Apple Green Eggplant, or the Applegreen Aubergine if you’d like to add a poetic tinge, was developed in the 1960s in New Hampshire. The eggplants are oval and roughly 5 inches in diameter. As the name implies, Apple Green Aubergine is green like a granny smith apple.
Plant Height – 24-30 Inches
Spacing – 18-24″
Spread – 14-16″
USDA Hardiness Zones 4 – 11
Fruit Size 5-6 Inches Diameter
Full Sun to Partial Shade
This variety is not very heat tolerant and does best in New England, Canada, the Pacific Northwest.
Taste and Culinary Characteristics
Eggplants do not have much of a variance so far as taste goes, in most cases they take on the flavor of the spices and so forth that they are cooked with. Apple Green is somewhat of an exception to this rule.
It still has the qualities and characteristics of an eggplant but the taste is much milder and non acidic , its texture when cooked is soft and buttery.
It is a reliable and rapidly maturing variety. An added plus is that it is fairly easy to grow although not as disease resistant as some hybrids.
Growing Applegreen Eggplant Tips and Techniques
- Poorly watered plants will frequently produce bitter tasting eggplants, adequate moisture is essential.
- Average Yields – each Plant should produce 3 – 5 Eggplants.
For seed saving -Unblemished eggplants should be overripe before harvesting the seeds. - Start seeds indoors 6 – 8 weeks before planting outdoors.
- Maturity at 70-80 days from transplant.
- Germination from seed 10 to 14 days.
- Color – Apple Green to Yellow
- Eggplant grows best in a well-drained sandy loam or loam soil, fairly high in organic matter. Start early indoors in peat pots or cell packs
Rows should be 3 to 5 ft. apart. Plants should be 2 to 3 ft. apart. Transplants should be about 6 weeks old and slightly hardened, grown in 2 inch. or larger pots.
All eggplant varieties are highly susceptible to flea beetle attack particularly early in the season. Aphids also attack these plants and come later in the season. Varieties of Aphids that attack eggplants are generally either a light blue-green or amber, sometimes black.
Hardening Off
The outdoor environment can be very harsh for a transplant. So, harden the transplants before planting outdoors to increase their survival rate. Place them outdoors in their original containers where they will receive direct sunlight and some wind for a few hours each day for a week, possibly more. Gradually lengthen the amount of time outside each day. Move the plants inside at night.