Author Topic: Smooth-leaved aubergines  (Read 1059 times)

Vinlander

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Smooth-leaved aubergines
« on: September 20, 2018, 12:03:21 »
I stopped growing ordinary aubergines a while back because of spider mite - they seem to be a magnet for the buggers and though misting them every day works it means you simply can't grow tomatoes under the same cover for fear of blight.

I still grow a small number of Ophelia plants because they are so much quicker, and I can handle the loss of a small crop.

For my main crop I rely on the smooth-leaved types that cope with the mites - or manage not to attract them - as well as peppers do anyway...

I've been growing Turkish Orange, Goyo, and Toga for the last few years, and the fruits never got much bigger than 4cm.

This now turns out to have been a good thing, because this year they have all lost their fleshy nature and become seedy in different ways.

The Turkish have grown to the size of Marmande tomatoes in the last 3 weeks (while I wasn't watching), and there is almost no flesh - just 2-3mm around and between compartments of seeds in gel. But they taste OK apart from a slight bitterness in the ones that developed a red blush.

The Goyo ones are all still green and the same size as usual, but they have also gone to compartments and seeds, and they have got very bitter in the process - they can only be used in stews (I like bitterness if it's diluted - many bitters used as food are very powerful & beneficial).

This is what I don't understand - I associate seedy with ripeness - usually as a colour change.

Any Ideas? Will I have to pick them even smaller when it's another good year?

I haven't found any Toga fruit yet - my labelling of seedlings is very unreliable - the plants might well have died before being potted up.

To be brutally honest I only grow aubergines to placate SWMBO - they fail my normal rating test in a spectacular fashion - they are fussy, late, and do almost nothing without precious heat, light and space in the propagator, and equally precious space under cover.

More importantly, after squandering all these resources they then fruit in the same month as the main season from Spain etc. - a time when they are "cheap as chips".

If I can't work out what's going on I'll just grow a few Ophelia for lip service and a show of obedience - I'll use the space for something like Green Tiger tomatoes that can't be bought for love or money (and taste better with every day on the plant - even when they wrinkle up - would be the world's greatest sundried tomato if I could resist them long enough).

To sum up -  :BangHead:

Cheers.

With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

Digeroo

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Re: Smooth-leaved aubergines
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2018, 20:55:28 »
I do not know if it works will all aubergines, but I find if you slice them put a little oil on them and then zap for a couple of minutes in the microwave they are less bitter.  Also rubbing salt on is supposed to help. They have wonderful aubergines dishes in Turkey, lots of tomatoes and spices presume this covers up any bitterness.

 

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