Vegetables: Okra up north

Replies: 57 Views: 309

Author	Comment
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD August 11, 2009 04:46 AM	My plants just started flowering a few days ago, Anyone having luck with Okra this year up in the northern states? I have a feeling I'm not going to have time for these babys to finish growing, they are only about 2 feet tall so far and are Clemson Spineless. View Larger
cando1 Ozone, AR (Zone 6a) August 11, 2009 09:18 PM	Have you had an unusually cool summer? Alot of people have had a cool summer. and okra really likes hot weather. If it turns hot at 2' tall they should go ahead and make quickly.
Jim41 Delhi, LA August 11, 2009 09:31 PM	If your okra is flowering, you are definitly going to make some okra. I don't know what your early frost date is but I think you should have time.
Farmerdill Augusta, GA (Zone 8a) August 12, 2009 08:02 AM	Concur, it does not take long from flower to pod. For future plantings you might want to plant an earlier maturing cultivar like Blondie, Annie Oakley, Lee, Pentagon ....
stephanietx Fort Worth, TX (Zone 8a) August 12, 2009 09:46 AM	Do you want some of mine? I'm so tired of picking okra! LOL
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) August 13, 2009 11:22 PM	Steph, you've been holding out! Ship me some okra!
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD August 14, 2009 02:29 AM	We finally hit in the 90's this week, only the 2nd time all year I think. It's been very cool here this summer. In a few days of 90+ heat and sun, I could have swore I seen them grow 6 inch's. Thanks Farmerdill, this is my first time growing okra and tried something I've heard about before. Next year I am going to try a couple different types :) Stephanie I might hit you up on that if these babys don't produce enough for me to fry up for my friends up north to try :)
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD August 15, 2009 09:01 PM	I was looking at my okra plants today, I have pods now! BUT I also have ants all over the pods and some on the leaves on a few of the plants. Are they eating something on the plants or the plants themselfs? There looked to be small little seed like things on the pods the ants were all over. ?? This message was edited Aug 15, 2009 7:02 PM
stephanietx Fort Worth, TX (Zone 8a) August 15, 2009 10:10 PM	They're eating aphids. You can blast 'em with a strong spray of water or you can mix up a spray bottle full of water and a bit of Murphy's Oil Soap and spritz on the buds every few days.
taynors Urbana, OH (Zone 5b) August 16, 2009 04:21 PM	i got okra and its doing pretty good we have had a cool summer and its not as productive as it should be but the last several days its been going good but i only get a few pods a day so i stick them in a bag and freeze them until i got enough. Japanese beetles do love okra and love the flowers so i have more drop blossom .
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD August 20, 2009 08:28 PM	yay! I picked my first 10 pods today, all about 5-6 inches long. This seems to be the idea size to pick them at, imo. What do you all think? View Larger
taynors Urbana, OH (Zone 5b) August 20, 2009 08:33 PM	great haul you got now what are you going to do with them ? :) freeze , pickle or eat them tonight :)
Jim41 Delhi, LA August 20, 2009 08:34 PM	Looks good to me Cleff. Glad it finally started producing for you. Love okra. Mine worried me to death this year. Would get a few pods and then nothing. Well, it finally started to act like okra this week. Cut four gal. yesterday and probably will have that much ever two or three days until frost. Now I've got a problem of figuring out who to give it to. I can live with that problem. Happy eating.
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD August 20, 2009 08:55 PM	I only planted a row around 10-15 feet long, I wish I would have planted more now, lol. I should beable to get 5-10 pods every 2-3 days at this rate.
Jim41 Delhi, LA August 20, 2009 09:04 PM	I think I have 25 hills of okra. Once okra starts making it stools out and as these side shoots start making all of a sudden you've got okra running out your ears. By the way, what those ants are eating is the honeydew left by the aphids. They'll even herd the aphids like cattle. If the weather is extremely dry down here, sometime the fireants will suck the blooms for moisture. They can ruin a crop of okra when they start that.
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD August 20, 2009 09:17 PM	It has been very wet/cool this year up here. The ants are only on 2 of the plants, and it looks like there is a massive amount of little black droppings or specs on the top of the plant and the leaves around it, kinda looks like poop. I'm try and get a real camera besides my phone and take a picture of it. I was thinking the ants were eating aphids, but today the little black like things the ants are all over has become 3x more. I was going to just let them do there thing, but now its looking like I need to do something about it.
Jim41 Delhi, LA August 21, 2009 04:58 PM	Mix up water and ivory dishwashing liquid and spray them down real good. One lady recomended using Murphy's Oil Soap. I was a little leary of that in our heat but tried it on some and it didn't hurt the okra. Took me two or three sprayings to get the aphids.
Jim41 Delhi, LA August 21, 2009 05:01 PM	If you are new to raising okra you might not know this. To make your okra produce better, take a knife or sissors and cut off most of leaves. Just make sure you leave the terminal bud alone. It will put it's energy into producing instead of growing leaves.
taynors Urbana, OH (Zone 5b) August 22, 2009 09:36 AM	Jim that is good to know on the leaves. I have 3 okra plants that an animal munched it leaves down to the nub but it still gets okra ! LOL it looks funny but hey it still is" okree"
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD August 24, 2009 01:06 AM	Jim41, I took your advise on the dishsoap. It seemed to kill all the ants, now I need to power spray the plant down to get all the little black dots off. I also took the leaves off the bottems. thanks Having my first beer and fried okra party tommarrow evening :)
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD August 25, 2009 03:09 AM	My okra 'party' was a blast, my friends up north here love it! Thanks everyone for their tips so far :)
Jim41 Delhi, LA August 25, 2009 01:08 PM	Congratulations on your okra party and enough okra to throw it.
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) August 25, 2009 01:12 PM	What's a "terminal bud?" Is that the main stem?
Jim41 Delhi, LA August 25, 2009 01:17 PM	The tip top of the stalk.
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) August 25, 2009 01:20 PM	Ok! Thanks! I'm still hoping the heat lasts long enough to get 1 okra! Mine are finally taking off, although the aphid's clear eggs are back on the undersides. Will spray before leaving for vacation this weekend.
Jim41 Delhi, LA August 25, 2009 02:16 PM	I think what you are calling clear eggs are the honeydew. Aphid poo. Ants love that stuff. The seven inchs of rain we got last week seems to have done away with the aphids at my house. Now if I could just get rid of the darn white flies.
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) August 25, 2009 02:22 PM	Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh....thanks Jim41!
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD September 01, 2009 03:07 AM	About enough okra for another get together this weekend. Will be kinda of a nice break after my first week back in college for 10 years!
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 01, 2009 12:02 PM	Hang in there Cleff. I almost started back two or three times and then woke up one morning and was to old and to broke to go. What's your major?
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD September 01, 2009 05:53 PM	Biology & Environmental Sciences
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) September 11, 2009 01:27 PM	Good choice, Cleff! Let us know when you graduate so we can pick your brain and see what you learned! On second thought, it might be best if you shared along the way, that way we can know if you're doing your homework! (LOL)
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 11, 2009 03:01 PM	Wish I was a little closer to you. Got so much okra I can't give it all away. You could party all night on what I cut yesterday. Study hard. It will be worth it.
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) September 14, 2009 03:55 PM	Uh, Jim, I'm actually closer than Cleff....
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 14, 2009 05:17 PM	Girl, I wish you had some of this. Got 3 gallons in the fridge from Sat. and cut that much more today. Don't know what to do with it. Have to keep it cut to keep it bearing. Not ready for it to quit yet. Hate to just toss it but might have to.
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) September 14, 2009 05:28 PM	We need a state to state courier service! Which DGer are traveling from point A to point B who would be willing to courier a delivery? How about it Dave?
taynors Urbana, OH (Zone 5b) September 15, 2009 02:36 PM	LOL i think your right Gymgirl, that would be a great service to our fellow DGers who suffer from okraless gardens .
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) September 15, 2009 05:36 PM	Told yah! And those super crop okra growers who shall remain nameless (JIM41), and who are sick of wrestling people to the ground to stuff it into their pockets, could just wrap up a package for pickup by the next DGer going through!
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 15, 2009 05:49 PM	You get the system in operation and I guarantee the okra. Got a friend that raises 3 or 4 longggg rows every year. Cuts 15 to 20 gal. every other day. Got no idea what he does with all that okra. Plants a 100#'s of potatoes every year. Sets out about 200 tomatoe plants. Thats not counting the pea and beans he plants. Likes to work a lot more than me. I love him though, he keeps me supplied in white perch or crappie for the northerners. They are always cleaned and filleted.
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD September 15, 2009 10:01 PM	Jim41, thats a heck of a deal u got set up :) I do alot of fishing myself, mostly for walleye
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 15, 2009 11:28 PM	That kind of deal is hard to beat. Don't have to buy a license, own a boat or motor. Get to sleep a little later. Hands don't smell fishy. Just eat and enjoy. When I go deer hunting, which is seldom, he puts me on a stand, comes and gets me and a deer if I shoot one, carries it out and dresses it. Then he chills it and cuts it up. How about that for a friend.
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) September 16, 2009 05:54 PM	So why are there hungry people in this world? Ya'll need to start a co-op or a food stand on the corner, or something. Unbelievable! In a totally wonderful way. That is a VERY, VERY good friend!
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 16, 2009 09:56 PM	We live in the boonies. No corners here. I give a ton of stuff to the folks in my church.
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) September 17, 2009 07:51 AM	Now thas' what ahm talkin' bout! keep on keepin on Jim41!
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) September 22, 2009 03:26 PM	Hi all! Question re: saving okra seeds. Do the seed pods have to stay on the plant to dry and become seeds? Reason is, I got my hands on some lovely green seed pods that are obviously FILLED with seeds. I put them to the side. Can I leave them out to dry into viable seeds? Thanks Linda
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 22, 2009 05:17 PM	If the pods are mature enough, they may be ok. When the pods dry out and you shell them, you should be able to look at the seed and pretty well determine if they were fully matured. I find it usually best to let the pods dry on the stalk. Did you get to plant the okra seed I sent you? If so, how did it do?
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) September 23, 2009 01:20 PM	Jim41, I DID get the seeds! Unfortunately I didn't get the timing right. I actually have 5 plants growing that are about 3' tall. They were just starting to make some buds when the temps dipped into the low 90s. Not sure there's enough heat left to encourage them to make some pods. Besides that, I processed two 5 gallon buckets a friend gave me, and have another package of homegrown on the way to my house this evening! I got 9 gallon-size Ziplok bags from the 2 buckets.
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 23, 2009 10:15 PM	Sounds like you are in business. Happy eating. No meal complete without okra.
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) September 24, 2009 11:06 AM	Jim, When do the okra shut down for real? Should I hold out hope to get at least ONE okra? The plants are standing tall and healthy as all get out! Or are they just gonna look good and pout cause of the chill in the air these days? I believe our temps are around the 90s right now. LMK. I sure hate to rip such lovely plants... On the other hand, my half dead Black Beauty eggplants that I brought back to life simply by WATERING them, are actually throwing out new buds faster than I can count em! Even the lone Beatrice that had all sizes of neglected and decaying eggplants still hanging from her branches (which have since been trimmed off) is looking like she just can't wait to throw out some new fruilts! Life wants to live! Linda
jjconcepts Milford, CT (Zone 6a) September 24, 2009 12:40 PM	We Have Okra! went out yesterday and took a good look, the 12 plants are giving me not only enough for a plate of fried okra, but it looks like enough for a pot of catfish gumbo and blue crab for me and the freezer! your okra should be fine, up north it takes a lot of time and a good fall heat wave.. nights are in the 50's and 80's during the day.. they took almost 5 months... this is my second year for okra and they seem to always come just after the eggplants.. i am in a different climate but I assume they will be similar for you. Okra just shows up right when we decide they aren't going to make it on time. -joe-
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 24, 2009 08:16 PM	Leave that okra until the frost kills it. It is just fixing to bear. The cool won't hurt it. We've been in the 70's and mine is going crazy.
taynors Urbana, OH (Zone 5b) September 24, 2009 08:55 PM	i m going ot have a hard time saying good bye to my okra , the flowers are just so pretty !
Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX (Zone 9a) September 30, 2009 11:28 AM	Thanks, Jim41! They're forming pods, slowly but surely!
Jim41 Delhi, LA September 30, 2009 02:50 PM	Hang in there girl. Worth the wait for one good pot of gumbo, Louisiana Style.
lvyao Katy, TX October 02, 2009 05:04 PM	I planted my okra on July 18, only have 6 plants. last week, I started picking my okra, yesterday got another 11. I had a hard time to evaluate one little okra, trying to make the harvest a dozen. Haha. View Larger
JohnCrichton75 League City, TX (Zone 9a) October 03, 2009 12:32 PM	Looks great, Ivyao! I've been following this thread here and there since I decided to grow okra for the first time recently. I planted way late, Aug 16th, but decided to go for it anyway. My plants are almost 3' tall and I saw the first blooms just a few days ago and can already see some okra taking form. Won't be long, huh? Here's a pic of my cajun delight hybrids (I planted 8.) View Larger
CleffDiggitySD Aberdeen, SD October 05, 2009 02:15 AM	I sadly pulled all my plants today, the weather has been getting into the lower 40's at night and not looking to change. I got maybe a few gallons threw out the summer, but should be plenty for me to use for a while. Next year I plan on starting the plants out before hand to get a jump start on the short summers up here. It didn't even seem like we had one this year. I think it was august before we hit 90's.
stephanietx Fort Worth, TX (Zone 8a) October 05, 2009 07:52 AM	My orka is starting to peter out. We've had lots of rain and cool mornings and production has obviously slowed down. On one hand I'm sad, but on the other I'm glad. There's only so much okra two people can eat! LOL
Jim41 Delhi, LA October 05, 2009 10:52 AM	I'm with you guys. I've had it running out my ears but with the cool rainy weather it has slowed down. I will probably leave mine to the first frost, since it is not in my way.

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