Egg Plant

I was walking along Kamerunga RD Freshwater last week when I noticed what look like a wild egg plant growing on the side of the road. closer inspection reveald the thorns on the side. A wild egg plant or better known as Devil's feet. The seeds are spread by birds as they eat the marble sized fruit it produces. The fruit have a mild toxicity and are illegal to sell commercially. Some Thai people use them in cooking but not recommended.
There strength lies in their durability in this climate mainly due to a strong root system that is tolerant of the wet, which most of the edible varieties are not.I planted it next to my other egg plants with the aim of grafting some black beauty onto the root stock. I'll let it settle in and then graft 2 or 3 onto the folks that come from the main stem, you could also graft a couple of different varieties onto the one root stock.
This way your egg plants will flower and fruit for 3-4 years growing a hardy thick tree like stem. Generally egg plants will only last 1 season producing 8-14 fruits before it's finished.
Egg plants so called because of their shape and they do also have a white coloured fruit resembling an egg. Egg plant or albergine are native to tropical asia, most gardeners growing the cultivars 'Black Beauty', 'Long Purple'. The fruit contains 90-93% water, 1-2% protein, 4-6% carbohydrate and about 1% fibre with B-carotene and vitamin c.
They grow best with day temperatures between 21-35 degrees and night temperatures between 15-24 degrees. growing best on a well drained sany soil high in organic matter. Grows quite well on mulched clay loam also. Plants are sensitive to water stress, dropping their flowers if not enough. Pruning the tops will encourage more lateral bushy growth.
Egg plants will need a top dressing of manure and mulch 4 times a year. I'll also liquid feed my egg plants once they start flowering with chicken manure water down.

Got some nice looking cucumber at present - Chinese Snake variety. The beans have been producing an endless supply. Have 4-5 egg plants developing on each Black Beauty plant.
From "muck to meal bag" traditional Irish saying.