How to Cultivate Brinjal in Sri Lanka

How to grow brinjal plants in your home garden
Wambatu Wagawa
Brinjal Plantation in Sri Lanka
Aubergine Cultivation in Sri Lanka
How to Cultivate Aubergine at Home
Eggplant Wagawa
Aubergine Wagawa
How to Grow Eggplant at Home
How to Cultivate Eggplant.
Wambatu Pohora
Eggplant Cultivation Guideline
Aubergine Plantation Guideline.

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About Plant

Scientific Name: Solanum melongena 

Family: Solanaceae 

Common Name: Aubergine, Brinjal, Eggplant

Category: Vegetable

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Brinjal is a popular vegetable in Sri Lanka and, it is known as " Wambatu " in Sinhalese medium. In the most of party or festival meals, we can see brinjal curries such as wambatu moju. Today I hope to explain you how to cultivate brinjal plants in your home garden. 

Figure 1: Brinjal Plant 

Before start plantation, it is essential to choose suitable ground soil or growing media. For this cultivation, I can recommend fine and highly water absorbent soil. The selected soil or growing media should have 5.5 - 6.0 pH range to get the best growing result. Commonly most of ground soil are suitable to grow brinjal plants.But all of soil should be sterilization before plantation. And brinjal plants can be cultivated even every dry zone of Sri Lanka.

Cultivation Process

Little brinjal plants can be taken by matured seeds. You can remove brinjal seeds from cut brinjal berry. After you can spread them on suitable mat to get dried seeds. These seeds can be arranged with already taken ground soil or growing media (compost and ground soil ratio is 1:1). If you are using planting bags, it is needed to fill soil or growing media about 3/4 depth of planting bag. Because brinjal has strong rooting complex than tomato. Therefore it required somewhat depth and circumference of planting bag. But if you are using ground area, it is compulsory to arrange 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm dimensions of pits.You can fill those pits using compost and soil mix (1:1) .  And also it is need be kept each pit distance as 90 x 60 centimetres of each plants to get good growth of each brinjal plants. In brinjal plantation, it is good to arrange one seed for one pit or one seed for one planting bag to getting a best results. Water can be done twice a day. Do not put water in sunny and hot time. When you are selecting water, do not put chlorinated water in to growing media. Within 10 days to 14 days, you can see little brinjal plants on growing media. First 30 days later you can see, it is being starting little growth of plant.

Figure 2: Twenty Five Days Later  

Fertilizer Arrangement Process 

After 25 - 30 days, you can apply any nitrogen based fertilizer around the brinjal plant. Because nitrogen is main component to make better leaf of brinjal plant. You can use blue granular fertilizer to get more growth of plant stem and leaf.

Figure 3: Blue Granular Fertilizer 

Two months later, you can see it will starting small flowers. Sometimes this may takes two and half month to three month range. In this time, plant is being self arranged to produce harvest.

Figure 4: Little Brinjal Flower

In this time, you can apply potassium based fertilizer around each brinjal plant. Purple granular fertilizer can be applied to get more flowers. Because it has more potassium percentage than blue granular fertilizer.

Figure 5: Purple Granular Fertilizer 

Two weeks later of purple granular fertilizing, you can see small flowers and small fruit/carpel of brinjal. In this moment, the brinjal plant is required more nutrition to grow its harvest. Therefore it is compulsory to apply suitable fertilizer again.

Figure 6: Little Brinjal on Plant 

But in this time, plant is requesting more nitrogen and more phosphorous based nutrition. So, you can apply blue granular fertilizer again to get better growth of brinjal harvest. After several days you can see what is happening. Now you have a question, how can I use cow dung and other natural fertilizer without artificial fertilizer. My answer is yes! you can but, you need to remember cow dung has more fungi and bacteria are very harmful to brinjal plant. If you are using this, it is compulsory to make sterilization them before application. Finally you have to prevent from insect damages on brinjal. You can spray tobacco and black pepper mixed extraction as a prevention action. After one term of cultivation, please burn all damaged harvest and leaf to prevent from this diseases. In next next term planting process, it will very helpful to re-cultivate brinjal in your home garden.