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.
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.
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.
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 ....
Do you want some of mine? I'm so tired of picking okra! LOL
Steph, you've been holding out! Ship me some okra! ^_^
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 :)
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
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.
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 .
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :)
My okra 'party' was a blast, my friends up north here love it! Thanks everyone for their tips so far :)
Congratulations on your okra party and enough okra to throw it.
What's a "terminal bud?" Is that the main stem?
The tip top of the stalk.
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.
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.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh....thanks Jim41!
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!
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?
Biology & Environmental Sciences
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)
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.
Uh, Jim, I'm actually closer than Cleff....
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.
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?
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!
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.
Jim41, thats a heck of a deal u got set up :) I do alot of fishing myself, mostly for walleye
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.
