Overwintering eggplants

[Wembley]

Hello

Is there anybody who have already tried overwintering eggplants ?

I have heard that it is possible with peppers and I am trying this winter.

But I cannot found a lot of things about eggplants.

Thank you for your help

[habitat-gardener]

I overwintered a Diamond eggplant one year unintentionally. It was at the end of a bed and had been cut back but not pulled up. I always cut back my plants first, then come back another day to pull the roots, which is difficult because I plant everything in gopher cages. Eggplant roots are very vigorous and it takes time to cut the roots out of the gopher cages and then pull up the roots. The garden bed was mulched well so I didn't notice that last plant until spring, when I saw new growth emerging! It produced eggplants earlier than any of my other plants.

At least one other person in my area overwinters eggplants (Sunset zone 14, USDA zone 9b). I read about it in a master gardener newsletter, but the gardener did not give details.

I might try overwintering my eggplants this year. It is taking a long time to cut back and dig up my tomato and squash plants, and it will be easier to just cut the eggplants back.

I tried to overwinter all of my pepper plants one year. Instead of leaving them in the ground, I dug them up, put them in pots, and kept them in a sheltered spot outside. I covered them to keep them warmer and watered very sparingly. But it was not a success. When the plants started putting out new leaves in the spring, the rats ate the leaves! Also, most of my plants did not survive. I would overwinter pepper plants again if (1) I had a special pepper variety that was hard to find or very slow to grow, and (2) I was able to pay attention to the plant all winter, rather than neglecting it, and maybe (3) if I had a place indoors to keep it alive.

[pepperhead212]

Whatever works for you! You are in a warmer area than me, but I don't know how cold it will get there. I have tried bringing in both eggplants and peppers, with not great success, and had better success simply starting them earlier. And something that speeded them up, in recent years, was adding some micorrhyzae to the seed starter mix I make, and have had to start the tomato and eggplant seeds later, as they would be ready to go out too soon! Not so much with peppers.