Eggplants

Question

I would like info on my eggplant plants. I planted eggplants in March and they grew beautifully, big and a lot of flowers; they were fertilized and watered every day. But they did not produce anything. I only got one eggplant out of 9 plants. I do not know what happened. They are located in a screened area and get sun. Do they have to be out of the screened area and get pollinated? I would like ideas as to what I am doing wrong, as it is frustrating when the plants are beautiful and so many flowers and nothing grows from the flowers. Any info you can give me will be very helpful.

Answer 1

Yes, they do need to be pollinated to produce. Putting them out of the screened area will give them access to pollinators, but you can hand pollinate as well with a small paintbrush if you would like to keep them in the screened area.

Pollinating with a small paintbrush is time consuming but easy. Simply take the brush and swirl it gently on the inside of a blossom, then move on to a new blossom and swirl the brush in the inside of that blossom. Repeat with all the flowers. You can use a brush from a craft store. You just want something at least half the width of your pinky.