First off, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. And this one is far from stupid, because lots of people are confused by it.

The reason you haven't found a clear-cut answer is that there isn't one.

Generally speaking, days-to-maturity are counted from the time of transplant. But don't take those numbers too seriously as anything but a relative indicator. There are an incredible number of variables than affect maturation dates.

What you really want to use them for is comparisons. If one variety is, say, 65 days and another is 90 you know that the first will come in earlier. And the second may or may not have enough time under your conditions. But don't count on mature fruits from the first in exactly 65 days, as they could mature earlier or later.

Days to maturity is from the time they are transplanted outside or planted outside in most cases . Most tomatoes, peppers and eggplants say "start indoors 6 to 8 weeks before transplanting" . You must keep them on the plant past maturity to save for seed . Good Luck .

Depends what you mean by that, Farmfreedom.

From our point of view, a fruit is mature when it's ripe. From the plant's point of view, it's mature when the seed is viable.

Sometimes those two coincide, sometimes they don't.

Seed is saved from tomatoes and peppers from the time they are ripe. Eggplant seed is harvested when the fruit is over-ripe.

In other words, with tomatoes and peppers you can have your cake and eat it too, but not so with eggplants.