

It's Day 40. I've had to raise the hood twice since my last update. I'm seeing buds on both, but I think it's going to be a while before the eggplant is ready to be pollinated. Though some of the pepper buds are getting close...

[MaryL]

Ooo, buds!  Very exciting!

[Shawn]

Those leaves

[MaryL]

Feb 8, 2018 6:07:47 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Those leaves

Lol!  Totally.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could use the huge eggplant leaves for something, like they do with big grape leaves, or cabbage roll ups?  They probably taste dreadful though.

VERY PROMISING! LQQK at those leaves!!!!

[mike]

I hate to say it, but my only success with eggplants was in a 5-gallon bucket. I used a 6-inch net pot and clay balls. The one plant was 3-feet wide and 3-feet tall. The leaves were huge. I believe they were the same variety you are growing.

[jcosmo]

I'm raising the hood at least every other day for the eggplant. This is nuts. But today, the first flower opened wide enough to pollinate! The pepper is flowering as well and one flower dropped to reveal the very first pepper forming. It's now day 46:

[Shawn]

Very exciting to see flowers and a teeny pepper

[Kate]

Beautiful plants and lovely flowers. Do you guys shake/vibrate to pollinate or individually daub each flower with a q-tip, etc? I've never had to self-pollinate, so to speak. Even in my greenhouse I must have had buckets o'bees, because every summer my two each of tomatoes, peppers and cukes would produce enough food for the whole neighborhood.

[drbanks]

I use the Aerogarden "Be the Bee."  I probably have a half a dozen by now.

[Kate]

I was going to get one, but reviews were less than stellar, so I didn't. Hmmm...

[drbanks]

I don't know.  It works OK for me, and it isn't like they're going to break the bank or anything.

[Shawn]

I have one and it did not last very long.  I have to keep reattaching the top to t he base.  I just landed up using my battery operated toothbrush with all the bristles cut off. 

[MaryL]

I used to just shake, but I noticed Mike and Dawn and Shawn were always getting bigger pepper harvests than me, so I finally bought a bee the bee and use it on each flower.

[Kate]

I have two Braun electric toothbrushes, with a high and low speed selection, and tons of new replacement brushes. Perhaps I could try that to start. I see a lot of videos where they're used and they swear by this method.

[MaryL]

That’ll work well too.

[jcosmo]

Feb 14, 2018 8:59:14 GMT -5 Kate said:

Do you guys shake/vibrate to pollinate or individually daub each flower with a q-tip, etc?

For the tomatoes, I've been brushing the opening of each flower with my fingers. I've found this to be incredibly effective, though at this point I might have more tomatoes than the little plants can support!

For the peppers, the flowers that are opening are right against the main stem, and I can't easily hold the branches out of the way without breaking them, so I have a paintbrush for the eggplant and a paintbrush for the peppers that I use to pollinate those.

[jcosmo]

Though it might not be as suitable for bigger plants, I just came across this article that discusses 3 techniques for pollinating dwarf tomatoes.

[MaryL]

This last round of eggplant and tomatoes I used my fingertip on each flower.  I didn’t have the bee the bee yet.  It’ll be interesting to learn it there’s much of a difference.

[mike]

I use the back of an old toothbrush head for my Oral-B toothbrush. I touch it to the stem of the bloom. It works great.