[mumofstig]

to bring the trays in from the greenhouse til now. It was only 8C out there!

I hope nothing sulks or gets blue     it's a bit late for starting Aubs again if they do

[Dora5]

Think positive, dear They will be OK (keeping fingers crossed for you)

[sunshineband]

They haven't been too chilled so hopefully those aubs will be fine 

[MichelleC]

MumofStig, May I just ask, pressuming you've grown Aubs before, how productive are they for you? I grew them last year in a brand new green house but they suffered with Red Spider Mite. I only had the one fruit but it was a decent size. I did the usually spraying with oil/water etc and kept the greenhouse as humid as I could. Have your Aubs suffered from them and if so how did you deal with it? I really want to give them another go this year.

[mumofstig]

You'll have Sunshineband laughing her head off now! 

Every year she and I try to grow them without much success and each time we say never ever again! but we do like a challenge
I had 2 small fruit last year, so I can't give any useful advice about aubs or red spider mite, sorry

[Mrs Bee]

I have grown them for the past 2 years and plant them out doors on the lottie.

First year we only got a few but last year we did quite well. They weren't huge but they were about 6 to 7 inches long and I got about 7 or 8 from each plant. Free seeds too

Those were planted in our newly made raised beds which had a goodly layer of chicken muck under the free compost.

Think it must be the power of poo.

Hope your plants are OK. I haven't got a greenhouse and mine are in the living room with in front of the patio doors with all the other seedlings.  Wonder what it is like to have a tidy home

[mumofstig]

Mrs Ball - you can go right off some people, you know   

[carlrmj]

I tried growing Aubs last year.Had 6 small fruit from 10 plants,not bothering with them this

year,wasn't worth the space they took up in the greenhouse.

[mattwragg94]

well i would have been happy with the 2 fruit MOS - i keep trying and get non, maybe this year 

[Dopey113]

I'm giving them a go, there on my windowsill waiting for the weather to improve, i dont know how big they have to get before planting out though, and seem to be quite slow at taking off, i have about 100 plants, so i should get something from them i hope, but this hose pipe ban, i think they will suffer

[Mrs Bee]

Mrs Ball - you can go right off some people, you know   

Sorry

It was entirely by luck than good judgement I am so new to allotmenting that I am making it up as I go along

I used moneymaker seeds.

I think it was because we ran out of rotted chicken poo to make our raised beds and used fresh horse poo which turned the bed into a hot bed with the heat of the rotting horse poo.
It would seem that the aubergines liked it

I thought it was a bit iffy when we used the fresh dung and that we would end up killing off all the plants; went ahead anyway and it turned out OK.

Have to say that the peppers that I grew in the same way were a blinking disaster, same as last year and am definately not wasting my time on those little beggars. Specially as I got 6k for £4 at the market this morning

[shokkyy]

Last year I didn't bother with aubergines because for several years I'd failed to get anything worthwhile from them, but I was growing them in pots on a sheltered patio. This year I have a polytunnel so I'm going to give them another go in there and see how much difference that makes. I'm going with Moneymaker and Black Beauty.

[spottymint]

I tried growing a plant in the conservatory, got no fruit setting.

I got fed up & slung it outside & forgot it. I got one aub fruit after doing that. Never tried again.

[GrannieAnnie]

I've tried aubs in the polytunnel for the past 2 years, got some fruits but not many.  However the previous year I put them all in pots and grew them at the edge of my veg patch and got loads of fruits.  At least 10 off most of them!

Perhaps try some in and some outside in a sunny sheltered spot?

[gremlin]

I cant get the blighters to even germinate!
Brand new seeds (F1 Moneymaker) new compost etc. Flowerpot in a plastic bag. The packet says sow at 25 deg C which is exactly the temperature of my airing cupboard. I know they can take 3 weeks to germinate. They have been in there 5 weeks now.

Question. Do they need light to germinate? I have searched everywhere but I am now wondering that because the seeds are surface sown, maybe they need light as well as heat??