# How To Transplant Eggplant



## karen1 (May 12, 2010)

I have had a hard time with eggplant. I bought a few Casper transplants and the rest I sowed seeds (indoors then transplanted) - heirloom Diamond variety. 

Bugs or something leave small holes all through the leaves of the Casper - and I can't see nor get rid of them. Diamond are still very small plants but after reading your post, it's probably the soil temps and I think they'll take off soon. I cook w/lots of eggplant and hope to have a great harvest. (They are so expensive at the store any more!)

Thanks for the post!


----------



## Tee (Mar 26, 2009)

Hi Karen,

Those small tiny holes you are finding in the leaves are most likely flea beetles. They are very, very tiny like bugs that look like black dots on the leaves. If you go out to the plants and see black dots on them, reach down and touch the leaves and see if the black dots jump away. 

To get rid of the flea beetles use a cayenne pepper spray, sprinkle diatomaceous earth all over the plants, and you can spray neem oil on them. Make sure to cover the bottom and top of the leaves. 

I feel your pain, I just went to the garden and found them on my bok choi and eggplant :-( So I had to do the same thing.


----------



## eleanor (May 11, 2011)

what is neem oil and 
can i just mix cayenne pepper with water or is it something you buy and where


----------



## Tee (Mar 26, 2009)

Hi Eleanor - Neem oil is oil from a neem plant. It is most commonly used as an organic pesticide for aphids and other insect pests.

You can just mix cayenne pepper with water. You can just buy the powdered kind found in the spice section of the supermarket.


----------



## Lowell (Jun 8, 2012)

Flea beetles have destroyed my eggplant transplants every year so I've resorted to growing them in large pots where I have total control of the soil I'm using. This year I'm going to experiment by growing one eggplant to a large enough size so that if the flea beetles attack it, the plant is large enough to not be effected. I will also spray with a ESPOMA Organic Earth-Tone Insect Control which is a cocktail of pyrethin and canola oil.


----------

