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dancinglemons

Okra mystery ??? Beautiful plants -- no okra ??

dancinglemons
10 years ago

Hello all,

I have been growing okra for years. I have never had any problems getting vigorous plants with bountiful harvest. This year - nada, zip, butkus!! The plants were started in the raised beds from seed in May. The plants look great nice size but a bit smaller than last few years. I usually have 6-7 foot tall okra by August but the plants are about 4 feet tall now. They got a dose of Espoma GardenTone at planting and were side dressed at 6 weeks with same. Reading an old "no okra" post on GW I gave them a dose of Bloom Booster last week. The variety I am growing is Stewarts Zeebest from Southern Exposure Seed. I've grown this variety last 3 years with GREAT results.

I pulled one plant to check for nematode root knots and none are seen. Anyone have this problem now or in past??

Thanks,
DL

Comments (10)

  • digdirt2
    10 years ago

    I am having the same problem this year. It's the weather. Much cooler than normal - by 10-15 degrees - and 3x wetter than normal so slowed root development.

    Okra is a heat lover. So is your weather 'normal'?

    Dave

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    10 years ago

    I have the same thing going on here. I was also going to attribute it to the weather. Yesterday's high was 76, in general it has been in the low to mid 80s with only one week of 90s so far. Very nice for the gardener, not as much for some of the heat lovers, I guess. My peppers also seem slower than normal this year, though not so much as the okra. There's still time, though.

  • wertach zone 7-B SC
    10 years ago

    DL, I'm in 7b also. I have the same thing going on here.

    I'm in north-west SC but I don't know where you are. Maybe you should add the state to your profile to get better answers?

    I'm normally picking okra in late June.

    It has been cooler and wetter here than normal. We normally have little to no rain and high 90's by mid June. We had almost no direct sun because of clouds and rain all of June and July.

    My plants, CS, are short but beautiful and late producing. They started last week, 4 or 5 a day, but I'm picking 20 + a day now from about 20 plants.

    They should pick up if you are getting sun shine.

  • dancinglemons
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Whew!! I'm glad it is the weather and not something I need to fix. I'm in Central Virginia and the weather has not been ""normal"". In June we had about 2 weeks of 95++ with 85 at night and rain, rain, rain all summer. We usually get almost no rain in July but this year we are 2++ inches above normal. Not complaining because I know some folks have drought but perhaps it will dry up just a bit so I can get a few pods!

    Cheers,
    DL

  • nc_crn
    10 years ago

    Cool weather or lack of sun is usually the thing that causes this in okra. Excessive N can cause it, too, but it's usually crazy excessive N that would lead to it.

    Okra loves sun + consistent 80F+ temps to properly thrive. The sun is more important than the temperature. I've tried to plant okra in partial shade as a hedge-break crop and it was a disaster, not producing pods until very late in the season thanks to the lack of sun it was getting thanks to plants shading it from afternoon sun.

  • dancinglemons
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Update::

    We are still cooler than usual and for the entire year we are 8 inches above normal rainfall. BUT ---- I have okra!! Now mind you I do not have a boat load like I usually have but today I picked about a half pound. The plants are super super super bushy -- much more than normal but all plants have LOTS of what will be flowers. Now if September will just stay in the 80's I might just get more okra. DH plans on raising the raised bed up about 12 inches because we notice that the rain seems to really pool in the okra area.

    Hope you guys get some okra.

    Cheers,
    DL

  • seysonn
    10 years ago

    That's amazing . Everybody is in zone 7 and having Okra problem. But I am also in zone 7 bu have no problems with it , b/c I did not plant any...lol
    But I have problems with tomatilloes. shoudn't have planted that one either. They both need southern hospitality.

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    10 years ago

    Your okra plants sound just how mine look, except I have no okra yet. But suddenly there are a ton of flowers on many branchy ends, so we'll see.

  • tishtoshnm Zone 6/NM
    10 years ago

    Honestly, seysonn, zone has little to do with it.

    This is the first year I have begun to understand the potential of okra, which is nice because another couple of dudd years on it would have put it on my why bother list. Very few of my purple tomatillos are actually purple but they are growing well so it is nice to have a few successes. My season though has mainly been hot and dry, are temperatures have been exceeding the normal average and while our drought has improved a teensy bit, it is still ongoing.

  • HU-467809907
    last year

    I have beautiful plants, but NO Okra...The weather here in Tennessee has been really hot and dry for the past two months...I do have a Soaker hose and have watered. This has happened for the past two years???? What is going on with our Okra??


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