Okra

[steev]

Yup. It's all about the moment. We do tend to forget that there are places even today where a loaf of bread will get you further than the skills of an orthodontist.

CoinciDENTALLY, there was a brief period when I thought I was going to be a dentist.

As for "what if all labor were of equal cost?", that would certainly weed out those who do things for money, rather than interest.

It's kind of comparing the value of some nice bottomland to a mountaintop: certainly it's much more labor to get to the mountaintop and one can see a much larger picture from it, but what can one do with it? Besides, it's all downhill from there.

[mnjrutherford]

STEEV! YOU??? In .... ummm... never mind. I just ain't gonna say it.

However.... how close did you get to your dental goal? Would you be useful in a EOTWAWKI community?

[steev]

I took the UC dental school entrance exam after my freshman college year; they said I was provisionally admitted provided I took a full-load Summer at Cal, did as well as I had at my JC, and kept up my grades through my sophomore year ar the JC, and I'd enter UC Dental my junior year. So I went to Summer school and discovered that my talents were more suitable for non-academic activities.

Useful? Moi? I've got pliers; how bad is that toothache?

[mnjrutherford]

LOL Jo< You'll need a crowbar before using the pliers

[steev]

Got it right here; where's the tooth?

[lavandulagirl]

Today, i realized that I have ONE okra pod on two plants. One. I wonder what that is worth? ;D

[steev]

Depends entirely on how long it's been since you had any gumbo; it's all relative. I have neither plants nor pods; the decent thing might be to send it to me.

[mnjrutherford]

One of the rare moments I'm glad to be 3000 miles away from California. LOL

Lav, if you give him the pod, make him meet you half way! ;o)

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I planted around 150 okra seeds this spring. Most of them either didn't germinate, or got devoured by bugs. There are about 6 plants that are still alive this week (days before our hard killing frost for the year). One plant might have produced viable seeds...

Guess I'll try planting them again next year. I don't want to do an okra breeding project, but what the heck, the seeds were free.

[castanea]

Oct 13, 2011 23:55:28 GMT -5 Joseph Lofthouse said:

I planted around 150 okra seeds this spring. Most of them either didn't germinate, or got devoured by bugs. There are about 6 plants that are still alive this week (days before our hard killing frost for the year). One plant might have produced viable seeds...

Guess I'll try planting them again next year. I don't want to do an okra breeding project, but what the heck, the seeds were free.

That's bigger than any of my okra plants this year. Normally Sacramento is a good place for growing okra, but we just had the coolest spring and summer in a really long time and my okra hated it.

[mnjrutherford]

Wow... all told, that is pretty darned impressive Joseph. Glad your saving those seeds!

[wildseed57]

For the few plants I grew all did pretty good, even the odd spiny one that I have been trying to weed out, I think I got all the spiny ones this time. The rest were a mix that I have been using year after year, some are from the philapeans while some are from Africa and the rest were spineless clemson and a red variety which throws normal pods now with just a small amount of red. I've notices that only two plants were effected by ants and aphids and the most part the grasshoppers and beetles left them pretty much alone. I need to get a early variety in the mix as most are mid and late season which I don't mind as they do better in the hot weather.
I still have a few seeds of a very spiny wild relitive of the Okra along with a flowering type that people grow in the south just as a flowering plant. Those two have edible leaves and flowers which are dipped in a batter and fried also the leaves are edible, but the pods are very spiny on both of them. I'm working on getting a land race going that is pretty much bug free and will grow well in depleted soils that will self seed. The birds are bad about eating any seeds that are above ground, so I need to come up with a way to stop that maybe a fake owl and snake will deture them.
George

[12540dumont]

Dar or other Okra experts,

If you were going to direct seed okra, how far apart would you put them.

Last year I put them 6" apart expecting 6' tall okra. I got 6 inch tall okra.

The instructions say 2" apart and thin to 4". What say you okra folk?

[castanea]

Jun 10, 2012 15:48:33 GMT -5 12540dumont said:

Dar or other Okra experts,

If you were going to direct seed okra, how far apart would you put them.

Last year I put them 6" apart expecting 6' tall okra. I got 6 inch tall okra.

The instructions say 2" apart and thin to 4". What say you okra folk?

Depends to some extent on what varieties you are growing. Some are dwarfish and some are real monsters.

Having said that, I grew okra 3-4 years ago when we had a hot summer and 12 inches apart was too close. Last year I planted them 12 inches apart and they died of loneliness because we had the coolest summer in the last 100 years.

This year I am planting them 6 inches apart and will take out every other one if I have to.

[Drahkk]

Since mine are in raised beds I have to do blocks instead of rows, so I don't know how well this will apply. That said, I usually do 9 plants 18 inches apart in a 3x3 square. (4'x4' bed) The okra I sent you tends to branch out more than it goes up, so it will do better with wider spacing.

Just throwing this out there: you northern folks might want to try Cajun Jewel. It's rated to zone 3, and is said to produce reasonably well in Maine.

MB