Eggplants are as easy to grow as Tomatoes. There are many varieties to choose from: Black Prince, Dusky, Easter Egg, Long Purple, Moneymaker and many more. Eggplants originate from India where they still grow in wild nowadays.
It is a heat-loving plant, so if exposed to cold weather a plant can suffer from pests and diseases. Many gardening enthusiasts like to grow eggplants on a balcony, in a greenhouse or outdoors. However, it is a common thing when eggplant is not flowering.
If the flowering stage has been reached, the most likely cause why eggplant is not flowering is lighting problem – too little light or wrong day length. Other reasons are overfeeding, dry air or pests. In this article we will look into the reasons why eggplants don’t blossom and what are the solutions.
How long does it take for an eggplant to flower?
Eggplant is a self pollinating plant meaning that it has both female and male organs in one flower. The fruit starts in the female part of the flower when it is pollinated with male pollen. Approximately, it takes up to 8 weeks for an eggplant to flower.
How long it takes often depends on the temperature as well as variety and amount of direct sunlight. Also, it take from 2 to 3 month after germination for an eggplant to mature and produce fruit. Keep in mind that you need to remove flowers once first 5 fruits form.
Why Is Eggplant Not Flowering?
- Lighting Problem
When growing eggplants indoors, make sure that they get about 12 to 14 hours of light. Choose a very sunny spot in your yard or a greenhouse. However, you would need to provide them with a shade on the particularly sunny days.
Once the seedlings are 3 inches tall, transplant them in a south-facing spot in a greenhouse or garden. Natural sunlight is sufficient on South and in the middle regions of the US, but in North you might need to use additional light. You can find more information on grow light here.
- Lack of water
Watering is crucial for blooming and fruit development. You need to water eggplants consistently, so installing a soaker hose or drip irrigation system at ground level is very helpful. Aim to moisten the soil to a depth of at least 6 inches, however, it should never be soggy.
Generally, you need to water young plants twice a week in hot climates. Make sure that you are not using standing water. If the leaves are wilting during the day, that is a sign of underwatering. You can find more information on watering by reading a blog post on ‘How to water greenhouse plants’.
- Overfeeding
Too much nitrogen and lack of phosphorus can be a reason why eggplant is not blooming. If your eggplant is healthy with thick, lush leaves but no flowers, you need to cut down on fertilizer high in nitrogen. Also, excess of nitrogen causes abnormal leaves growth.
Test the soil for nutrients prior to adding any chemicals. When confirmed that soil is high in nitrogen and low in phosphorus, add ammonium phosphate to the soil around eggplants. You need to apply balanced fertilizer during the growing season.
Why do eggplants have flowers but no fruits?
If the eggplants have flowers but no fruits, it can be because of the temperatures drop. Generally, the most common problem is that you are not watering the plant enough or eggplant fails to pollinate. When growing in pot, you can leave water in the saucer and it should make the plant develop fruit.
If it fails, the reason why no fruits are developing is due to poor pollination. Outdoors wind is responsible for pollinating plants, so insects don’t carry pollen from one plant to another. Thus, on a hot day heat can burn pollen. On the other hand, when humidity is high, pollen gets sticky and can’t fall down to pollinate a flower.
When growing indoors and plant starts to bloom, you need shake the plant every day to make sure that pollen falls from anther (male) to pistil (female) in each flower. Alternatively, you can hand pollinate eggplant flowers. Just take a paintbrush and spread the pollen within the flowers.
Have you followed all of the above and still no fruits? It is probably too cold. For a successful fruit development temperatures should be 80° to 90°F during the day and no lower than 60° to 65°F at night. Unless you are in warmer regions or growing in a heated greenhouse, eggplants stop producing fruits in cooler months.
