Okra

[flowerweaver]

Okra is hugely popular where I live, battered and fried. Cooked this way, it's right up there in the comfort food category. This is usually the one "green" vegetable dish offered daily at local cafes. Relatives in east Texas have been influenced by the Cajuns and make gumbo with it. I can't eat shrimp, so I make my own version. I like pickled okra, too, just one on the side with a salad or sandwich. And the good news is I can usually grow it, unless I'm in a worse-than-usual drought. About a decade ago the most productive I ever grew was a Japanese dwarf red variety which only grew about a foot tall. It was probably an F1 and I've never found it again.

[Deleted]

I was tempted to let mine get as big as possible, but it turns into a woody seed pod.

At it's small and tender stage it apparently has anti-inflammatory properties. I felt that it helped my stomach, when I ate it, in the garden. I could feel just a tiny bit of the slippery stuff on my tongue, with what seemed like a mild bell-pepper aftertaste.

I think there's a knack to cooking it, when it's just soft, not crunchy, not mucilaginous.

Also, my seeds (long red variety, old, bought on-clearance) had a very low germination rate. Luckily, I was able to salvage several, mature pods, from a single surviving plant, last year. Seeds might need to overwinter with bottom heat, to do their best.

[flowerweaver]

Yes, okra is best picked when it's younger. There are some varieties that get large (like Star of David) or long (Cowhorn) that are still tender when bigger. I think the reason it is batter-fried, cooked in gumbo or other soups, or pickled is all methods take away the mucilaginous aspect. I've not heard of eating it raw for anti-inflamatory properties, that's interesting to know.

[steev]

If there are only a few pods, I always munch it in the garden.

[imgrimmer]

Joseph what happened to your okra landrace?

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Feb 8, 2014 4:26:00 GMT -5 imgrimmer said:

Joseph what happened to your okra landrace?

I've done some really good screening so far. The slowest growing plants, and the most susceptible to bugs have been eliminated. 2012 was the 2nd generation. I planted a row of newly imported seed and a row of saved seed. The saved seed did poorly, but the new seed was even worse. 99% of the plants failed to produce seed in 2011. In 2012 maybe only 95% failed and one plant survived the first fall frost. It died the next night. I saved seed from the survivors but didn't plant okra in 2013.

I think that next time I grow okra that I'd like to pre-sprout the seeds, or even do transplants. They take a very long time to germinate in my cold spring soil. I have space on the south side of a building that is currently non-planted, but I'd have to install an irrigation system and tear out some shrubbery. If I plant there i'd be more likely to get a harvest, but selection for cold tolerance is lower.

[flowerweaver]

Joseph Lofthouse even with my warmer soil I still transplant okra. The trick is timing so it doesn't get stunted. I have to transplant most everything because of field mice damage to seedlings, which has been worse with the drought. I have four new fields and suddenly I've outgrown my greenhouse, so I may take my chances direct seeding it this year.

[zeedman]

Joseph, did you try "Pentagreen" as part of your landrace? It is listed as a cool(er) climate okra. I tried a lot of the "good for the North" varieties here in Wisconsin; they would begin to wilt & die just as they were starting to bear. "Pentagreen" is the only one that has done well, it is more tolerant of cool nights. It also branches heavily, so it bears heavily just before frost. I've saved seed from about 5 generations so far.

I space "Pentagreen" 24" apart in double rows 24" apart, with 36" between double rows. When I grew "Clemson Spineless" in SoCal, I spaced plants 36" apart each way, and they grew to over 6 feet tall. Fortunately, those plants branched very little, or I would have been unable to plant them in blocks.

Molokhia was mentioned... I grow it almost every year, along with other hot weather greens (water spinach & Moringa). It is a distant cousin to okra genetically, so the sliminess is not surprising. The seed pods even look like tiny okras. The cooked leaves are pretty bland, but they go well with fish. We give away far more than we eat (to some Filipino friends) but I have been considering dehydrating & powdering the leaves as a soup additive. I was surprised to see eating okra leaves mentioned earlier in the thread, I wonder if they are similar?

A friend of ours drinks okra juice as part of his diabetes therapy. He swears by it. Never heard of such a thing, but looking it up, there seems to be some validity to the method. The raw okra is cut open on the end, then soaked in a glass of water overnight. Presumably you could still cook it afterward, to get double duty.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I don't know if Pentagreen was among the seed I planted. I planted mixed seed from other growers.

I plant okra one inch apart in rows spaced to fit my tiller. 90% of them never germinate, or die from bugs, or cold or whatever so they end up being spaced about 6 inches to 2 feet apart. They might grow anywhere from 6" tall to 18" tall during the entire growing season. 3/4 of what does survive doesn't produce fruit.

[imgrimmer]

zeedman
what is the highest temperature in summer you get? I mean are there long periods over 30°C (86°F) or is it rainy are your nights cool? I try to compare it to find out what is the point, what is different...

I live in a climate with very changeable temperatures there can be weeks over 30°C (86°F) followed by temperatures around 15°C (59°F). Last year we had long weeks of heat, very unusual for a long time.
I have sown I guess around 1000 seeds of okra to my surprise nearly all of them germinated but only 3 grow bigger than 10 cm (3,93 inch) in height and these didn`t flower some of the smaller ones did flower but failed to produce seeds. so it was a complete failure...
I come to the conclusion that there must be something different than pure heat that is nescessary to grow okra.
If heard about Cajun Jewel grown in New England this should be similar to my climate. I will try it when I find a source for it.
But last year brought me down to the bottom, because beside of all the heat we had even melons, watermelons and sweet potatoes failed. Only eggplants did produce seeds last year, they never did before outside.

[flowerweaver]

zeedman Cajun Jewel is available from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Reimer's, Fedco, and Local Harvest. Or are you outside the US?

[zeedman]

You know, I really miss the old site, where locations were listed... especially with all of the international members here. The locations always put climate & hardiness observations by the poster in their proper perspective. And I still haven't figured out what it means when Notifications say that I am "tagged", as I was above?

But back to topic... Imgrimmer, I am located in Wisconsin, U.S.A. My summer weather is extremely variable from year to year, but on average, temps from June to mid-September are highs in the 70's or 80's F, with lows of 55-70 F. There might be short periods above 90 degrees, and there might be cool spells where we drop briefly into the high 60's. Rainfall is extremely variable; sometimes a very wet start (like last year), sometimes a very wet late summer, but long dry spells tend to be few.

The low night temperatures are what really puts a strain on okra; just a few nights at 50 F. will cause the leaves to begin to brown, and the plants gradually die within a week or two. My suspicion is that the cold weakens the plant's immunity long enough for the soil-borne wilt to get a foothold. With all of the other okras I tried, this mid-summer wilt would kill all of the plants shortly after harvest began, and dry seed was out of the question. Didn't keep much in the way of records back then, but among the 8 or so varieties I tried were "Clemson Spineless", "Burgundy", "Annie Oakley", and a hybrid or two. "Pentagreen" will still lose a few plants to wilt in cool years, but some plants always survive until late summer, and I can get dry seed in all but the worst years. If my memory serves me, it was a mention in the book "Cornucopia II" about cool tolerance that originally directed me to it.

My suspicion is that since the attack begins at root level, planting through black plastic might increase the survival rate during those cool spells... but I have never put that to the test. Might try it this year, if time allows. Like Joseph, I prefer to avoid products which require an annual expenditure, unless they have results that justify the cost.

Flowerweaver, not sure if you thought I was looking for "Cajun Jewel"? I wasn't, but I've flagged it for a future trial. Imgrimmer, Sand Hill Preservation sells "Pentagreen".

[flowerweaver]

Sorry, meant to tag imgrimmer who was looking for it.

[steev]

Seeded today for transplants:

Hill Country Red
Bamya Tohumu Turkish
Cow's Horn
Cajun Jewel

These suckers better produce, or I'm stuck with another year of Molokhia gumbo.

[imgrimmer]

flowerweaver sorry somehow i missed your answer. Yes I am outside the US. Do you know an other source for Europe? Thank you!