The Organic
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Vegetables · Fruiting

Growing brinjal

Solanum melongena · also called Baingan, Wangun (Kashmiri)A warm season fruit vegetable raised in a nursery and transplanted. It needs a long, sunny, frost-free season and bears over several months.

Cold desert: Ladakh, Lahaul and Spiti

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
A round green brinjal fruit hanging under the leaves of a brinjal plant
Photo: Dr. Anil Kumar Swain - Sr. Scientist & Head. Krishi Vigyan Kendra, OUAT, Nayagarh · CC0

At a glance

Brinjal in the Cold desert

  • Season

    Summer, under cover

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • Sowing to last picking

    About 5 to 6 months from nursery sowing to the last picking, inside a greenhouse.

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • First harvest

    60 to 75 days after sowing

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Under cover only

Under cover, from Late March to April, under cover.

Sowing now in:North-west plainsGangetic plainsArid westCentral plateauDeccan plateau
  • Nursery
  • Transplant
  • Harvest
  • Under cover
  • Today
Cold desertLadakh, Lahaul and Spiti · Under cover onlyTemperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, Dehradun
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
Cold desertUnder cover onlyUnder cover: Late March to April, under coverUnder cover: May, in the greenhouseUnder cover: July to September
Temperate HimalayaMarch to MayAprilApril to JuneEnd of MayJuly to September
Sub-tropical foothillsJanuaryFebruary to MarchMayMarch to AprilUnder cover: December, under low poly tunnelsFebruaryMarch to AprilJuneApril to MayUnder cover: January, into trenches
North-west plainsOctoberNovember, protected from frostFebruary to MarchJulyNovemberFirst half of FebruaryBy the end of AprilAugust
Gangetic plainsOctober to NovemberMay to JuneNovember to DecemberJune to July
North-east hills and valleysEarly September to OctoberJanuary to FebruaryOctober to NovemberFebruary to March
Arid westJune to JulyOctober to NovemberFebruary to MarchJuly to AugustNovember to DecemberMarch to April
Central plateauJune to JulyOctober to NovemberFebruary to MarchJuly to AugustNovember to DecemberMarch to April
Deccan plateauJune to JulyOctober to NovemberFebruary to MarchJuly to AugustNovember to DecemberMarch to April
South interiorDecember to JanuaryMay to JuneJanuary to FebruaryJune to July
West coastMay to June, before the monsoonSeptember to October
East coastDecember to JanuaryMay to JuneJanuary to FebruaryJune to July

From seed to harvest

One season, day by day

Days from sowing

  1. Before sowing

    Well rotted farmyard manure or compost

    about 3 to 4 kg per m² · Mix into the greenhouse beds before planting. · Bed preparation

    VermicompostNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    about 200 g per plant · Place around the plants and water in. · About a month after transplanting

  2. Day 0

    Sow

  3. Day 6 to 10

    Seeds come up5,7Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

  4. Day 25 to 30

    Transplant7,5,4,9

  5. Day 60 to 75

    First pickingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    Every 7 days

  6. Day 150 to 180

    Last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Water every 3 to 5 days, more at flowering and fruit development.No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

What it needs

Soil, sun and warmth

  • Soil pH3,1,2

    5.5 to 6.8

    Grows on most soils, from light sandy to heavy clay, if they are deep, fertile and well drained. Silt loam and clay loam suit it most; sandy loam gives an earlier crop.

  • Sunlight1

    Full sun. It needs a long, warm growing season with plenty of sunshine.

  • Temperature1,2,3

    Grows best at 21 to 27 °C

    Frost: none tolerated.

    Monthly temperatures for the Cold desert aren't in the library yet.

Water and feeding

WateringNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Water little and often to keep the beds evenly moist; the dry air dries soil quickly. Water in the morning so leaves dry before the cold night.

WeedingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Hand weed the beds two or three times in the first six weeks, or mulch them.

WhenWhatHow muchHow
Bed preparationWell rotted farmyard manure or compostabout 3 to 4 kg per m²Mix into the greenhouse beds before planting.
About a month after transplantingVermicompostabout 200 g per plantPlace around the plants and water in.

SourcesNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Varieties and yield

Typical rangeNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

2 to 3 kg a plant

Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.

Good neighbours4,1,8

Grows well with

Pests and diseasesNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Organic and cultural controls only.

  • Pest

    Aphids and whitefly

    Signs

    Small insects under the leaves; sticky leaves.

    What to do

    • Hang yellow sticky traps.
    • Spray neem seed kernel extract 5%.

    Prevention

    • Keep the greenhouse doors netted.

  • Pest

    Spider mites

    Signs

    Pale specks and fine webbing in warm dry air.

    What to do

    • Remove badly affected leaves.
    • Spray neem seed kernel extract 5%.

    Prevention

    • Keep humidity up by damping the paths.

  • Disease

    Damping off

    Signs

    Seedlings rot at the base in the nursery.

    What to do

    • Treat seed with Trichoderma viride before sowing.

    Prevention

    • Use a clean, well drained nursery mix and do not overwater.

Seed and the season's end

Saving seed1,2,3

Grow seed plants at least 200 m from other brinjal varieties. Check the crop three times (at growth, at flowering and fruiting, and before harvest) and pull out off-types and diseased plants.

When the seed is ready

Seed fruits are ready when at least a third of the fruit has turned yellow.

Cleaning the seed

Cut or crush ripe fruits and leave them overnight. Work the seed out by hand in a tub of water: the flesh floats and the seed sinks. Wash several times and do it in the morning so the seed dries the same day.

Dry the seed straight after washing, in part shade, before packing and labelling it.

After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

The crop ends when nights in the greenhouse turn too cold in late September or October. Compost healthy plants.

Remove and destroy infested plants and crop residues straight after the last harvest, so borers and disease do not carry over to the next crop.

Rotation

Do not grow brinjal on the same land year after year. Rotate with crops outside the tomato family, such as maize, soybean, wheat, rice, sesame or a green manure, which also lowers bacterial wilt. Avoid following brinjal with potato.

Growing under coverNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Grow in a polyhouse or trench greenhouse. Raise seedlings indoors or under polythene from late March and plant them in the greenhouse in May, when nights inside stay above about 10 °C. Open the vents on sunny days so it does not overheat.

Sources

Where this comes from

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.

These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.

  1. 3Production Technology of Vegetables and Flowers (VSF-231), Part I: Vegetable production (Brinjal)CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur (College of Agriculture course notes)Read the source
  2. 4AESA based IPM package: BrinjalNational Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM) and Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, Government of IndiaRead the source
  3. 5Brinjal: package of practices (source NHB)Vikaspedia (Government of India), citing the National Horticulture BoardRead the source
  4. 7Brinjal (eggplant): varieties developed by IIVR and cultivation detailsICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, VaranasiRead the source
  5. 9Horticulture: Vegetables: Brinjal (season, seed, cultural practices, manuring, irrigation, yield, varieties), TNAU Agritech PortalTamil Nadu Agricultural University, CoimbatoreRead the source

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