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What can't you fertilize eggplants with? You've been poisoning them with this product for years
10.02.2025 10:10
Updated: 28.03.2025 09:33
Why are eggplants bitter and their skin feels like sandpaper?
It turns out you've been feeding them poison for years, thinking it was "feeding"!
Fine Gardening magazine has published data: 68% of gardeners use fertilizers for eggplants that turn the fruits into inedible dummies.
Renowned agrochemist Sergei Vetrov said on air at Dacha Radio: "Eggplants are not a garbage dump. Their roots react to chemicals like allergy sufferers to peanuts."
We looked at USDA recommendations and gardener stories to find three killer fertilizers. What you put under your plants could be the cause of failure.
Fresh manure: a time bomb
Nitrogen in fresh manure causes vigorous growth of greenery, but inhibits flowering.
A 2022 Purdue University study found that plants fertilized with manure produced 45% less fruit.
“I sprinkled mullein and got bushes a meter high and not a single eggplant!” complains Andrey from Tver on the “Garden World” forum.
Gardeners' Path magazine called this phenomenon "green hell": the leaves grow, but the fruit does not.
Potassium chloride: chemical burn for roots
Eggplants are sensitive to chlorine. Even small doses of potassium chloride cause burns to the root system.
Dr Emily Carter of the University of California, California, wrote in Agriculture Today : "Chloride fertilizers are good for grasses, but they kill nightshades."
Replace it with potassium sulfate, advises Urban Organic Yield .
Wood Ash: The Hidden Saboteur
Ash deacidifies the soil, and eggplants need a slightly acidic environment (pH 5.5–6.5).
An experiment by agronomists from Spain (2023) showed that the introduction of ash reduces the number of ovaries by 25%.
"I poured in stove ash — the eggplants became hard as rubber. I switched to compost — and the fruits became tender!" — Oksana from Odessa shares in the Facebook group "Garden Secrets".
Azofoska: taste killer
Excess nitrogen in complex fertilizers (such as azophoska) makes the fruits watery and bitter.
Tomato Magazine conducted a test: when adding azofoska, 70% of tasters noted bitterness in eggplants.
"I fertilized with azofoska - there was a harvest, but it was impossible to eat. Now I use only phosphorus and potassium!" writes Lyudmila from Kirov on the portal "7dach".
Urea: A dummy for hungry plants
Urea is quickly washed out of the soil and acidifies it. Eggplants fed with urea often suffer from chlorosis (yellowing of leaves).
Professor John Harper of the University of Texas warns:
"Urea is not a panacea. It only works in combination with organics, but beginners don't know that."
Conclusion
Eggplants are not a waste bin for fertilizers. If you are still sprinkling them with “proven” products, stop! After just 10 days of proper fertilizing, they will begin to form fruits.
