Anyone tried okra in 2 1/2 gallon containers?

Jim41, I am DOWN with that next day pot 'a gumbo! The best ever.

My grandmother told me that, back in the day, homemakers would save (put away -- I'm from New Orleans -- southerners know what "save" means...) extra cuts of meat like beef stew, sausage links, ham pieces, etc., in the freezer until they had a good amount -- enough to make a pot of gumbo!

I have a fantastic, NO FAIL, gumbo recipe on the Recipes forum. Or, you can look for the gumbo tag that says, "Linda and Angela's Gumbo Recipe" or "Gymgirl's Gumbo Recipe"

Be forewarned that my recipe starts with a BOXED roux base that will have all your friends fighting over the last bowl. I learned years ago to stop destroying my stovetop with roux all over the place. Zatarain's Gumbo Base (withOUT RICE) is the bomb!

I once took 20 friends from Houston home to New Orleans for a gumbo dinner, after which they sat around like roly polies complimenting my mom's gumbo, ESPECIALLY the richness, depth, smoothness and flavor of her roux. And she and I just sat there trying not to bust a gasket! Finally, I said, "Mah, you think we should tell 'em?" And she said, "Yeah, let's tell 'em" So she brought the box of gumbo base and showed them, and they could not believe what they ate came from that box. And these women were tried and true, down home, Southern cooks -- every one of 'em!

P.S. There's a little more finnesse' -ing to the box mix that's included in my recipe....

Linda

gardadore, I will post the results. Right now they are just saplings in a crazy experiment. I am putting them in buckets ranging in size from 2 gallons to 4 1/2 gallons. I will still have a few left. Wondering if I should double up a couple or just put them out in my flower bed for the flowers

MN, I love putting stuff like that amongst my flowers. Did you get red or green? Mine are burgundy. Meaning burg stems and veins in the green leaves, and burg fruit. I think. And yellow flowers.

Jeanette

I've never tried the burgundy. Do they turn green when cooked? Are they larger or the same as the green? I am growing several varieties but all green. I bet the burgundy variety would look pretty stunning when blooming! I'll have to try them next year. Anxious to hear your report on the burgundies, Jeanette.

Well, since I have never grown them, eaten them, or seen them growing, it should be interesting. That is why I bought them. 'cause I thought they would make a nice flower on my deck.

Jeanette, I don't know anything about my okra plants. A friend and I swapped saplings and she gave me okra. She threw the packet out and cannot even tell me if it is the dwarf variety or regular. So it will be a surprise. At least she is sure it is okra :-)

LOL, I've never heard of a dwarf variety. That is curious. Well, we might all be surprised.

gardadore I have extra seeds if you would like some. I don't know if you have time this season, also I got them from Parks if you would prefer to get fresh seeds from them next year. Also, Valueseeds, which is Thompson & Morgan, have the burgundy. At least they did if they are not sold out.

Jeanette

When you harvest your okra, be sure to wear gloves and a long sleeve shirt as the plants can be a bit prickly. I have Crimson Spineless and haven't had a problem so far, but my plants aren't very big, nor am I reaching through plants to get okra yet.

Thanks, Jeanette, that's a very thoughtful offer. Actually I am already behind this season. The seedlings are still sitting under lights on my upstairs enclosed porch and barely have the second leaf. It takes a while until they produce so I think I'll wait until next year. But I will definitely try them!

Do post a photo once yours bloom! In checking out my own varieties and what makes them different (I just buy packets and never really looked!) I came across this site for seeds. They carry your Burgundy and another red called Aunt Hettie's Red. Intriguing!
http://www.victoryseeds.com/catalog/vegetable/okra/okra.html

They also carry a Dwarf Green Longpond so that answers the question about dwarf varieties!

There is also a White Velvet, an old heirloom that is greenish white! And I found a similar one called Silver Queen at Pinetree Seeds. (https://www.superseeds.com/products.php?cat=74) Think how colorful our okra will look next year! Just "food" for thought!

My varieties are: (I also looked up what they are supposed to do and learned a lot!)

Annie Oakley (A high-yielding, early spineless okra - 50 days) and
Cajun Delight (dark green and heavy yields. SEMI-DWARF - - didn't realize that so that explains why they never grew real tall! ) from Pinetree Garden Seeds 2007

Okra Clemson Emerald (thick walled, round, slender, long, spineless, deep green, another SEMI-DWARF! ) and
Okra Clemson Spineless (dark green, straight, slightly grooved, spineless) from Wal-Mart 2005.

So except for the Clemson Spineless my okra isn't really supposed to get much more than 3 ft tall!

I started 10 seeds of each. Needless to say the 2005 seeds had a low percentage rate but I still got about 40-50% whereas the Annie Oakley was 100% so the seeds do last. You'll be able to use the Burgundy ones again next year, Jeanette.

So much for the okra lesson today! Now I'm inspired to coat them with corn meal and fry them with onions! I might really get to like these! Gotta get them to grow, though!

Jessica

Jessica,
Thanks for posting the variety info! Very, very helpful!

My neighbor grew two okra plants in 1and 1/2 gal. pots last year. They grew maybe 18 in. tall and each had 3 pods. What a waste of time. Let us know how you do with larger pots. Mine are in the ground and happy. I use a box brand of complete pancake mix to fry okra, pork chops, srimp, ect. Just season the mix with salt, pepper, Tony Chacheres, or what ever and pan or deep fry. Hey it's smooth and sweet spicy.

If you want real frying okra, you need cowhorn. The cowhorn I bought last year wasn't the same as the old original. I guess it has been hybridized like everything else. Got a friend that has been saving seed for about 40 years to send me some of the old timey cowhorn. It will get 12 to 15 ft. high and the pods will grow to about a foot long before they get hard. I'm going to save seed this year. If you want to try it out, let me know.

LOL, now I see where you live Jim. You and the people in Texas and FL could get them that big. Up here they wouldn't get any bigger than any of the others.

Jeanette

I love okra too and have enjoyed this thread.

A few intersting facts about okra.


-in the same plant family (mallow) as hibiscus, rose of sharon and hollyhocks
-originated in Africa (ethiiopia)
-is great when fried but be sure to eat ketchup with it!

My plants are looking good but need to deal with aphids and a Japanese beetle I found yesterday. got the beetle off but looking for an organic way to get rid of the aphids. Ideas?

Yes, the best way for aphids is to blast them off with a very strong stream of water from your hose.

Jeanette

Ketchup does NOT belong on fried okra!! Blech!! Gross!! Ewwww!! LOL LOL My husband eats ketchup with his fried okra and I give him a hard time about it.

I use Murphy's Oil soap, about an ounce or less, in a 32-oz squirt bottle for the aphids. Works great!

I say to each his own. If someone wants peanut butter on their okra have at it. I learned a long time ago that everyone's taste buds are not the same so who am I to tell them how and what to eat?

Jnette~I was only kidding. It doesn't bother me in the least if anyone puts ketchup on their fried okra, but for me, I think it's gross.

Except your husband Stephanie. LOL Guess you have to watch him eat it?

Jeanette

Yes. I shiver everytime he dips that okra into the ketchup. LOL

Thanks for the idea about peanut butter on okra. I eat peanut butter on everything and by itself. Tried it on fresh garden ripe cantelope yesterday. A gormet treat. Thanks again.

I'm sorry. But I can not get with that ketsup "on everything" bandwagon. I draw the line @ red beans and rice. Total sacrilege to ruin a perfectly good plate of food by drowning it in ketsup! And that's just IMHO! Linda

We are soul mates Gymgirl on ketchup. Only thing I eat catsup on is french fries and sometimes with fish. When I use it I like to load it down with tabasco sauce. One of my wife's nieces use to help her plate and cover every thing with catsup. Ugh. Got a brother in law that used to gross me out at Thanksgiving when he would put mustard on his dressing. Glad we all got to old and our families got to big to do Thanksgiving together. Course, believe it or not, some people think I'm weird eating peanut butter on everything.

PB on a nice, sweet banana...? Now that's nice...

Sure sorry I started this one. LOL. Years ago when we would go to my folks for dinner, my husband would put pb on his steak. Guess you know what my mother thought about that. His thing was that the food in the mess hall on base was so bad that he got in the habit of drowning it in peanut butter and ketchup.

Jeanette

Don't get me wrong, I love ketchup, but just not on my fried okra, potatoes, scrambled eggs, or hamburgers. I do like it with my meat most of the time. I did grow up eating ketchup in my scrambled eggs and in my pinto beans, though, I grew out of that habit.

I know this post is older but thought I throw my two cents in. I've grown Burgandy Okra for several years now. The last two years I grew them in 2 & 3 gallon pots on the south side of my house (extremely hot & dry = too much watering) and in the east end of my backyard garden (not enough sun). They got around 3'-4' tall kinda spindly. They grew & flowered but low harvest & were too much trouble. In the ground is best with at least 4 hours of direct sun & then afternoon dappled shade = less watering, healthy plants, big harvest. I wanted to try them in self watering rain gutter system on south side of house this year but I could not find the seeds in our local stores this year of 2017.

Feedstores carry bulk okra seeds- the ht they grow can depend on the variety of okra you choose. They do need a lot of water, but the pods grow on the top of the plant- so trimming lower leaves helps with watering. Full sun in the south is considered a short day light length (onions teach you this). Okra seeds go in ground here abt May/June. The roots of my 6' plants spread to 18" out and down. The taste of a fingerling tender length okra is that of a raw green bean and not slimy. The longer the length (generally speaking) the older the pod and the more the slime, until the pod turns woody and inedible.