Most any of them will grow here. I have evolved to like {{gwi:35115}} better than the rest. It stays tender to a bigger size than the rest and the taste is about the same.
Clemson Spineless is a pretty popular variety here, as are some of the Louisiana varieties.

Okra is a little slow getting started and producing (it likes the heat), but once it gets going good it will produce well until frost kills it. Cold weather will slow it down.

About 20 to 30 plants is more than enough for my wife and I, and we usually freeze some and give some away. Spacing can depend upon your garden, but I have found that it does better if thinned to about 2 to 2.5 feet apart.
Good luck with your growing.
Bill P.

20-30 plants? I am in shock! I have a 13'X23' garden and that many plants would take up nearly half. I guess I will have to plan for something else. But I thank you for the advice.

You can get by with closer spacing with okra--as close as 12 inches apart. Like Bill, I like to give okra 2 feet or more to let them really spread out--but if you don't have the room then you can squeeze them closer together. You may not get enough okra at once to feed the whole family from just a few plants, but it freezes well, so just keep throwing pods in the freezer until you have enough for a meal.

I've always grown Clemson Spineless just because that's what the feed store always has in stock. Variety isn't terribly important with Okra--it likes our hot weather and I consider it one of the easier vegetable crops to grow here.

Jason

Sorry for the shock. I agree with Jason if you are that limited in space, crowd them up and they will grow and produce, but not to the optimum like they would as I recommended. After they get to producing well, you can probably count on one pod per plant every couple of days depending on how small you want to pick them.

Some folks like them really small, and they are good that way but I prefer to let them grow bigger than that. You could try 10 plants a foot apart and see how they do for you, that might be enough for you depending on your appetite for okra. Going that route,it would be better if they could get full sun.
Just my second thoughts.
Bill P.

I planted 4 at the end of a small (3x20] garden.Took up about a 3x3 space.Iwas picking about 10 a day.Plenty enough for my family of 4,plus ever1 else I knew!

WOW! ! 10 pods per day off 4 plants? Now that is just really outstanding, can you post any pictures or at least tell us what variety is that prolific? I sure would like to try some of that, but I have only tried the more common varieties.
Bill P.

I was getting 7 or 8 pods off two big plants every day at the peak of the season last year. One day I picked a baker's dozen, but a couple were overgrown and woody. I also had three dwarf plants that were a little crowded in their container, and I got one or two pods a day off those.

If you find a variety or varieties that tends to branch well, and give them enough space and sunlight, I think it'll increase your harvest without taking up too much more room.

My two big plants last year were Emerald. One of them branched VERY well, with two dozen producing branches, and the other only had four or five producing branches. The more productive of the two had an additional hour of sunlight every day, which may have been the deciding factor.

Most okra will not branch that way with 4 plants in a 3X3'space. Any okra pods that are overgrown and woody are surely more than a day old. Most one day old pods will not be more than a couple of inches long at best. That has been my observations, but if you folks are getting all that much day in and day out consistently, that is great, and in that event perhaps the original poster can get by with a couple of plants and freeze some, give some away etc..
Bill P.

Oh, my tough pods were more than a day old for sure. I wasn't very clear there. What happened was I left a few undersized pods on the plant to pick the next day and they went from being tiny to huge. Some days I had to pick twice a day. They'd be 2" long in the morning and 4" at night.

Now watch it turn out to be some kind of beginner's luck and my next crop will be a dud! ;)

Thank you for all the advice! Today I planted seeds in a 13' row 2" apart. (I might have gone plant happy and planted to early...time will tell.) Anyway, once the seedlings get to be about 3" high I think I will take your advice and thin them down to 12" apart instead of the initial suggestion of 2'. That will give me 11-12 good plants to work with. My garden faces south west with no large trees in sight and gets sun most of the entire day. Hopefully it will be enough to get these babies to grow well. Thank you guys for all your help!

we planted a 40' row of okra last year, spaced maybe a foot a part. the plants actually all grew together, around here we don't give them much room to breathe. most people do, just not in my area. the only real problem i have with them close is that you sometimes miss a few pods on the inside and end up with waste.

every other day we picked okra, enough to fill a 5 gallon bucket during the peak of summer! we put up so much okra i ran out of room in the freezer for anything else. i gave away buckets and buckets of okra. then i started taking the frozen okra and chunking it in the compost heap. i quit picking around mid september and let the pods go hard so i could save the seeds. there are porbably 3 gallon bags of okra seed in the freezer, i have to figure out if i am am going to plant any this year or not, as we still have a bunch.

with full sun you should get a pretty good harvest from 11 or so plants.

I am determined to get some edible okra this year.

I need tips, as my last few attempts were fairly pathetic. Blazing heat shouldn't be much of a problem as it's already made it nearly to ninety. If you can't have okra there's no other conceivable compensation for this infernal climate, I say.

Seed direct? Transplant seedlings? What should I do?

As always, thanks for any and all help!

golodkin,

It's always best to direct sow whenenever possible.

Check with your state's Extension Service. Each county should have it's own Cooperative Extension Office which provides free publications and information for the asking. They will have valuable vegetable/gardening tables available specifically for your area determined by universities, and horticultural research scientists have collected data from growing those crops in your state.

See how detailed these examples are:

{{gwi:4005}}

Vegetable Planting and Planning Calendar for Missouri (download the pdf) complete with spring and fall planting dates (underneath the spring planting dates for appropriate crops), how much to plant per person, etc. They can also tell you the average last frost date for your area and ideal planting times for specific crops and varieties in your area.

Here is an excerpt:
{{gwi:9795}}

DavidandKasie, What variety of okra did you plant to get that resulted in such a high yield?

> Each county should have it's own Cooperative
> Extension Office which provides free publications
> and information for the asking.

Mine seems to be relentlessly self-promotional, but devoid of any such direct usefulness. I spent a half hour digging through page after page of their site without finding much beyond puffery for their various upcoming "community programs." No data I could find.

Okra shouldn't be that hard; there are only a few available varieties. I'm just curious about soil types & prep, plus any general caveats. This is Sacramento valley -- blazing heat, staggering aridity. Should work! 8-)

i honestly do not know. the seeds were unlabeled. they came from one of the state research centers. my father in law worked there up until this past summer when he had a heat stroke that caused him to be unable to work outside anymore. the center gave away any seeds and seedlings that were not marked as to variety, so he always brought me plenty.

i do know they were not one of the smaller varieties, as the pods would get to around 1.5 inches thick and almost 10 inches long if left alone. each plant put out tons of pods, the more i picked them the more they seemed to produce! they did get hard quick too, if you let a pod get more than 3 days old it was inedible. the base of each plant grew to almost 5 inches in diameter.

Hi, chiming in late. I had only 8 plants last year. We picked 8- 10 pods per plant per day. I think the variety was irrelevant. (Emerald) It was the fact that we incorporated composted manure into the planting soil. Emerald is supposed to be a dwarf plant. Ours was 12 feet tall by the end of summer. We had to use a step stool to pick. Manure, manure, manure.

Not sure what "kind" only know they were 10cents a pack at wal mart in moore okla. Thanks for asking and good luck.I like em best fried or in cajun type recipes such as soups etc...Makes my mouth water just typin bout it! Your friend Scott!

Best stand of Okra I ever had was in a 2 foot sq. packed with plants. Nothing else around em. Full sun on 3 sides. They were like 4 to 6" apart. Picked Okra till we was worn out :)

CrAzY LaRrY

golodkin

I know what you mean about having a difficult time finding information.

Here is a link that might be useful: California Vegetable Info

i planted my okra this weekend and guess what, i did not plant the unknown variety last year. i found the unknown seeds still in a bag and a empty bag of cajun delight from Johnny's, so that is what gave me such good results.

Thanks davidandkasie! That is great to know and I think I will try to find some.

I am growing okra (Clemson Spineless), for the first time this year. Sowed seeds April 3rd, harvested first pod May 28th and as of this morning have pulled 155 pods. The most I pulled in one day was 13, but have had several days where I have pulled 9 or 10. Not sure how my results compare to others productivity wise, but I sure am enjoying okra these days! Plants are about 6 ft tall and are spaced about 2ft apart.

I am also growing okra (Clemson Spineless) for the first time this year. You didn't say how many plants have produced 155 pods. Wow!

I have 8 plants planted about a foot apart among bell peppers and the "Zucchini-from-Hell" that I have mentioned in another post. I put 3" seedlings in the ground the third week in May. I have picked maybe a dozen pods so far and I have picked them rather small - 2-1/2". I have at least 4-6 pods coming up on each plant now so my harvest is just getting started.

My plants, however, are not as tall as I expected. They are less than 3 feet and I thought they'd be at least 4 feet. But having little experience I don't know if they will continue to grow taller while they are producing.

I LOVE okra. So far, it has been easy to grow and absolutely delicious. I have eaten a couple of the sweet tender pods right off the plant - I couldn't resist. I will probably plant more next year and 86 the zucchini!

I meant to add that I have 5 plants. Hard to compare productivity if you dont know how many plants....Lol
Here they are from June 3rd, will post a current pic later.
{{gwi:35116}}

I grow clemson spineless, I bought the seed one time years ago and now I just let a few of the pods go to seed and save my own, it comes back true from the seed you save. So just if you let a few get too big, just keep them on there for seed. Store the seed in the refrigerator until planting time next year and you'll have close to 100% germination.

I will definitely save seeds this year. I heard okra seeds don't save well, but I'm willing to give it a try (hey, nothing to lose, right?)

I picked my first pods about 45 days after planting 3" seedlings. I have only had a handful so far and my plants are only 2 feet high. I'm hoping I get a lot more okra before the summer is over!

I am so jealous!! I have 8 plants and have picked one measly pod. I was almost embarrassed to bring it inside. My mother grabbed it and ate it raw in her salad.

Here is a look at the plants today, looking good and producing well.

{{gwi:35117}}

{{gwi:35118}}

Back on the okra thread because I am just so darned crazy about okra right now. This is the first time I've grown it and I will definitely plant MORE next year!

It is easy
The flowers are really pretty
The small, tender, just-picked pods are the best okra I ever tasted. If everyone tried it, everyone would love okra. I can't stop eating them raw in fact! (Sorry, family, not much left for dinner!)

Im with you on this one for sure Lisalu. First time for me as well but definitely wont be the last. Picked another 13 pods today.

This is my first attempt at growing okra and I have 11 plants (Cajun Delights from Johnny's), only about 24 to 30" tall, that started to produce about a week ago. I primarily want to make pickled okra but so far have only harvested about 15. It looks as though it's going to take a while to gather enough for a batch large enough to can several jars so my question is can I put them in the freezer as harvested and then, when there are enough, thaw them and pickle and can? Or will they be too soft and mushy after thawing?

232 pods and counting as of this morning.

461 pods as of this morning and I am having to use a ladder to harvest.Average of right at 6 per day for the 5 plants. 8 per day during the month of July. I also planted a couple plants of the emerald variety for comparison taste wise.

olliem, I have the same question. I am growing Lee, which is a dwarf size, however with the heat we are getting here right now the plants are really starting to take off and I'm cutting every other day. I'd like to take some to my aunt (in another state) on Labor Day, and if I can't get fresh pods to her then, will frozen still work for her to pickle?

Space plant 6 to 12 inches apart in rows 15 to 30 inches apart. Okra. Grow 6 plants per person. Yield 5 to 10 pounds per 10-foot row