How to Grow Eggplant
in Your Backyard Garden

Learning how to grow eggplant comes down to one thing: heat. Eggplant is a warm-season vegetable that can't stand even a light frost and sulks in cool weather. Wait until warm weather has arrived to stay, give it sun and rich soil, and it will reward you with glossy fruit all summer. The British call it aubergine.

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How to grow eggplant.

Eggplant at a glance
Sun	Full sun, 8 hours or more
Soil	Rich, well-drained, with plenty of compost; pH 5.8 to 6.8
Start seeds	Indoors 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost
Transplant	2 to 3 weeks after your last frost, when the soil is 70°F and nights stay above 55°F
Spacing	18 to 24 inches apart, rows 30 to 36 inches apart
Days to harvest	About 60 to 80 days from transplanting
Water	About 1 inch a week; keep the soil evenly moist

How to Grow Eggplant: Starting and Planting

Eggplants growing in a backyard vegetable garden — Eggplants in the garden.

Start seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost. Eggplant seeds need warmth to sprout, ideally 80 to 90°F, so a heat mat helps. Plant them 1/4 inch deep.
Or buy transplants at a garden center in spring. Choose stocky plants without flowers or fruit.
Wait for warm weather. Harden off the plants for a week, and set them out 2 to 3 weeks after your last frost, when the soil has warmed to 70°F. Cold nights stunt eggplant for weeks.
Enrich the soil. Work 2 or 3 inches of compost into the planting area, along with a balanced organic fertilizer. Eggplants are heavy feeders.
Warm it up. In cooler climates, raised beds and black plastic mulch warm the soil and give eggplants a head start.
Stake them. Large-fruited varieties get top-heavy, so add a stake or small cage at planting time.

Find your best planting dates with our free personalized planting calendar.

Caring for Eggplant

Close-up of a purple eggplant blossom and a growing eggplant — Eggplant blossom and young fruit.

Water evenly. About an inch a week, at the base of the plants. Drought stress makes the fruit bitter and misshapen.
Mulch. Once the soil is warm, mulch with straw or weed-free grass clippings to hold in moisture and keep weeds down.
Feed again when the first fruits form, with compost or a balanced fertilizer.
Keep it warm. In cool areas, a floating row cover early in the season adds warmth and keeps out flea beetles. Remove it when the plants start to bloom, so bees can pollinate the flowers.

Small eggplant forming on the plant in the garden — A young eggplant forming on the plant.

Best Eggplant Varieties

Part of learning how to grow eggplant is choosing a variety. Eggplants come in deep purple, white, pink, green, and striped varieties, and in shapes from round to long and slender.

Black Beauty: the classic large, nearly black, oval eggplant, ready in about 80 days. The pale flesh is excellent breaded and fried.
Japanese types, like Ichiban: long, slender fruits that ripen earlier, a good choice for cooler climates.
Fairy Tale: small, striped purple-and-white fruits on compact plants, perfect for containers.
Rosa Bianca and Listada de Gandia: beautiful Italian and Spanish heirlooms with pink, white, and purple-striped skins.

Different colors and shapes of eggplant varieties — Eggplants come in many colors and shapes.

Growing Eggplant in Containers

Pot size: at least 5 gallons for one plant; 10 gallons or more for large varieties.
Soil: a good bagged potting mix, not garden soil.
Sun and heat: a sunny, warm spot, such as a south-facing patio. Dark pots warm up faster.
Water and feed: check the pot daily in hot weather, and feed every one to two weeks with a liquid fertilizer, following the label.
Varieties: compact types like Fairy Tale do best in pots.

See container vegetable gardening for more.

Harvesting Eggplant

How to harvest eggplant chart — How to harvest eggplant.

Pick when glossy. Eggplant is ready when the skin is shiny and the fruit is firm and springs back when you press it. Dull skin means it is overripe, with bitter, seedy flesh.
Pick young. Smaller fruits are more tender. Picking often keeps the plant producing.
Cut, don't pull. Use pruners or a sharp knife, leaving an inch of stem. Pulling can damage the plant. Some varieties have prickly stems, so wear gloves.
Pick when dry, in the cool of the morning. Working with wet plants spreads disease.
Handle gently. Eggplants bruise easily, and bruised fruit spoils quickly. Use them within a week; store them cool, but not in a cold refrigerator for long.

Eggplant Pest Control

Fresh eggplants and leaves — Fresh eggplants.

Flea beetles: tiny black beetles that chew so many small holes the leaves look like lace. They love eggplant. Cover young plants with floating row cover held up by tomato cages, and remove it when the plants bloom. Yellow sticky traps catch some beetles too. Older, larger plants usually outgrow the damage.
Cutworms: they cut young plants off at the soil line. Put a cardboard collar around each transplant, pushed an inch into the soil.
Colorado potato beetles: hand-pick the striped adults and the orange egg clusters under the leaves.
Aphids and spider mites: spray them off with a strong stream of water, or use insecticidal soap, following the label.

Eggplant Diseases

Verticillium wilt: leaves turn yellow, then brown, and wilt, often starting on one side of the plant. This soil-borne fungus also attacks tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes, and it can stay in the soil for many years. Rotate crops, and don't plant eggplant where any of these crops grew in the last 3 to 4 years. In a small garden used every year, grow eggplant in large containers of fresh potting mix.
Mosaic viruses: mottled, light-and-dark green leaves, slow growth, and poor fruit set. Buy healthy plants, wash your hands after handling tobacco products, control aphids, and remove infected plants.
Blossom drop: flowers fall off without setting fruit when nights are below about 60°F or days are above 90°F. It usually stops when the weather evens out.