My eggplants had a habit that drove me a little crazy. The plants looked great, they opened one pretty purple flower after another, and then the flowers just dried up and fell off. No fruit.
It turned out to be a pollination problem, and the fix is about as easy as it gets. A small paintbrush, a few seconds per flower, and the eggplants started coming. Here is exactly how I hand pollinate eggplant, and how I prune the plants so the fruit gets big.
How do you hand pollinate eggplant? Eggplant flowers have both male and female parts, so you only need to move pollen from the yellow anthers in the middle onto the stigma, the small green tip in the center. In the morning, touch the anthers and then the stigma with a soft paintbrush or a cotton swab, or hold a buzzing electric toothbrush against the flower stem for a few seconds.
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Why Eggplant Flowers Fall Off Without Fruit
Here is the simple version. A flower that gets pollinated stays on the plant. The petals fade, but the green base hangs on and slowly swells into an eggplant. A flower that does not get pollinated turns yellow at the stem and drops off within a few days.
So if you keep finding whole flowers on the soil, pollen is not reaching the stigma. The most common reason is a lack of bees. Eggplant pollen is held inside the anthers and only comes out when the flower is shaken, which is exactly what a buzzing bumblebee does. On a balcony or a covered patio, that bee may never show up.
Weather matters too. Pollen stops working well when days climb above about 95°F (35°C) or nights drop below about 60°F (15°C), and very humid air makes it sticky and clumpy. A thirsty, root bound or overfed plant will also drop its flowers.
Hand pollination fixes the bee problem completely and helps with the rest, because you put the pollen exactly where it belongs instead of waiting for the weather or an insect to do it.
A Quick Look Inside the Eggplant Flower
Take a close look at an open eggplant flower and you will see a ring of bright yellow structures in the middle. Those are the anthers, and they are full of pollen. Right in the center, usually poking out a little past the yellow, is a small green tip. That is the stigma, the female part that receives the pollen.
Once pollen lands on the stigma, the flower has done its job. The ovary at the base of the flower starts to grow, and that swelling is the beginning of your eggplant.
One detail most guides skip: eggplants make two kinds of flowers. In long styled flowers the stigma sticks out past the anthers, and these set fruit easily. In short styled flowers the stigma hides down inside the anthers, and those almost never set fruit no matter what you do.
A stressed plant makes more of the short kind, which is one more reason to keep it watered and fed. When you go out with your brush, pick the flowers where you can clearly see that green tip. Those are the ones worth your time.
The Best Time to Hand Pollinate Eggplant
Morning is the window, from the time the sun is up until late morning. The flowers are fully open, the pollen is dry and loose, and the stigma is fresh and receptive. By afternoon the petals often start to close and the pollen is harder to move.
Each flower stays open for about two to three days. I try to catch every flower on its first or second morning, so I go over the plants every two or three days while they are flowering. Skip flowers that are still closed or already wilting, and wait for the plant to dry off if it just rained.
Method 1: Hand Pollinate Eggplant with a Small Paintbrush
This is the method I use most, and the one you see in the video. Any small, soft, clean paintbrush will do. I use a cheap watercolor brush.
Gently swirl the brush over the yellow anthers in the middle of the flower. You are picking up pollen the same way a bee would, and if you look closely you can often see a faint yellow dust on the bristles.
Then touch the brush to the stigma, the small green tip in the center, a few times so the pollen transfers. That is the whole job.
Because eggplant flowers are self fertile, pollen from the same flower works fine. You can also carry pollen from one flower to the next on the same plant or a neighboring plant, which often gives a slightly better fruit set. I just keep brushing as I go along the plant.
Method 2: Using a Cotton Swab
No paintbrush? A plain cotton swab works almost as well. Rub it gently against the anthers to pick up pollen, then transfer it carefully onto the stigma, making sure the cotton actually touches the green tip. Use a fresh swab if it gets damp or dirty.
This method is quick, gentle on the flower, and works just like natural pollination. It is also the easiest one to hand to kids, who tend to love this job.
Method 3: Using an Electric Toothbrush
This one copies what a bumblebee does. Turn on an electric toothbrush and touch the back of the head, not the bristles, to the stem right behind the flower for about three to five seconds.
The vibration shakes the pollen loose from the anthers, and a lot of it lands straight on the stigma. The flower gets pollinated without you touching the delicate parts at all.
I keep an old toothbrush just for the garden. When there are lots of flowers it is the fastest method by far, and I use the same trick on my tomato flowers, since they release pollen the same way.
How to Tell Hand Pollination Worked
You will know within three to five days. A pollinated flower fades and loses its petals, but the base stays green and firm and starts to swell. Soon a tiny, glossy eggplant is hanging where the flower was.
If the whole flower turns yellow at the stem and drops, that one did not take. No big deal. Eggplants keep making flowers for weeks, and once the weather settles most of them will set. From that first tiny fruit, it usually takes three to five weeks until it is ready to pick.
How to Prune Eggplants for a Bigger Harvest
Pollination gets the fruit started. Pruning makes sure the plant puts its energy into those fruits instead of into a jungle of leaves and weak side shoots.
Every eggplant has a main stem, and side shoots, called suckers, keep popping out at the leaf joints where a leaf meets the stem. Let all of them grow and you get a crowded bush with lots of small, shaded flowers and small fruit.
Eggplants grow best with three to four strong leaders. Look for the natural Y shape where the main stem forks, keep the strongest three or four stems, and remove the rest with clean pruning shears.
Remove the Lower Leaves
Cut away the leaves along the bottom of the plant, especially any that touch the soil. This improves airflow around the base, keeps soil borne disease off the foliage, and directs more energy up to the fruit.
I use a small pair of pruning snips and go a little at a time. There is no need to strip the plant bare, and I leave it alone during a heat wave.
Root the Suckers for Free Eggplant Plants
Do not throw the suckers away. Eggplant suckers root easily in a glass of water on a bright windowsill, and in a couple of weeks you have brand new plants for free. It is the same trick I use with cucumber suckers after pruning.
Put the two together, a bit of hand pollination and a bit of pruning, and the difference is easy to see. My pruned, hand pollinated plants carry far more full sized fruit and stay healthier through the summer.
If you are just getting started, my guide to growing eggplants in containers covers everything from seed to harvest. And the same hand pollination methods work just as well on peppers.
FAQ
Not always. Eggplant flowers are self fertile and set fruit on their own when bees, especially bumblebees, visit them or when the wind shakes the flowers. Hand pollination is worth doing when flowers keep dropping without fruit, on balconies and patios with few bees, or in a greenhouse.
In the morning, from sunrise until about late morning, while the flowers are fully open and the pollen is dry. Avoid wet flowers right after rain or watering.
Once is usually enough if the flower was fully open. Since flowers open over two to three days, I go over the plants every two or three days so every new flower gets a turn.
Within about three to five days the petals fade and the base of the flower begins to swell. Depending on the variety, the fruit is ready to pick roughly three to five weeks after that.
The most common reasons are heat above about 95°F (35°C), nights below about 60°F (15°C), very high humidity, water stress, or short styled flowers whose stigma is hidden inside the anthers. Keep the plant evenly watered and try again on the next flush of flowers.
Yes, lightly. Keep three to four strong main stems, remove the extra suckers that grow at the leaf joints, and cut off the lower leaves for airflow. The plant sends more energy into the fruit and you get bigger eggplants.
