Climate Eggplant is damaged by frost and low temperatures. Cold weather will retard crops and reduce yields. Strong winds will damage branches and scar the fruit. In Perth, eggplant may be protected with cloches, in a similar manner to capsicums. Soils Eggplant is deep rooting, so lighter textured, free draining soils are better than soils with high clay content.
Lighter soils warm up quickly in spring and are more suitable for early plantings.
On acidic soils, add lime to raise the soil pH. Varieties There are many varieties of eggplant with varying shapes and colours, which include purple, white, yellow, green, pink and red varieties. The eggplant with most demand is dark purple and globular in shape, such as the Black Bell variety. A good tear-drop variety is Epic and miniature purple varieties include Little Fingers and Baby Fingers. Seedlings Seedlings are usually six to ten weeks old, with five to seven leaves, and are 10 to 15 cm high when they are transplanted into the field. In Perth, they may need to be grown in a greenhouse in winter for early spring planting.