Plant Encyclopedia

Other Names:  Asian Delite Eggplant

Description:

Beautiful slender, elongated bright purple skinned fruit are grown on productive, semi-spineless plants; white, tender, non bitter flesh is perfect for grilling, roasting, dips or used in stir-fry; well suited for in ground or container planting

Edible Qualities

Asian Delight Eggplant is an annual vegetable plant that is typically grown for its edible qualities, although it does have ornamental merits as well. It produces purple long eggplants (which are technically 'berries') with white flesh which are typically harvested when mature. The eggplants have a mild taste.

The eggplants are most often used in the following ways:

• Eating When Cooked/Prepared
• Cooking
• Baking

Planting & Growing

Asian Delight Eggplant will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 24 inches apart. This fast-growing vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop.

This plant can be integrated into a landscape or flower garden by creative gardeners, but is usually grown in a designated vegetable garden. It does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant is a heavy feeder that requires frequent fertilizing throughout the growing season to perform at its best. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Asian Delight Eggplant is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.