Well most Okra is a bodacious big plant towards the end of summer. I am not familiar with heavy hitter as to plant size though. I used to grow Cowhorn and that stuff needed a step ladder by fall. I now grow either Louisiana Velvet, Perkins Long pod or Emerald, mostly Emerald and they are not much smaller.

I would definitely pull one of the double plants and at around a foot I would thin them out to about 24". Okras big leaves will need all of that and then some by fall if they are grown in open dirt.

I would not worry about it so much at a foot stage. Okra is a pretty tough plant and not so many natural enemies as some things. And if you were to grow Okra that close together successfully your are going to have it running out your ears before its over as you darn near have to pick it every day.

Just my 2C

Gotcha, perhaps I will get out my measuring stick, and when they reach 1 foot, I will make the decision to keep the thicker, healthier looking one of each pair. It's just so darned tough to do! I am not really sure I can space these more than 1 foot apart though, although I could plant some other stuff, like kale or collards inbetween. My drip tape has spots every foot, gotta make sure they get used!

Well actually I said it wrong. I thought you said it was already a foot tall. The earlier you can bring yourself to pull one of the double plants the easier it will be on the other ones root wise.

I never grew Okra with a soaker hose. If there is a thing that will grow and produce even in a drought it would have to be Okra or cowpeas. I better shut up though as I have no idea about your drought conditions or part of the state your dealing with.

I am in SE Oklahoma, and I use drip irrigation, definitely will never go back to soaker hoses. The soil I grow them in is rather sandy, and loses its moisture pretty quickly. I have never had the best of luck not using some sort of irrigation on my okra over the years. And no you did not misread it, probably about 50% of the okra is at least a foot tall, and the other 50% is getting there. I will do the deed tomorrow. Thanks for the input!

One of the things that makes heavy hitter so productive is that it branches. It will appreciate elbow room. When I grew it, it was in new soil that nothing was thriving in. I think I planted 3 in an 8 foot bed, end, center, end. There were other things growing in that bed. We got a good harvest despite poor growing conditions.