This is my first-ever time growing okra. I planted seeds of the "Burgundy" cultivar, and have been watching them do their thing. We went on vacation last week, and came home to pods! But I'm curious. Out of the two plants I kept, the pods and leaves are different colors. Is this normal variation, or is it more likely that I got two different cultivars in my seed packet?
The lower specimen more closely resembles Burgundy. When I have grown it, the fruit was a little more red, but the red veins in the leaf look right. The top specimen does not resemble Burgundy. Burgundy is an open pollinated okra, so it is quite possible that your seed source does not have pure seed.
I was wondering about the OP issue. Fortunately, we're not picky about having a matched set of okra for our gumbo. It's all good...
Thanks, farmerdill!
Got my okra in this week, Boy o boy am I anxious to get some pods myself. I just grow the plain ole green stuff. Doesnt matter to me, so long as I can pick those babies while they are still young and tender. Drives me crazy those big tree limbs they put in the packages of okra. There is nothing you can do to those woody things except throw them away, what a waste.
I learned that myself... they started producing while we were gone, I had to go ahead and try one anyway (my first okra pod ever, you know...) and the rest are in the compost. I'm keeping better track to make sure that doesn't happen any more!
This is Emerald, an OP, but the best that I have tried. Not all seed sources are the same, however. This came from Willhite, tried some other sources but did not get the same cultivar. There is a great deal of variance among the older OP's. Some versions of Cowhorn are also very good. Best hybrid that I have tried is Blondie.
Ummmm - love those! I neglected to plant them last year and am trying to make up for it this year. I like to eat them fresh off the vine!
Um.... it's supposed to be a vine? Mine look more like small bushes. Should I worry?
All okra are small bushes. The vine okra is actually a loofah gourd.
Whew! I thought I had something really wrong there for a minute... :)
Oops - didn't mean to confuse the issue - just meant that I pluck 'em and eat 'em fresh/uncooked!
