Eggplant flowers are a beautiful sight, and they’re also one way to determine if your eggplant is pollinated and ready to bear fruit. The flower of this vegetable plant begins as a single bud at the top of the plant, which then grows into a flower with five to eight petals. Once you’ve seen your eggplant flowering, it’s time to watch for signs that it’s going to fruit.
Eggplant Flower To Fruit
Eggplant flowers are extremely interesting because they consist of both male and female parts. Eggplant flowers are perfect and they can pollinate themselves without cross-pollination but bees can also help to make pollination faster. If a bee lands on one of the flowers, it will be able to pollinate it and make fruit.
When eggplants are growing, you may notice that some of them have green fruit while others have purple or white ones. The reason for this is that the flower has been pollinated by different types of bees—some bees like to visit only purple plants, others prefer white ones, etc.—and so each plant gets different pollen from different bees.
It takes time for eggplant flowers to turn into fruits. The pollinated eggplant flowers will become fruit after 10 to 20 days but they are still very small during this time.
Then after the fruit sets, the fruits are ready to harvest after 20 to 30 days. Eggplants will have good length and size when they mature depending on their varieties.
All in all, it will take eggplants 80 to 100 days to grow from seed and harvest.
Male And Female Eggplant Flowers
The eggplants are self-fertile because a single flower has male and female parts. It can do self-pollination without the help of other plants or bees. The flowers of eggplant are commonly purple with a few petals on it and sepals.
Aside from purple flowers, there are also white eggplant flowers which will grow on some eggplant varieties. The flowers of eggplant are different compared to other plants like cucumbers. The cucumbers have either male or female flowers while eggplant has a flower but it has both male and female parts.
How To Pollinate Eggplant Flowers?
There are three ways to pollinate eggplant flowers. The first one is to rely on the wind. Wind can somewhat help to pollinate flowers when they blow. The wind can move the pollen in the flower.
The second way is to rely on pollinators. Bees are one of the most common pollinators that pollinate flowers on eggplant. When there are many bees landing on your eggplant there is high chance that those flowers will become fruits.
The third way is by hand pollination. You can gently touch and shake those eggplant flowers to pollinate them or by using a small dry brush to brush those flowers one by one.
How To Know If An Eggplant Flower Is Pollinated?
You can tell if the eggplant flowers are pollinated when the fruit sets. The flowers of eggplant are perfect because it contains the male and female parts.
Since the flowers have those parts, they can pollinate themselves or with the help of bees by doing hand pollination. Even if eggplant flowers are perfect, the pollen still needs to be moved in order for them to enter into the flower stigma for fruits to set.
It will take a few days to know if eggplant flowers are pollinated or not. Usually, when flowers are not pollinated they drop off the plant while those pollinated flowers remain, and after a few days a tiny fruit sets.
Why Is My Eggplant Flowering But No Fruit?
The eggplant flower to fruit process can be a little confusing for first-time gardeners who don’t know what to expect. The whole process typically takes 3 months; however, it can vary depending on the type of eggplant you’re growing.
If there are many flowers on eggplant but no fruit, the flowers are not pollinated. Even if the eggplant flowers have male and female parts, you can still do hand pollination to pollinate flowers.
Also, improving the soil quality prior to blooming will help the overall growth of the eggplants which makes them ready to grow flowers and turn them into fruits. When eggplants are healthy they will be able to grow a lot of eggplants.
Eggplants also need enough water and sunlight to grow well. This makes them able to produce more eggplants. A single eggplant can produce 10 to 20 fruits and some varieties can produce more.
Eggplant Flowers Falling Off
Some of the causes why eggplant flowers are falling off the plant are due to poor pollination, overfertilization, heat stress, and overwatering.
When flowers are not pollinated they are most likely to fall. It is normal for eggplant and other plants that if the flowers are not pollinated they will just drop.
Too much fertilizer and water also cause stress on the plant which can affect its flower. Stress can be prevented by giving the right amount of fertilizer and water to the eggplant.
Also, when the temperature becomes hot it can also affect the flowers which can make them drop.
Conclusion
Eggplant flowers are beautiful and can be easily grown at home. Eggplants require the right amount of heat, light, and water to grow properly. If your eggplant flower fails to produce fruit, you can do hand pollination or wait and plant it again next season.