PlantFiles: Ornamental Eggplant, Easter Egg Plant
Solanum ovigerum

it says there that it grows in the states well I have one here in canada whats with that...........if there is any one who is looking for one please contact me Thelast_young@hotmail.com

A cool plant and I am still waiting for the cute white fruits..

Mine started blooming with light purple flowers after I re-potted it and took it in when weather outside started to get colder, but then I noticed it's full of spider mites! >:( I took it to the bathroom, gave it a few good showers with warm and cold water, then took washed it with soap and rinsed well. The sauna was warm - lucky me living in Finland - so I took it there with me :D I let it be there in 90°C while enjoying the warmth myself, went outside and came back, the plant had been there for about 10 minutes now. There was a slight smell of clorophyll in the air, so I took the plant back to shower and showered it well. I cut away all the leaves and most of the stem, then let it be in the bathroom for a few days. After that I noticed new growth on it, and took it back under the growing lamps in the living room. No sign of spider mites anymore! :) "Sauna-treatment" was succesful ;D

Follow up for last seasons growth....my plant ended up growing to 4 1/2 feet and was continuing to put on flowers and eggs up until we had a frost in December. Even then only the outside bigger leaves were hurt and the smaller inner leaves continued to grow. There were however a very strange "attachment" to the plant. I guess they could be described as scales but they had a 5 sided shape with a whitish/gray/brown outside and in the center of each section was a dark dot of color. When I picked them off the stems, there seemed to be no damage to the plant and the inside of these scales was a green liquid. These scales were not on any other plant in the garden and were in abudance all over the main stem of the easter egg plant. It was easy to knock them off the plant, but I wondered about what was causing this. I have not seen any other comments from other growers regarding this matter.

We had no problem collecting the seeds and already have baby plants growing in peat pots for this spring planting. I am looking forward to adding them to our garden again this year.

This year I intend to leave the plant as a whole as when I pulled up the stubs and roots of the plants from last year, the roots seemed to be healthy. However am not sure they would have even produced another plant. Has anyone had them come back?
Elaine

I received baby plants via family from a northern state friend and was curious if it would grow here in Texas. Our summers get very hot and the sun can scorch, but this Eastern Egg Plant has done very well here in central Texas. Happy planting.

Elaine

I live in the northern part of South Carolina.

My mother gave me one of her plants that she bought at a WalMart; it came with a recipe book, but she threw it away. She does remember that was suppose to be used like eggplant in recipes. My plant is about 3 1/2 feet tall with 9 "eggs" on it. I place Miracle Gro fertilizer sticks in the soil once a month. It receives about 2 hours of morning sun then the rest of the day its in shade. Beautiful plant.

I've been raising these for 4-5 years just as a conversation piece, and it sure works. I plant mine in light shade and they grow fine with plenty of water and plant food about every other week. All the walkers in the neighborhood take a second look when they have eggs hanging on them!lol

I'm very happy with the outcome of this plant. I started them in pots and moved them from full sun to semi-shade for a month and they grew just fine. Feeding them with plant food once a week seems to produce more blooms.

I think this is a GREAT Plant to have in a Garden or a POT as a Specimen Plant...it's stands ALONE Quit well~.....it's just something different to LOOK at and talk about! ...and I grow them strictly for looks....(I'd heard they are "Inedible" but I can't verify that.) ~
You throw seeds in, sit back and watch them grow...no effort at all! What could be easier??


Growing conditions for white eggplant is very similar to that for the more common purple kinds. May be started from seed and are well adapted to container culture. Problems such as spider mites and wilts also affect white eggplant. Eggplants should be grown during the warm seasons.

A fact sheet published by the University of Florida's Cooperative Extension Service explains the differences between S. ovigerum (grown as an inedible ornamental plant) and white fruit varieties of S. melongena, which are edible:

Fruit color:
S. ovigerum fruit is white when immature but turn yellow as they mature.

S. melongena fruit remains white at maturity, some with a hint of green.

Fruit size:
S. ovigerum fruit typically remains small, resembling their namesake hen's eggs in size and shape.

S. melongena white varieties grow to typical eggplant size at maturity, significantly larger than the ornamental fruit.

Ornamental white eggplant is a rather low-growing, branching plant. Stem and leafstalks are green, or very faintly tinged with purple, and bear a few white spines. Leaves are wavy at the edges. Flowers are lilac. The fruit are very white when immature, but turn yellow when ripe. In shape and size, they greatly resemble an ordinary hen's egg. Larger fruiting and dwarf plant forms have been reported.

Growing conditions for white eggplant is very similar to that for the more common purple kinds. May be started from seed and are well adapted to container culture. Problems such as spider mites and wilts also affect white eggplant. Eggplants should be grown during the warm seasons.

Inedible.

I am finding a lack of information on this plant. I will keep searching. I can add that the eggs are inedible. The plant is a member of the night shade family.