OKRA, Part llI

I'm taking advantage of the cool days, though. I ask myself this one question:

"Would you rather tackle it NOW, in this cool weather, or would you rather wait for the fires of Hell?"

'nuff said...

I tore through my yard this weekend, picking up everything in the "trash" category. Yesterday, I washed and disinfected all my seed trays, in preparation for starting my fall/winter seeds in mid-June. I'm targeting a fall/winter plant out beginning the 1-2 weekends in September, and the seedlings have to be good size by then.

Next projects:
►Painting Terra Cotta pots for my herb garden(s),
►Painting the deep drawers I scored in a TTT (trash to treasure) hunt. The drawers will become outdoor seed flats for the fall/wtr seeds.

Linda

Linda, you need a man! You're getting way too adventurous there with all that extra time you have on your hands! LOL LOL LOL

Been there, done that, back to living!

NO free time! If I tossed my TV, you'd really hate me...

All my Okra plants did survive the transplant.
Their trunks are thick enough to not be destroyed by pill bugs.
Weather is just perfect to grow Okra ... tomorrow is suppose to be 90 F here.

I put my okra seeds out to soak with a bit of hydrogen peroxide in the water. I'll direct sow them either tomorrow or Thursday when I'm off. I've had great success direct sowing them the past 2 years. The one year I tried transplants, it took forever for them to get established and take off. I think pretty much the only thing I transplant is peppers & maters.

Steph,
One thing I've observed with transplanting Okra and bells is that, if the weather is not hot enough for them at the time of the transplant, they will definitely sit and sulk!

That's why mine are still indoors. We've had mornings of mid-50° this weekend, and they would've stalled for sure.

Hugs!

Great weather for Okra here.
Tomorrow 90 and mid 60s almost 70F at night for the all week.
I am glad I did transplant all my Okras.

Our daytime temps are about 80 for now, but the problem is cold nights. I was going to transplant my okra into the garden today, but next Sunday and Monday nights are supposed to be about 40 degrees. That's too close to freezing, and I don't know how cold the following nights might be.

I think I'd better wait until that cold spell is over before I put the okra out. I can't hold it indoors much longer - I don't want to do TWO transplants with okra, but the seedlings are still in Jiffy Mix in egg cartons and they're getting leggy.

Ozark, you should wait.
I did grow Okra last year indoor until it was pretty big ... I did not have any problem when I transplanted outside.
Just give a larger pot ... much better than 40F !

Linda, started the okra seeds I had soaking, and I noticed little air bubbles all around them, and they were always floating, is this normal? First time working with okra seeds so don't know ANYTHING about them... Plan on doing some direct in garden and some containers. If I start some in some 2.5 gallon pots can I transfer them to larger pots later?? Talked to Lorelai's other grandma tonight and I've scored a source for 5 gallon buckets, THANK YOU for the tip, I never thought of it... She said they go through about 3 or 4 a day, and THEY'RE MINE!!!!

BTW, crumpled a little piece of paper towel in the cup to keep the seeds submerged, wrong or right thing to do??

PPS, just checked them and the cases have split a little bit and the white nub is just peeking out.. Started them last night...



This message was edited Apr 25, 2012 12:33 AM

Kev,
No need to force them to the bottom. I used to worry about some floaties and some sinkies. If I soak them long enough, they just all seem to end up on the bottom after awhile, but that's not necessary. In fact, I'm finding it's better to not wait for those nubs to grow too long before planting them, so as soon as you see the nubs, plant them ALL.

If you're direct sowing some outside, I think I'd start them in smaller vessels, like a 10" pot or even some 16 oz. Red Solo or other plastic cups. My reasoning is that you can lift the entire seed plug out more easily and just set it down in one piece into your transplant hole. This would help you avoid damaging the tap root, and might lessen the transplant shock associated with digging a plant up from the soil to pot up to a larger vessel. Hope I made sense here...

This message was edited Apr 25, 2012 9:07 AM

Supposedly viable seeds float and non-viables sink. I've not found that to be the case! LOL

I put my seeds out to soak yesterday late morning. Came home last night to find some had already cracked open and those weren't the new seeds! Those were seeds I purchased 2 years ago. Woot!

My direct sown Clemson Spineless and Orange Jing are both sprouting. They are definitely slower when not pre-soaked and direct seeded. It's been 10 days since I planted! No issues with hardening or transplanting, at least. I have a row of about 30 feet. I am going to thin more aggressively this year. Last year I left the seedlings to close together and didn't get good growth.

The seeds look great and 100% popped open. These are the seeds that I have frozen last year & started using this year. Don't know what strain these are but so far, it looks like I will have almost 100% germination.

Will direct sow 3 or 4 tomorrow and can put the rest in 3" or 5" peat pots, or right into the container, not exactly sure what size, I know it's between 2.5 gallon & 5 gallon... Suggestion??? Either way would be easy at this point...

Talked with the other HEB bakery dept. and will see the manager in the morning about the buckets. Hopefully by the end of the weekend should have about 10 new buckets for my projects. They also use the 15# buckets, not sure about how deep they are, but would be concerned being too shallow for my use..

This is what the seeds look like and will go in the ground tomorrow...

The larger container the better! Okra gets BIG and has a good root system.

Yesterday we reached 90F here in Irving, with winds of 25mph ... which felt like 40mph ... all day.
I was so worry for my poor Okra transplants.

Well... they are fine ! This morning they are all standing up with their beautiful leaves ...

Kev,
You're a natural at this. Good scoring on the buckets!!

I transplanted my okra seedlings from egg cartons to 3" x 3" cells of MiracleGro Planting Mix under indoor lights yesterday. That's just for a few days until we get past some predicted very cold nighttime temps, then they'll go into the garden. I had to move them as they were getting leggy and root bound.

They sure are deep-rooted, every little seedling had roots hanging out the bottom of the Jiffy Mix plug. I was careful not to break any roots, and I think they all survived the transplant OK. I ended up with 33 sprouted seedlings out of 46 seeds sowed, and I've got three okra rows 24 feet long and 6 feet apart laid out in the garden. Eleven plants per row, that works out to 2.4 feet between plants - closer than I'd meant to put these big Stewart's Zeebest plants but at least it's further apart than I had them last year.

Ok I only need to know where to get some of this "white okra", i've not heard of it till reading on here...much thanks in advance. Mullet 22 down here in sunny FL.

The deer and rabbits have now munched all 12 plants to the stems. the look so pitiful with no leaves and putting out flowers all day. I ordered a sprinkler with a motion sensor and planted more okra indoors. We shall see what happens


-Vaughn

Mullet22 ~ googling brings up a lot of seed companies selling white velvet okra. http://www.google.com/#hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=white+okra+seed&oq=white+okra+seed&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=hp.3...573.3614.0.3707.15.9.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.eqn%2Crate_low%3D0-01%2Crate_high%3D0-01%2Cmin_length%3D2..0.0.MNzmRHZVrnk&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=6aac2f2ada3eb459&biw=1231&bih=459 even an ebay seller...
Good luck.

Vaughn>> Night vision goggles, a good BB gun, and a lot of coffee will be a lot more fun.. LOL...

Linda>> How's the Cowhorn & Burgundy doing?? Still waiting for the seeds to come up in the garden bed...

Mullet>> Baker Creek seeds has some on their website, and I think it was still in stock...

Sorry Mullet, made a mistake, thought it was Baker Creek but just checked site and it wasn't there. Of, course, now I don't remember where I saw it....

I direct sowed my okra seeds Sunday evening after pre-soaking them, and we have lift off!

The 18 seeds I sowed last weekend are popping up. The 12 plants ravaged by Bugs Bunny are trying to start some new leaves and are setting pods lol. I have quite a few 1/2" pods on empty stems. They look rough but they might just make it!

-Vaughn

I have some I planted about a week ago in the garden. I noticed some of them are being eaten by bugs it looks like. They seem to be missing leaves.

Dean, that could be pill bug damage.

Yeah, maybe they'll grow out of it. What do you think?

I apply sluggo plus for pill bugs.

Okay, let me look into that.

Thanks!

Would Sevin dust work on the pill bugs?? Asking because our okra is just about broken though the soil, and I'll probably have the same problem down the road...

It wouldn't hurt to try it.

You know I have some neem oil. Would that work?

kevcarr59, I'm sure it would work, but for me I prefer organic solutions.

Good luck.

I put a plastic ring around most kinds of seedlings when they're small - tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, okra, etc. I use the red 16-oz. plastic cups from WalMart or the Dollar Store, and I cut the bottoms off and cut the remainder in half to make two rings from each cup. I set those rings in the ground around each small seedling and pack some dirt around the outside to keep them from blowing away.

There are several advantages. The main one is that the rings protect small seedlings against cutworms and pill bugs without using an insecticide. The rings also provide some shelter from the wind until seedlings get established, and when I water, the rings hold water right around the seedlings so it soaks in where I want it. When plants get a little bigger, I just cut the rings and discard them.

Neat idea Ozark!

Got a nice rain all day yesterday. Checked my 12 plants and most of them have blooms and some have 2" pods already! Looks like they are growing new leaves. Maybe the rabbit will leave them alone. I have 18 seedlings just in case that should be ready to transplant in a week or two.

-Vaughn

Wow! That is the tiniest plant I've seen a pod on! How cute!

My direct sown okra is growing very slowly! I need to weed the area between seedlings by hand. The spacing is (for now) too close for me to use the scuffle-hoe. It is really hot (heat index in the mid 90's), so I have to do a little at a time. It was even hotter yesterday, but luckily I was at the lake with my family...

The soil is still relatively cool for okra. They really flourish in late June, July, and August.

I HAVE AN IDEA - and I'd like your opinions on it. There's no way to make this long story short, so here's the long story.

This year, I started my Stewart's Zeebest okra indoors and I transplanted the seedlings into the garden a few days ago. 33 seedlings, three 21-foot long rows, 25 inches between seedlings - closer than I wanted them. To make up for the close spacing within the rows I made the rows six feet apart, which the bushy Zeebest plants will certainly need.

My okra seedlings are all growing and doing real well inside their protective plastic-cup rings, but at this point, that's a LOT of wasted space between rows. I got to thinking about planting something in the spaces between okra rows - something that will grow fast enough to not get shaded out by the okra (my rows run north/south), something that doesn't take too much horizontal space itself, and something that will be harvested and out of there before the okra really hits full growth and production in August and September.

I'm thinking SWEET CORN. I haven't planted any corn yet, mainly because I took up a lot of garden by spacing those okra rows so widely, and also because I planted so many beets which are still in the ground. In the east end of my garden I have 8 rows total, also 21 feet long, of potatoes, beets, turnips, and early cabbages. Those rows will all be harvested in June and I figure I'll replant the same rows with sweet corn at that time, soaker hoses still in place, for a corn harvest and freezer-filling around September.

I've got lots of corn seed, I bought a big package of bicolor Tendr-Sweet 2573 sh2 treated seed, and it's about a 73-day variety. I'm thinking of planting double rows of corn centered between the okra rows, say, a foot apart from each other. The double rows would give me better pollination of the corn than a single row would, and I can run a soaker hose down the middle between them. Yes, it'll be a little crowded to get down the rows between the corn and okra, but I bet it can be done. If I plant corn now it'll be finished about the third week of July, and that's 84 feet of corn that should produce well over 100 extra ears for us. Most okra production will be after the corn is out of there.

What do you think?