Growing Brinjal in Pots:
The following information is all about growing Brinjal in pots.
Eggplant commonly known as brinjal India is the cousin of tropical vegetables like tomatoes and potatoes. Brinjal belongs to the family of Solanum. Brinjal is the most used vegetable in all types of dishes.
Botanical Name is Brinjal is Solanum melongena.
Brinjal comes in many colors: White, Green, Purple, and yellow.
Brinjal Varieties: White, Dwarf, Snake. Different varieties of plants produce eggplants of different sizes, shapes,s, and colors.
Brinjal in Indian Languages
- Telugu: Vankaya/Sannvankaya.
- Kannada: Badanekai/Gulla.
- Bengali: Begun.
- Gujarati: Baingan/Ringna.
- Konkani: Vaingan.
- Marathi: Vange.
- Oriya: Baigan/Baigana.
- Punjabi: Bataun/Baingan.
- Kashmiri: Waangum.
Brinjal plants easily grow in a container like tomatoes. These plants need good space to grow. Brinjal plants grow into medium-sized bushes, even you can get hybrid varieties that grown very short and compact.
Growing Eggplants will be a good gardening time pass and the best kids’ project. What all you need is just some high fertile soil, a container with enough growing space and draining holes, good quality seeds, and a place that receives the necessary amount of sunlight.
Read this: Vegetable Farming At Home.
Possible ways for Growing Brinjal in Pots
There are two ways to grow eggplant in containers:
- Growing Brinjal in Pots using seeds: You can grow eggplant in containers using seeds. You can buy the seeds at the market or online. Sow the seeds on the container and grow them.
- Growing Brinjal in Pots using transplantation: You can grow the eggplants by planting seedlings from the nurseries or gardening center. Growing eggplant using seedlings is bit easier job than germinating plants from seeds.
Sunlight for Growing Brinjal in Pots
Eggplant seeds sown in the seed tray don’t require direct sunlight for the first 1 to 2 weeks. You can place the containers in direct sunlight or shade as per the plant requirements. If your plant is not doing good in the sunlight you can keep it in the shade. If the growth not well in the shade you can place it in sunlight for 2 to 3 hours.
Water requirement for Growing Brinjal in Pots
Watering should only do on alternate days. Overwatering and under watering may spoil the plant. Water the plant as per moisture levels in the container.
Soil requirement for Growing Brinjal in Pots
- Loose and fast-draining potting soil better to grow eggplant.
- And soil shouldn’t dry out fast. And the Soil should hold moist.
- If the soil you’re using is very light, you should water the plant frequently.
- Soil should be moist and not wet.
- In summers if you keep the soil moist for more time use
Ideal Soil Mix for Growing Brinjal in Pots
Two equal parts of fertile soil and sand + 1 part compost + a little amount of fertilizer with nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium in ratio 5-10-5.
- Fertile soil – supports the plant with good nutrients. The pH levels of the soil should be in between 6.3 to 6.8.
- Sand-Holds the moistures.
- Compost- gives additional nutrition to the soil.
- Fertilizer- gives strength to the roots and increases yields.
Growing Brinjal in Pots from seed
- To grow eggplants from seeds, you need a seedling tray, or you can directly sow the seeds.
- The ideal temperature needed for seeds to germinate is 20°C.
- Fill the seedling trays with soil loosely. Make a1/2 inch hole in the middle with a small stick or pencil.
- Now sow 2 seeds into each hole and cover the seed with soil lightly.
- Place the seedling trays in sunlight. Make sure that it gets sunlight at least 6 to 7 hours per day.
- The soil in the tray should moist all the time. Make sure that the soil doesn’t get dried out.
- The seed takes 1 or 2 weeks to germinate, once they germinate. Keep seedling that is strong and pop out the weaker ones.
- Once your plant reaches ½ inch height, they are ready for transplantation.
- Keep your containers ready.
Containers / Pots for Growing Brinjal in Pots
- Each eggplant required a minimum of 30.5-centimeter space to grow so each plant required a separate container. Eggplant required a good amount of space to grow, so select the container that must have a minimum 20-liter capacity.
- You can select plastic pots, plastic buckets, clay containers, or garbage bags to grow eggplants.
- Clay containers are the best option to grow eggplant. As eggplants are warm plants, clay holds more heat than other containers. Select the glazed clay containers than unglazed containers.
- Make sure that the containers should have a good drainage system. Large drainage holes help to balance out the moisture levels of the soil.
- Before planting clean your containers neatly with soap and water to avoid fungal or bacterial diseases to the plants.
- Fill the containers with potting mix, leaving ½ inch at the top of the soil and rim of the container.
- Make a hole at the center of the container and plant the eggplant.
- How to transplant the eggplant seedling: make the soil so that seedlings can be pulled out easily. You should be very careful while pulling out seedlings without harming their roots.
- Now place the seedling in the hole dug in the center of the containers. Now cover the hole with the potting mix without compressing.
- Water the plant on an alternative day by checking its moisture levels.
- Keep the container at any location that gets at least 6 to 7 hours of sunlight. Sunlight is very essential for the eggplants as it promotes the growth of the plant.
- In summer, plants should be watered even thrice a day as per water requirement. You check the moisture levels by popping the fingers into the soil.
- You can add a 2-3 inch layer of mulch to hold moisture in the soil. This can avoid weeds and fungal disease. Mulch can be of sugar cane, coconut pit, or any organic matter.
Growing Brinjal in Pots by Direct Seedling
You can get the grown seedling from any nurseries or garden centers. You can just buy seedlings and plant them in your containers. Then the next growing procedure will same as above.
Fertilizers required for Growing Brinjal in Pots
To increase the yield and nutrients in eggplants you should apply fertilizers. Eggplants are heavy feeders, so they need high phosphorous. Apply the balanced fertilizer that has nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium in a ratio of 5-10-5.
And use liquid plant food spray to leaves for healthy growth.
Checking the pH levels in Soils for Growing Brinjal in Pots
Eggplants need soil with a pH between 6.3 to 6.8. In case of decrease or increase you can use agricultural lime or additional organic matter like compost or plant litter or fertilizers. You can the pH levels using litmus paper.
Staking the eggplants in pots/containers
When the plants start growing longer, you need to tie the stem of the plant to the stake using twin or thin fabric thread. Staking gives good support to the plant. Don’t tie the thread too tightly it may cut the stem.
Pruning for Growing Brinjal in Pots
Like other vegetable plants, pruning and picking the suckers improves the growth of the plants. You should remove the diseased leaves, yellow leaves, and cut branched growing tall and lanky.
Pests and Diseases in Growing Brinjal in Pots
The most common pests for eggplants are the black flea beetle, aphids, and cutworm, these insects are common in eggplants. But these insects don’t harm if the plant is healthy. Cutworm can be prevented by cutworm collars or any other organic sprays.
Chemical fertilizers are not recommended for homegrown eggplants. You can use neem oil or organic sprays to control the common pests.
Good sanitation and crop rotation practices can control many fungal diseases.
Harvesting the eggplants
- Eggplants take two to three months (60 to 70 days) to harvest. Eggplants come in different sizes, colors, and shapes and each has its own harvesting period. The plants produce eggplants which grow to become glossy when fully mature.
- A perfect eggplant has tender glossy skin and it stops growing. You check by pressing firmly it will produce a thumbprint that bounces back quickly.
- If you don’t pick at the right time, they become too soft and don’t give a good taste to dishes.
- You can use pruning shears to harvest the eggplants.
- Store the eggplants at cool room temperature or in the refrigerator to keep them fresh for long days.
In case if you are interested in this: Hydroponic Nutrient Chart.
