Okra

[steev]

I assure you, it ain't bad noshed in the garden, just disappointing when there's so little that that's all you can do.

[flowerweaver]

My okra were cowards--usually I have no trouble growing the stuff but this year it all died BEFORE it could be taken out by the tornado. Perhaps, like snails crawling up the barn when there's going to a big flood, it is a premonition species.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

This was the second week in a row that I had more okra than I need for seed, so I was able to share some at the farmer's market. The okra this year is taller than my belly button already. We still have 1 to 2 weeks before I expect it to be killed by frost.



Forgot to take a closeup before the market opened, but here is what the picked-overs looked like later on.




I suppose that after 3 years of effort that I have finally got far ahead in the genetic roulette game that I can repent of what I wrote when I started this project in 2011.

Jul 26, 2011 19:28:51 GMT -5 Joseph Lofthouse said:

Last winter I received a couple of packets of okra seed in swaps. A few correspondents really wanted me to grow okra. So I broke down and planted a row of okra... That was a few months ago. Today I am officially going to speculate that okra is a bad idea for my garden. The plants have reached a height of perhaps 5 inches and contain around two true leaves. (Those that survived the bugs anyway.)

[raymondo]

I don't think I'd have persisted. Well done Joseph. Perhaps I should try oca in the subtropics.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I took some photos in the okra patch to demonstrate the effects of 3 years of selective breeding. You get selfies today because that's all I had to show scale, and I thought it was important to show relative sizes of the plants.

This first plant is something that I imported into my garden for the first time this growing season. I am amazed that it even got this big. I am attributing it's huge size for a first year plant to the fact that I grew transplants in the greenhouse, and only transplanted into the garden the 5 most vigorous growing plants out of 36 seeds that were planted. It's a genetic dead end because it won't produce seed for me. It has already been damaged by a hint of the beginning of the fall frosts. Of all the things I grow, okra is the most frost sensitive.



This plant is the tallest okra plant I have ever grown. Its grandmother grew about ankle high in my garden. Its mother grew knee high and survived the first fall frost: A frost that killed every other okra plant in the patch. It succumbed to the second frost the next night. Both frosts were very light. Most of the plants in this sibling group have already grown taller than my belly button.

[12540dumont]

I never doubted you.

[imgrimmer]

Great!

[Joseph Lofthouse]

This plant is the 3rd generation grown in my garden. Last time I grew it, there was a frost that killed the okra except for one plant, which was killed the next night. The first photo is of a descendent of that more cold-tolerant plant. This fall it survived the first fall frost, and since we haven't had the second fall frost yet it is still going strong. I have been taking a little bit of okra to the farmer's market for weeks.



Many of the lines that I am growing for the first time grew very poorly and are near death. Many of the plants didn't make it half way to my knees. The well adapted plant is more than shoulder high. I'm hoping for a few more days of good growing weather, it would be really clever to brag that the okra was taller than I am!

Many of the lines that I am growing for the first time are near death. The frost hit this one hard.



Those two berry baskets up front on the left hand table contain okra. Other things of note in the photo are landrace tomatoes, and 4 species of squash.

[steev]

This is the first year I've gotten any quantity of okra; three of four cultivars did well. I'm letting them go for seed, now; next year I think I'll jumble, seed for transplants, and set out higgledy-piggledy. Don't expect to really be happy with okra until I can pick every 2-3 days.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Well I got a couple of days of additional growing weather. The okra is now as tall as the farmer! Can you tell that this has been one of my favorite projects this year? I often say that the third year is the magical year in a landrace selection project. It's certainly turning out that way with the okra. {I still haven't had a magical year with watermelons.) I am thrilled with tall okra, because as bad of a weeder as I am, my weeds don't (generally) grow that tall. I have sunroot weeds that grow taller... Vegetables that can out-compete the weeds are useful to me. I really liked harvesting a crop standing up without bending over.



Here's what yesterday's okra harvest looked like. I don't know what a northern boy is gonna do with a southern food, but I guess we'll muddle through. Most of these pods came from side shoots which originated near the base of the plant. I'm wondering if it would encourage formation of more pods if I topped the plants when they were about a foot tall, and then topped the side-shoots...

[12540dumont]

Really simple try roasting them.

18 fresh okra pods, sliced 1/3 inch thick

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste

2 teaspoons black pepper, or to taste


Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Arrange the okra slices in one layer on an olive oiled cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes.


Looks beautiful

[Drahkk]

Does anyone start okra indoors and transplant it? I've always direct seeded before, but (1) they always struggle with insect damage until they are more than 8" tall, and (2) I have extra greenhouse space that I haven't decided what to do with, so I'm considering trying it. I know they have a taproot to contend with and therefore don't particularly like being transplanted. Has anyone done it successfully? If so, what considerations would you recommend?

[flowerweaver]

Drahkk I start my okra in the greenhouse because any small seedlings are demolished in my garden by field mice. I usually grow them in 3" pots and plant them out when they are about 4-6" tall. If you want to get them taller you might need to go with a deeper pot. I've seen no adverse effects from transplanting them in my area.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Last year I started okra about 4 weeks before planting out. I germinated them at about 90F in 3.5" pots so they came up quick, then transferred individual plants into 3.5" pots soon after germination, culling heavily to eliminate slow germinating and slow growing plants. They didn't seem put-out about being transplanted. My soil is cold, and they don't get along well with bugs, so transplants worked wonders for them.

Slow Growing and Fast Growing Okra: Culled the piker.


Okra Transplants:

[glen]

I am new to the forum but not new to growing okra. I live in the Republic of Panama which is near the equator and its hot here year around. They don't grow okra in Panama nor do they know what it is. But, I am growing it here. On Jan 24 I planted a small patch of ground with 8 okra. I have 2 variety's, Stewarts Zeebest and Heavy Hitter. There is a good chance that I am the first person to ever grow these 2 variety's here in Panama. They are 15 to 18 inches tall now or 35 days into the planting, starting from seed. The plants have nice blossom heads already. Once is already ready to form a flower and set fruit. All the plants are branching now with 2 or 3 branches each, 2 or 3 inches long. Both variety's are heavy branching types so I gave them 4 feet of spacing and planted sweet potato's between the plants. Sweet potato's are growing like crazy as well. No pest issues yet, no fuserium wilt, just healthy plants. Most run of the mill okra will give you 25 to 30 pods. I expect to get 50 to a hundred fruits or more from each plant. Once the plant tires I will just prune the plants back, fertilize again and wait for new branching and hence a new crop. The plants will get huge and wide. There will be lots of branching as both variety's have been specially bred and selected for this trait. Plants much be given a lot of space due to the amount of branching. Both okra variety's have been know to produce several hundred pods in a season when conditions are just right them. I expect less since my soil is so poor. Temps stay in the 90's in the afternoons year around here so this is good okra country. I believe that okra is a fine survival veggy as well as sweet potato in the tropics. The problems I am reading growing okra on this forum are just due to your location most likely. Okra is a heat loving creature. Bountiful, nutricious, delicious. Anyone interested in growing Heavyhitter okra should just google it online. Go to the proboard site to read about this special variety. Information on how to get in touch with the breeder is there also. I am not sure this variety will help anyone that lives in a cold place to grow okra. But, if you live in the South, this variety will increase your yeild, and allow you to grow enough with much less plants. Heavyhitter okra is a variety developed by Mr Ron Cook in Oklahoma. He specially selected this clemson variant over a 9 year period and has come up with a hell of a good variety of new okra.