Sowing

• Take a seedling tray with medium sized cells & drainage holes at the bottom.
• Fill the cells with a moist coco-peat medium.
• Sow 2 - 3 brinjal seeds per cell. Brinjal seeds are very small, avoid sowing them in very deep.
• Place seeds on the surface of the medium and push them inside using a pencil tip, so that the seeds are immersed deep enough to be covered by the coco - peat medium.
• Alternately, you can also make shallow depressions in the medium using a pencil’s bottom, put seeds in these depressions and sprinkle coco - peat on top of them to cover the seeds.
• Keep the seedling tray indoors till the seeds germinate.
• In the first week, water the seeds using a spoon. Two tablespoons of water everyday is enough.
• You can also keep the seedling tray in another tray full of water for half an hour, so that seed cells will absorb the water from the bottom, via drainage holes.
• If seed beds are made outdoors, protect it from rainfall and harsh direct sunlight. Cover the bed by making a temporary roof of the plastic sheet. Water it in the form of a light shower by watering can.

Caring

• Your Brinjal seeds will germinate within the first 6 to 8 days.
• Once the seeds germinate, keep the tray in a spot like the window, where it will receive partial sunlight. You don’t need to cover your tray at this point.
• At the end of second week, you will notice that the seedlings are now growing into small plants.
• At this stage, expose the seedlings to more sunlight for properleaf growth.
• Four weeks after the seed sowing, your seedlings will be ready to transplant in container pots or raised beds.
• Ideal planting mixture for Brinjal: 2 part garden soil & 1 part organic manure OR 1 part garden soil, 1 part coco-peat & 1 part Vermicompost.
• Transplant the seedling along with root ball of a medium, without disturbing its roots.
• By the end of month 3, your Brinjal plant will start flowering.
• Brinjals can be harvested 70 to 80 days from the sowing of seeds.
• With proper care and attention, the Brinjal plant will continue producing vegetables for three years!

Common Problems

Why aren’t my Brinjal seeds growing ?
Brinjal needs a warm weather to grow. A cold spell will affect germination. Keep plats in a sheltered sunny spot during the day.
My Brinjal plant blossoms but the flowers drop off and don’t produce vegetables.
If your brinjal plant is producing flowers but the flowers keep falling off without producing vegetables, there could be two reasons for this. First reason is under - watering and second reason is lack of pollination.
Leaves of my Brinjal plant are turning yellow.
Yellowing of leaves of the brinjal plant is caused due to irregular watering or lack of nitrogen in your growth medium.