The book Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth covers most aspects of seed saving, which would be hard to fit into a chart!

With okra, the isolation guideline is one mile because of movement of pollen by insects. The flowers themselves are self-fertile, so you can bag a couple of Burgundy blossoms with fine mesh bags -- anything to keep out insects -- and mark the pods with a twist tie or piece of string so you will know which ones to harvest for seed.

Thank you. I have added the book to my wish list and while I do have space, a mile might be a bit much so will do the mesh bag method. My first freeze is often by October 15th, at what time should I start covering the bloom and pod?

Bag the bloom as soon as it forms, before it has a chance to be pollinated. Once the fruit starts to form, you can uncover it. You just want to make sure it doesn't cross-pollinate.

Leslie

I was actually more concerned about how long it takes to dry out for the seeds to be fully developed. I assume a flower in September would be too late but not really aware of what timetable I need. Thanks.

Oh, I get it. Cover as in frost blanket. Okra goes from bloom to maturity in about 3 days here. That's why I have to pick okra every. single. day. Ideally, you'd leave the pod to dry on the plant but I've never really paid attention to that timetable. You really just need the pod to be there long enough to get really big and woody. That's about a week, maybe two. You can cut the stem and dry the pod off the plant if you have to. I wouldn't leave it on the plant if it was about to freeze, even covered.

It shouldn't be a problem though. Just bag the first bloom and save that one. 4 months is plenty of time.

Leslie

I would choose early pods for seed-saving purposes. The best seed will be produced by very vigorous, healthy plants rather than tired ones.