It's pretty exciting, isn't it? Keep calm and water the plants when necessary. If you see any Colorado Potato Beetles, murder them immediately. Other than that, all you need is patience.

Jim

I grew Rosa Bianca for the first time this year also. Mine are in Earthboxes. I learned from an earlier post I made that there is no need to hand pollinate eggplants. The blossoms are both male/female. Re. time to maturity, it took about two weeks early in our season for the eggplants to mature after I saw the first indication that an eggplant was forming. Later in the season, it seems to take less than two weeks to mature. All of this depends of course on what size you consider mature. You can pull them early, or leave them on for a while. To me either way, they taste very good. In zone 7B, in EB's, I have had no problems with pests. Maybe I'm just lucky this year.

LOL Jim, I have been having the Striped Cucumber Beetles for..I don't know, it seems like forever now. I am constantly murdering them and their unborn children as soon as I see them. At first I felt bad when the adults would look at me as I went to pick them up..I could just hear them saying "no, please..please".
Now I laugh in their faces, and curse the eggs as I smash them between my fingers. Who'd have thought gardening would make you a cruel sadistic murderer? Mmmmwwaaahhaahaahaha. Never see them on the veggies though, just my Brugs mainly.

Do Japanese beetles pose a threat to tomatoes or eggplants? I seem to have an overabundance of them, they are devouring my dahlias and roses and having orgies everywhere! Going to attempt to make a trap for them today.
I only have 1 Koi in my pond, and really, I don't want to throw him more than one JB a day, he's still kinda small.

So I don't need to hand pollinate the eggplants or do I?

It is exciting :) I think I am going to have some more tomatoes ready today..not that any have lasted more than 30 seconds around here. My 9 yr old daughter takes them & devours them as soon as I finish inspecting.
I now wish I did more than just toms n eggplants..next year I'll do alot more!
Daniella

Thanks Opal52! 2 weeks huh? Wow, for some reason I thought it would be longer. Probably because I want eggplants so bad, lol.
I think at first I'll try slightly early, and then wait a bit for picking to see which I like better. Though I love eggplant so, it won't matter. I wish I had more plants, I only have 6. Had some damp off indoors. I hope they give me enough.
Thanks again Opal52

In zone 7, you will definitely get your eggplants sooner than I will with me living in Maine and I also started mine indoors. It depends so much on the weather.. I placed some in the garden and I also put some in large pots thinking that those blasted striped cucumber beetles would not find them..they did and the ones put in pots are quite a ways from the garden. My eggplants will ripen in August here..they are now in blossom stage.

Thanks Mscratch!
Weather..ugh..been so wacky this year.
Good luck w/your cucumber beetles..I hope the don't decimate your eggplants or anything else too badly. I inspect and kill daily.

Daniella, It does seem quick so I looked up specifics in my journal. I transplanted the Rosa Biancas as small plants into the EB's first week of May. I grew them from seed. First blossoms formed May 25th. It took a couple weeks before I saw indication that an eggplant was forming where the blossoms had been. Don't know what its called, but the green stem part of the blossom starts swelling and you can see a little eggplant forming. Once that happened, it seemed quick to fill out. I harvested the first mature eggplants on June 19th. They weighed 7-8 ounces each.

Compared to the time it takes for Black Beauty eggplant to mature, I think the Rosa Biancas are quick. We like the taste better as well. Maybe it is the EB environment. First year I have tried growing anything in EB's and so far every thing I have tried in them has done great.

The Rosa Biancas put on a lot of fruit. Two plants are producing more than enough for the two of us.

Hope you get to enjoy the Rosa Biancas soon.

Thanks Opal52! What is EB?

Earthbox. I shouldn't have used an undefined acronym. Sorry.

aaa OK now I gotchya, I couldn't figure that out for the life of me! lol
no prob, thanks for clarifying.
Thanks!

This is also my first year growing Rosa Bianca. After it bloomed I see a green leathery "pod" growing where the blossom had been. It's about the size of an apricot. I don't see any sign of an eggplant yet. Is there a baby eggplant inside this pod? I don't remember waiting this long to see an eggplant on other varieties...