What is this?

[bustedchicks]

What I thought to be eggplant is not. A lot of it is growing!

 

[Fluffnpuff]

What type of eggplant was it supposed to be? I'm not an eggplant grower but there are several types of eggplants that are small and round in shape rather than the more common elongated variety that is present in most grocery stores.

Here are a few examples

http://www.rareseeds.com/lao-purple-stripe-eggplant/?F_All=Y

http://www.rareseeds.com/thai-lavender-frog-egg-eggplant/?F_All=Y

 

[bustedchicks]

I had the ping tung from baker creek. Its growing in everything! Pulled a BUNCH out of pots that had other things in it. It grew in my soil pile last year and that pile is now this years potting soil. All my various seed start six packs are sprouting this and not what I planted. It is super drought tollerant and grows fast if it has the root room. Every year I grew eggplant it grew very slowly even in a greenhouse.

 

[lazy gardener]

IF it is seed that sprouted from your last year's crop of egg plant, it may be different because your previous crop was a hybrid. So what you get this year may look nothing like the parent. I don't even know if that is egg plant in the picture, but if it is, that would explain why it looks different.

 

[NEChickenNoob]

IF it is seed that sprouted from your last year's crop of egg plant, it may be different because your previous crop was a hybrid. So what you get this year may look nothing like the parent. I don't even know if that is egg plant in the picture, but if it is, that would explain why it looks different.

+1

 

[SweetSilver]

http://dpic.org/faq/nightshade-plant-includes-woody-black-or-common-types

Nightshade. Black.

 

[bustedchicks]

@sweetsilver thanks for the info! I have dozens of them in small pots which will be in the burn pile soon enough.

 

[SweetSilver]

You're welcome.

It always turns up in my garden, a little every year, so I recognized it right away and luckily found a nice picture of it for comparison. So far it's never been a huge problem for me. But that can change dramatically depending on where you live.

If you aren't being overrun by it, or have a kid that eats anything and everything, you'll notice that it is a very pretty plant. But I have a soft spot for weeds, and one of my favorite times of the year is when the bright yellow dandelions are in full bloom everywhere amongst soft green grass. Makes me happy when the weather is still gray.