I lived in the tropics for years, and we were able to grow peppers, okra, and eggplant as perennials. They seemed to do best if they're pruned back pretty severely now and again, say from 4 feet down to 1 foot.

The peppers and eggplant, as well as tomatoes, would sometimes get hit with some disease that would wipe them out, usually coming towards the end of the rainy season. But that would wipe out the ones that were only a few months old as well. I had an okra that lasted 4 years, the trunk was about 6" in diameter, and then we moved.

Wow. I didn't know okra was perennial. It's one of my favorites.

david52,

6 inches in diameter! No way! That's amazing! Do you have any pictures? Where did you live?

peanuttree, that okra was in our garden when we lived on the shores of Lake Victoria, in Kenya, which was about 30 miles south of the equator. I have a pic somewhere, and Santa is thinking real hard about getting a scanner to do slides. We also lived immediately beside a small national park / bird sanctuary - we ended up having to put up a net around the entire vegetable garden.

From zone 10: Have eggplant, bell peppers and tomatoes (volunteers sprouted since September) all going strong right now. Planted the eggplants in June-ish. They have yet to yield much that the slugs haven't gotten first, but I expect fruit next year. I should have red cherry tomatoes by Christmas. And I get a bell pepper a week. Growth is glacial, but good. Everything looks healthy. So, yeah, I think eggplants are more or less perennial!

I just miss long sunny days!

I am trying to grow pepper as perennial.Due to cold winter of Maryland I have the plant in the pot and kept in Sun room.So far it is growing well and will post the pic. if I succed.

I do that as well, chaman, keeping peppers in pots over the winter. Keep an eagle eye for aphids and mites and other little beasties, particulary in late Feb - March. With potted peppers, I just prune off the thin and broken bits, and leave as much as I can.

David
Thanks for info.

This is a very informative post. I never thought about keeping tomatoes, eggplant and peppers over for another year. Starting 2008 I will do just that by bringing a few select plants inside and pruning heavily - not looking to get fruit but just to keep the plants alive until next growing season. Should be relatively easy because I grow most things in containers.

DL

What inside temperature is neccessary to keep them alive? If you prune heavily to keep the main trunk and root system do they still need light? I assume they can go dormant or something right?

My tomatoes are always better the second year. You have to be able to ignore the ugliness in the late summer/fall (or prune the dead leaves a lot.) Here in So Cal, midsummer is not so tomato-friendly, since the blossoms all fall off in the heat. But in the early spring/late winter -- wow! They come right back. The year-two plants are well established and the production is crazy good. Right now (May) my back yard is being swallowed by an army of tomatoes.

I found this post because I want to try growing eggplants perennially. It makes sense, b/c they are so hard to start, and it would be nice to have several desirable varieties with some staying power.

Zeedman - I just looked at your insanely impressive seed list. Wow. How do you like to store your seeds? Do you have a good organization method?

To those of you in a non-frost climate, which have been your best varieties? I've heard good feedback for the following, but it's not climate-specific feedback. I'm looking for great tasting great performers in dry heat - especially if they ike to grow as perennials. I'm in zone 10/23 Los Angeles.

Short Season

• Astrakom (prolific compact plant < 2' tall) OP/<70

• Diamond OP/<70
  

• Kamo (round kyoto) OP/<70

• Ping Tung (long chinese) OP/<70

• Fairy Tale ...hybrid/<70
• Ichiban ...hybrid/<70
• Millionaire ...hybrid/<70
• Orient Express ...hybrid/<70
• Vittoria ...hybrid/<70

Mid Season

• Aswad OP/70-80 days

• Black Beauty OP/70-80 days

• Casper (complex mushroom flavor) OP/70-80 days

• Malaysian Dark Red OP/70-80 days

• Ma zu (long chinese) OP/70-80 days

• Pandora Striped Rose OP/70-80 days

• Thai Green OP/70-80 days

Long season

• Mitoyo (outstanding flavor - can eat raw) OP/100-110 days
• Louisiana Long Green OP/80-100
• Listada di Grandia OP/80-100
• Turkish Orange OP/80-100

OK, obviously I'm not (presently) in a frost-free climate. ;-) That being said, of the eggplant on your list, you should be aware that Turkish Orange is Solanum integrifolium. Most eggplant is Solanum melongena. You might find Turkish Orange to be an acquired taste.

Under the right circumstances, Casper can be one of the earliest varieties. It seems to prefer cooler temperatures, so if you are in the fog zone, it might do well for you. For me, it stops producing during summer heat (when other varieties do well), then resumes production when temperatures cool.

I'm not in fog zone. I'm in Sunset zone 23, inland coastal valley on the top of a "mountain" (I say hill) but just atop the south face. So there are thermal belts, but not much fog. The climate is, I think, much like Irvine. My back yard faces south, so generally very hot and dry.

Thanks for the info on Casper and Turkish orange - I wont jump for that one. I would to try casper, since my husband is not always an egplant fan but loves mushrooms. I hope it will survive my climate. Maybe afternoon shade?

In an ideal world I would be able to find a local nursery to sell me single plants of these rare varieties.

I had a Ping Tung that survived the winter and had produced rather little last year. This year it took off like a rocket, I've harvested three from it, and it has five more on it, growing fast, with additional flowers. Bazoooom! Don't let them freeze, and you're good to go.

I didn't know you could keep tomato plants for next year but I learned this year that my pepper and eggplants grew back this year . I have loads of baby egglants growing already . I will save the tomato plants this winter for next year also .

My experience with Turkish Orange is that it tastes like eggplant sauteed with green peppers. As a firm hater of peppers, I was not a fan. But I keep growing them because 1) they're so damn cute and 2) my parents love this eggplant when I make it for them cacciatore style.