Once it starts bearing, you will get two - 4 pods per day per plant until frost. You do the math.
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Thanks FD, seems like I'll need a few beds of nothing but okra then, if I want my food. I also wanted to be able to can some. Any ideas of which variety is the highest yield?

Last summer, I transplanted Okra into Black Plastic and was picking 20-40 pounds off of 240 row feet every week from June-September.

JRSlick, what variety of okra did you plant? Also, what do you mean by Black Plastic? Please let me know, 20-40 lbs sounds right up my alley.

Black plastic mulch. http://www.gardenharvestsupply.com/ProductCart/pc/Black-Plastic-Mulch-1-Mil-Smooth-3-x-50-p360.htm

4 lbs a day would be a lot of plants. They arn't the tightest spaced veg, nor the garden's biggest producer. You may be better served by growing less of your own and picking a variety for flavor and then supplementing your own harvest with some high yeild commercial varieties from the farmers market or store.

4 pounds per week would translate to between 25 and 35 plants. My rule of thumb is to have 2 okra plants every 18 inches. You could squeeze that much into a single raised bed about 9 feet long by 4 feet wide using 3 "rows" each with 6 hills of 2 plants. It would require cutting okra in the middle of the bed which could be a "prickly" proposition.

DarJones

Perfect DarJones. Thank you everyone for your feedback. I need just that, four pounds per week. I'm hoping to maybe put additional dwarf plants into containers to ensure that I have enough to freeze for the winter months, too. 25 to 35 plants sounds PERFECT. Thanks again for your help!

The variety was Clemson Spineless. It was also a great year for Okra, Dry and Hot! However, the best thing was the plastic mulch and spacing it one foot apart. I have never had Okra do this well before. I am planning on doing the same thing this year and see what the results are.

Plastic mulch or landscape fabric (that is what I used) comes in 3 foot by 50, 100 or 300 foot rolls. I am using black plastic mulch this year and I purchased a 4,000 foot roll. I will have it around for a few years!

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Jay

My name is Lucky

Hi Farmerdill

Am a new okra farmer in Zambia (southern hemisphere)...is this information of 2-4 pods per day per plant consistent for me? Am growing okra for the very first time. I have 2000 plants and they are at the flowering stage,so am so anxious please answer me

I would think so. That is of course an average. They start slow with pods on the main stem. As the plant plant matures and branches each branch will start contributing 2-4 pods per day so at peak performance, you can get a dozen pods/per plant every second day. ( that is of course with excellent growing conditions and low pest pressure.)

Lucky ... TWO THOUSAND PLANTS! That's s lot of okra.

Early in the season it's a pod or two per plant, but as the previous answer says, when the plants are mature and at the height of production you will be picking many more per plant.

To keep production high, don't leave pods on the plant even if they are too large and rough to sell at the market. Feed them to livestock but remove them as soon as you see them.

Woww!!!...that sounds great

So now from your okra experience how long does the plant take from seeding to reach this stage of peak performance with fully grown branches(my plants are 2 months-3days old and am expecting the first harvest this week)? How many branches am I expecting l? And how long do I expect the plants to remain at peak?

Given sufficient water and soil of medium fertility, they will start brancing in a month or so after the first flowers. The number of branches depends on the variety - some have many branches, others very few.

The limiting factor on okra production for me was the arrival of shorter days and cooler weather. 33N latitude.

You are closer to the equator, so they might stay productive for longer.

For sure some of them already have branches that have started developing buds...Clemson spineless is the variety I have

My other challenge is that I have about 1000 plants looking stunted and they are two months old too and they have started producing the pods...is it in order to allow them continue? I just treated them to a heavy manure meal each, do I expect them to grow to the level of their friends? Will they ever get to normal someday and produce like others or I remove them and start new seeds? They are only about 6inches tall and they stopped growing but started flowering