IF you can remove it from the pot with root ball intact and place it into the ground without distrbing the root ball, you should be ok to move it. On the other hand, this variety was developed for container gardening and one plant in a 20 inch pot should have sufficient room. You are dealing with a bushy two foot plant that produces small baseball size fruits.

thanks! In that case, think i'll just leave it in the container and put my effort elsewhere!

I concur with farmerdill.

So did the eggplant destroyed by the hailstorm die finally? I was pretty sure it would recover.

Slimy_okra:

Yes you were right - the eggplants did survive. They are both putting out new growth. However, given the need for high heat and a long growing season, i am not sure they will be able to produce anything worthy by the time the first frost comes... This is my first year growing eggplants so i may be wrong of course. Hence, i "cheated" and bought a replacement plant.

As for the other plants, the chillies seem to also have survived although new growth is very slow. The tomatoes, i pulled out only 3 out of my original 12 plants as they were too far gone. The rest have put out new growth and almost all have new flower buds. One miraculously survived with its growing tip intact - it has now set fruit (rose de berne). That said, i know i will have a far reduced harvest. Garden centres were no longer selling tomato plants (or they were all snapped up by people in my neighbourhood who also suffered the same fate) so i will stick with my lot and see what happens! The courgette survived as well even tho it lost all its leaves. Pretty pleased.

All in all, you guys were right - plants really are tougher than what we think. It doesnt make my original heartache any easier to bear though!! :p

What kind of aubergine varieties are you growing? Some are pretty quick to mature. Two of mine got their tops neatly sliced off by high winds here (90 kph!+) and are starting to regrow. Tough plants once established. I've even seen them resprout from the ground during warm autumn weather following the first frost, as futile as that is.

I have a Bonica and the other one is a "Blanc d'Oeuf" which I suppose is the white egg variety. Any idea how long these will take to mature? Thanks again!

I'm growing eggplants in containers. I have found they do better in containers than in the ground. Less prone to disease and insects. I will only grow them in containers .