I live in Pacific NW. I have read or been told that okra can't be grown here. Too cool and too short summer.

I don't need big platters of okra. Just some of my own fresh pods for stew or barbecue.

I read it can't be transplanted. Last year I grew some in containers, and planted some seeds directly in a raised bed in May. I transplanted the container plants then too. The only plants that bore, were the container-started ones. They stayed small, but I got a few pods. The directly seeded plants stayed at 2 or 4 small leaves, and died.

This year I bought seeds for the earliest yield, shortest growing varieties, that I could find. The idea is, maybe if they stay fairly small, I can grow in containers, or cover with a plastic cover on the raised bed, to keep in heat.

I also planted some seeds at Christmas time, and kept with other starts in my light garden. Those were Burgundy and hybrid Baby Bubba. Both have stayed small, but both have their first pods developing now. I've repotted twice. It's warm out, so today I planted them in a larger container on the deck. Brugmansia and peppers flourish there, so I hope the okra grows.

Here are my questions.

1. Does okra grow only with a single stem? Can the top be pinched to make it branch? Would pinching to make it branch, increase the yield?

2. If the day is hot, does it matter if the night is cool? Especially if grown in containers that warm up in the sun.

3. Does okra do better if kept wet, or should I let it dry out more?

4. What varieties, if any, do best in containers?

5. Some container plants like crowding, some like being by themselves. Would okra be happiest with several in a large container, or by itself?

6. Should I use high nitrogen, or better to use a tomato-type plant food?

I started seeds from Baby Bubba hybrid, North and South Hybrid, Dwarf Green Long Pod, and Burgundy. Any that I don't place in containers, I will plant in a raised bed. They might get Wall-o-water, or a poly tunnel at first, but with a very unseasonable 90 degrees expected this week, those might be counterproductive.

Thanks for any advice.

Okra grows with a single stem until it is topped. In the South, this is done in mid-late summer, which helps to push out new bearing branches.

Okra wants warmth 24/7.

Containers will have a dwarfing effect unless they are quite large. Burgundy is a popular container okra that grows to 8 feet in a garden, half that size in a container.

Water more in warm weather, less in cool weather.

I would give them each their own big pot and feed them when warm weather is predicted. Okra often needs P more than N, so I would use the tomato fertilizer now, and drench with a high N fertilizer when a flush of blossoms forms.