Okra

Ok went to the extension office today and found out I can still plant okra so I thought I'd give it a try, only problem is I can't find any okra seeds. Sooo can I buy an okra pod and take out the seeds? How long should I dry them for? I only want a few plants (3 or 4 tops) so a pod would be the perfect if I can do it.

Saint

Not unless you find a dried mature okra pod from someone who is saving seeds.. Okra is picked for eating at a very immature stage before seed formation. Normally okra is available on all seed racks, and the feed and seed stores carry loose seeds. I get it for about $ 1,50 for a quarter lb.

I can't find it at any of the stores here Farmer. Everyone has taken up seeds..seems a bit early to me since we can get another crop here but..*shrugs*

araness,
I have a few seeds I can send you.

Thanks berrygirl but I finally found some at a Feed n' Seed about 20 min away so it won't be any trouble for me to go pick some up in the morning. Very nice of you to offer..I don't have any seeds yet but If you need anything I'll have just let me know.

Saint

btw where is Braselton?

araness,
Glad you found some. I got more veggie seed if you need 'em. I dont know what is up with some stores and putting away their seed displays so early. Don't they know us seed and plant freaks buy them all year long?!?!?!

Braselton is just off I-85, about 50 miles N of hotlanta. We're the town that actress Kim Basinger bought in the 80's but it all came to naught- LOL!!

Humm is that by Helena? I am terrible at this...Only way I ever remembered how to find Italy on the map was that it looked like a Jimmy Choo pair of pumps.

I know I can have a second planting of lots of stuff around Aug. so you'd think they would just leave it out.

Hey araness

Okra likes warm-nites and loves to be transplanted. We have tried several varieties including purple & white lol, still turns green when ya cook it.
All types grow well here, right through the heat of summer!

Cool I have some seeds wrapped in moist towels right now to help start them so I can put them in the ground...ahh you do know I'm stickin this stuff in a container..how deep should the bucket or planter be?

Maybe a five gallon bucket would do?

5 gal bucket should work jus fine Irish lady!
If you mix some bleach and water and soak the seed you see it start to sprout or at least see the end start turning white in an hour or so.

Planted you'll see it up in a week or less.

I soaked it in a moist towel should I add bleach? It's already started to sprout lill white steams or I guess you'd call it a root. *LOL* I am soo clueless. and I have a 5 gallon painters bucket I'll poke some holes in. Just one plant per bucket ya think? Since ya said the roots go nuts?

Depends on the cultivar. Some of the old timers like the velvets get HUGE. Others like Lee, Blondie etc are small plants which don't take up a lot of space.

I planted a LA Green Velvet. Or thats what the guy said he sold me *G* It was this amazing place (Feed n Seed) he had these jars of seeds...lol I got a whole bunch for .30 cents!

Saint

This message was edited May 20, 2005 7:48 AM

I soak my okra seeds overnight in a water and hydrogen peroxide solution. Ratio about 1 part HP to 5 water. Helps 'em sprout pronto.

My favorite variety is "Artist." Entire plant color including pods is red. (Cooks up green, of course.) Pods are quite dry, lacking the "gumbo" of some types.

Thanks for the tips on germinating. Also helps to know they don't mind being transplanted! Maybe I'll start some (quick!) in cell packs and transplant out in a week or two. I think I've been told to wait until the soil is warmer for okra? (like when you're planting out peppers or sowing cukes & melons, rather than a little earlier when you're setting out tomatoes... is that right?)

That's right. Okra originated in Africa and likes very warm conditions.

Thanks! An indoor start it is, for them then! Since I've started setting things out, there's actually space under the lights again!

*G* Can I send my stuff to be under your lights for my fall stuff? I go out and buy a light now the DH is going to hit the roof. He's such a spoil sport.

I'll grow for you, but you have to pick up the plants when they are ready...

What a deal! Fritch has to be closer to you than Frederick!

Lights don't have to be costly. I picked up my double-tube 4 ft. florescent fixtures at Lowe's, I think, for $8 or $9. If you use the regular, cool light 40 watt tubes, they're inexpensive as well. One double fixture provides enough light for 2 standard flats of seedlings. The fancy lights may work better for some plants, but I think the inexpensive cool florescents have actually been shown to be better than "grow lights" for starting seedlings.

I got a deal on mine at a handyman outlet. They are only shop lights, so they humm a bit, and are open on the sides, but it seemed to be enough light. I am about to disassemble it all and pack it away until July. Sounds crazy, but I need to finish painting in there and also put in the ceiling, and seal the floor. My shleves were only 3 ft wide, so I had to be creative to use the light space efficiently LOL. new shelves on the list for July...

So, critter, will you grow mine? I have never been to the East coast, might as well find an excuse to go? Knowing Saint, she will have my space all taken up *G* (ducking)

lol..smarty pants! I have a light in the garage that would work I guess. The old owner didn't pull wire but just hung it up and plugged it in so I guess for once I guess I should be happy that he did something half fannied. Now if I could only figure out what size bulb. I'll have to take it down to clean it so I could use that for the winter but way way to hot in the garage to do my fall seedlings. So i'll try and find a cool light for inside (are they marked cool light? and find a light to set up for that.

Well planted my okra seed. Had a nice little tail on it from the moist towel it's been wrapped in so keeping my fingers crossed. Didn't have enough potting soil to plant two so I'll try and run to Wally World this weekend and pick up a small bag so I can have two plants.

This patch was planted direct, dry seed. Some was old!
What I can't find to transplant one area to another I will reseed using chlorine bleach and water. 30 minutes later I can plant. Water over night works, or in a freezer over night.
-
I used no fertilizer at planting!
When they blossom about 1 tbsp per plant.
Again 1 month later.

This patch will produce about 50 pounds every other day.
LOL wanna come and cut some okra?

Hint:
Should you not have, I don't, a planter and are going to plant a lot.
You can cut a piece of PVC pipe your height and drop yur seed in.
Keeps them in a straight row ie don't bounce all over.
-
Seems like bending over didn't use to hurt so much!

These seed were put into plain ol dirt covered 1/2 to an inch.
Pack it gently! Water in....

Some old timers I've known said tha correct debth to plant a seed is its diameter. Oh well, ta each his-her own.

Same patch, before!

Same patch etc.
Adversity builds, builds, oh heck, look at all tha free fertilizer.

Oh, lol found another car. Hey this one is red, I think!
How can ya call me country. I had a govment job. Once...

Saint~ Mostly the lights available are cool by default. Walmart is the cheapest. Hope your light is 4 foot. 3 foot bulbs cost twice as much, and 2 foot bulbs are even higher! Get one cool and one warm for each light. Warms are cheapre in two packs... good luck!

Thanks Tamara I'll take it down and clean it up this weekend and buy bulbs when we go to Sam's next weekend. I have a question can I start seeds for fall planting outside or do they too need to be done inside with fan and light?

Just FYI.. I never start fall plants inside.

oh cool so I can do it outside. You've just made my day Farmerdill. I want to try a few different types of maters and more cucumbers as well as maybe lettuce, herbs and I was thinking an irish potato, onions of course radishes.

But i think if you are starting them in trays, rather than in the ground, they do need to be sheltered from the heat...???? Farmer Dill???

well I can just plant them in the contianers they will stay in if that would help or maybe humm I dunno *LOL* put a fan on them outside (I have slap gone nuts) I know the maters (beefsteak & rutgers) are going in the EB (it says two but how big does they get) I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Of the things you listed, I would only start the maters inside, just like you would in the late winter. But you gotta check the maturity dates with your first frost date. Then you can always pick the last of them green, they will ripen indoors and you have fresh maters all winter!

Sorry, forgot you were doing pots and EBS...

lol..frost, do we get that here? *G* How do I check out those dates?

ooh, Saint, you're just really rubbing in that zone thing, aren't you?

Although starting outdoors sounds like a good thing (and a little shelter from the sun for newest seedlings would probably be good), I tried that last year and had 2 flats of tender little seedlings devoured in one afternoon by a plague of grasshoppers. So, I'm actually going to start some things inside and just harden them off as I would in spring.

I would still recommend starting seedlings, especially tomatoes, in seed starting trays. Transplanting them into 2 inch pots and then transplanting them one more time into the garden (or container) is good for root development. I know Saint had good luck this spring sowing seeds right into her pots, but just think, her plants might be even bigger now if she'd done it "right!" ;-) Yes, I know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but sometimes you have to play around a little.

Note, I grew up in an area that that had no fancy soiless planting mixes, no planting trays, or pots ecept tin tin cans. All transplants were started in hot beds or cold frames. I am a traditionalist in my second childhood, so I do replicate a lot of the ways of youth. Fall tomatoes are started in a cold frame, set in a semi-shaded area and when large enoght transplanted directly (The direct Georgia summer sun will cook the seeds). I do sometimes use a potting mix, but in the old days we went out into the woods and dug out the layer just beneath the leaf cover. Depending on how high faluting you were it was called woods dirt or leaf mold for starting plants. The Toe-Mah-to folks called it leaf mold, The to- May-to folk, woods dirt. As a kid I tranplanted quite a few acres of tomatoes from that woods dirt.

I knew i would love hearing your story FD! Thank you :-)

Yep I just stop and think what if I had done things right...I might be eatin maters by now!

Does anyone know where or how to get the frost dates? I'd like to know for some of the things I want to plant in Sept.

Saint