It’s not always easy to confidently remove eggplant fruits from plants. This is partly because of the long growing season, and partly because we are being told that there is a fine line between ‘under-developed’ and ‘overly mature’. You may be tempted to leave fruits in situ longer, thinking those extra few days will give you a bigger crop – this is a risky move. Crops that aren’t harvested while glossy and firm don’t always get bigger with age. What often happens instead is they get tougher, spongier or bitter.
While the best eggplants are harvested while relatively young, there are ways you can enjoy tasty eggplant fruits that are still developing at the end of the growing season (September). A few clever greenhouse ideas can improve your chances with fruits that seem just a little way off perfection. Lucy recommends that you boost temperatures under glass as external temperatures start to cool. Close vents and adjust blinds to raise warmth levels. ‘Putting plants under slight stress speeds up ripening,’ says Lucy.
You should also stop watering, and maybe try adding a bed of straw around the base of plants. If plants are growing in greenhouse beds or growbags, Lucy recommends sliding a garden fork under the rootball and part-lifting the plant, as this can also accelerate the ripening process.