Seems like those couple of inches of rain and then the quick switch back to extreme heat and drought threw some things. I have an apple tree which was damaged on one main trunk. It seemed to be making it alright until just this week. Then that side of the tree's leaves dried up.

George
Tahlequah, OK

How frustrating that the long-hoped-for and badly needed rain has seemingly killed or damaged plants.

This turn of events leaves me almost speechless. It almost seems like your plants would have been better off without the rain, or at least with less of it in such a compact time frame.

I had similar issues in 2005 when a very dry spring/summer was followed by heavy rain in August. The rain didn't last beyond August, but it caused a lot of problems for the plants.

Dorothy, Grasshoppers are one reason I haven't planted anything. I feel like even if I was willing to water heavily, all I'd be doing would be watering plants that would quickly become 'Grasshopper Chow'. It is unfortunate that the grassshopper population thrives in drought years.

Dawn

My okra looks OK but producing very little. It appears the Stewart Zeebest has out produced best, Green Velvet next and then Clemson. None are worth writing home about.
A forum member sent me 25 to 35 Zeebest seed, only 1 sprouted and grew. It has several long pods on it, but I am not eating from this plant, It will all go for seed for next year. With any luck I will have seed to share.

My sweet potatoes are looking even better after the 3.9" of rain we received over a 6 or 8 day period. I have been digging a few along. this morning I dug under one vine and got 4 potatoes, one very nice 3 just large enough to eat.

My tomatoes are the pits, some look as if they could go to frost but it would be mostly a waste, other than the cherries there is no sign of new fruit.

Larry

Well, I planted Stewart's and it's going crazy. The plants are 5 feet tall and about 4 feet across. I planted 9 plants and spaced them at 3 feet. This is an amazing okra. I'm getting more okra from these 9 plants than I did from 30 clemson spineless plants last year. Picked about 4 lbs from these 9 plants yesterday evening. Will have that much more in a couple of days.

Larry, if I let all the pods that are setting on my 10 Stewart's Zeebest go to seed, I would have a gallon of seed. So I let the first pod or sometimes two set and then have been eating the later pods. George, from whom I got the seed, says that you need to save seed from several plants, so perhaps you would like me to send you some seed later on to get from more than one plant. I have had lots of Clemson Spineless too, plenty to eat and put up. The Stewart's Zeebest was planted earlier than the Clemson's and produced much earlier so the earliest pods on the Stewart's should be true as there were no blooms on the Clemson's to cross with it.

Dorothy, that would be wonderful. I will leave the older pods and start eating the ones that ate still tender. I keep hoping the other okra will start producing. However I did notice that after the rain and some cooler weather some pods are forming. My okra was planted later this year, that may be one reason it is dragging its feet.

Dorothy, thanks for the offer, that would be great way to expand my gene pool.

Larry

I would love to have some Stewart Zeebest seed if anyone has some to share. I'd be happy to send an SASE.
Tracy

Tracy, It's always iffy to count your okra seed before it's dried and picked, but if it does as well as I hope, I can spare some for both you and Larry. Email me your addresses and when it's ripe I will send it.