Too much leaf on my aubergines?

[annacruachan]

I've never grown aubergines before and have them in tubs in the conservatory. They look very healthy and have flowers but there's an awful lot of leaf; the flowers are buried in it. Is this usual? Should I take off some of the leaf to let the sun get at the fruits when they appear? Glad of any advice from you knowlegdeable peeps.

[Flobalob]

Never grown them before either. Mine have several with fruit growing with 5-8 on each plant. Loads of leafs (bigger than I antisipated) so far so very good.

[crichmond]

The leaves grow very big and you get a lot of them but dont worry it is normal and the flowers will self pollinate.
My plants last year (black beauty) grew to just under 5 foot high and a couple of foot wide.

[annacruachan]

The leaves grow very big and you get a lot of them but dont worry it is normal and the flowers will self pollinate.
My plants last year (black beauty) grew to just under 5 foot high and a couple of foot wide.

Thank you, Crichmond, that's a relief. Mine are the smaller egg-shaped stripey white and purple ones and don't seem to be growing very high - just outwards!

[bendm]

Aubergines

Watch out for red spider,and they can be prone to some type of wilt.

[crichmond]

and they can be prone to some type of wilt.

You should have seen mine when I forgot to water them but they soon picked up again although if you forget to water it can damage the fruit by making soft patches that turn a brownish colour and then that fruit is ruined.

[tamsin]

I've the same, stripy ones and mini ones (two of each) the leaves are giant! The flowers are quite tucked away which is a shame because they are really pretty. It doesn't seem to have stopped it producing aubergines though.

I have a bit of a question too, they don't change colour like peppers/toms so how do you tell when they are ready. I've never grown them before so I don't know how big they are meant to get. The mini belles around about an 1" x 2". If I pick them too soon will they still be edible?

[crichmond]

They are edible at any size but obviously if you pick them before they reach their ideal size you get less. I cant advise on what is them best size to crop yours as the different varieties are all different sizes so you need to look up what size the type you are growing grow to and pick them either when they reach this size or as is my preference before they reach their max size.

Cheers Chris

[tamsin]

Thanks Chris!

[annacruachan]

Today one of the flowers that had gone brown dropped off but left nothing behind it. I'm a bit concerned that I'm doing something wrong. Is it possible to water too much? Or too little? Can they get too hot? I have only recently had Coolglass on the conservatory roof and had to swathe everything in wet sheets to stop them frying!