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Post by tom π on Sept 29, 2020 13:33:22 GMT -5
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Post by Wheelgarden on Sept 29, 2020 14:11:58 GMT -5
Thanks, tom π , for the links to Heavy Hitter. I learned about it a few years ago, but couldn't find it available. I prefer smooth-podded like Emerald or Green Velvet, but that production is attractive.
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Post by tom π on Sept 29, 2020 14:23:00 GMT -5
I learned about it a few years ago, but couldn't find it available. Here's a link to the online store. www.heavyhitterokra.com/shopIt says "Sold out until November 2020".
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 29, 2020 16:05:20 GMT -5
That looks promising, tom π, but as you noted, there are other considerations. Besides disease resistance and production, one of the main things I look at is how fast the okra gets fibrous (I can tell those fibers are there as soon as the knife cuts through the okra!). Some (actually, most I've tried) are fibrous by the time they are 4" long, and have to be picked even before this size, and some grow so fast that they have to be picked twice a day, otherwise, they get past the size when they turn fibrous. Some say they can be grown to 8 or 12 inches - don't believe it! Emerald and Little Lucy are ones that I grow that can get to 6", without being at all fibrous. So how large did your Heavy Hitter get, before getting fibrous?
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Post by tom π on Sept 29, 2020 16:37:01 GMT -5
So how large did your Heavy Hitter get, before getting fibrous? I don't know when this branching okra gets fibrous. My practice is to harvest okra at 3 inches. (I had to go to the refrigerator for okra and measure it to see what I am doing.) If it's much larger than that, I discard it without testing. My opinion is that smaller okra tastes better. About cooking, the best okra I've had was cooked with long beans and potatoes a few days ago. The okra were whole and with the stem left on. The beans, cut in one-half inch pieces, were put on first and cooked for about fifteen minutes before adding the okra and last the potatoes. Since the okra were cooked whole, the beans weren't gooey, and something in the beans or potatoes transformed the okra.
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Post by Wheelgarden on Sept 29, 2020 17:32:18 GMT -5
In my experience, the ribbed-pod okras like Clemson are all great, but must be picked at 3-4 inches before they get fibrous and less flavorful --- that's why I love Emerald, it stays tender, tastier, longer.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 29, 2020 19:34:56 GMT -5
I always harvest the LL and Emerald at 4" or so, and like I said, even if I let them grow up to 6" (usually only when I miss them, which happens frequently!). I had one (Louisiana Green, I think?) that would grow to 4", with no fibrous ones, but those 6" ones were always fibrous.
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Post by gardendmpls on Sept 30, 2020 13:37:23 GMT -5
I wonder if okra will branch if you pinch back the growing tip.
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Post by Wheelgarden on Sept 30, 2020 16:33:04 GMT -5
(Louisiana Green, I think?) that would grow to 4", with no fibrous ones, but those 6" ones were always fibrous. I've grown Louisiana Green Velvet several times, and it is as you say. Got a big pack of "Emerald Green Velvet" seed from the co-op last year, enough to carry on for years. Emerald, to my understanding, was a variety bred from Green Velvet by or for the old Campbell's soup company. I'm won over, meself. gardendmpls , I've heard of people topping the plant to encourage branching, but never tried it. Good spacing helps.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 30, 2020 16:46:31 GMT -5
I wonder if okra will branch if you pinch back the growing tip. I've had problems with many okra, which I would cut the top from, as soon as they were getting to high to reach (and I'm 6'6"!), but they just stopped growing, and never branched out any. Emerald and Little Lucy branch for me anyway, so I cut them a little earlier, but I don't think that it triggers the branching any more, when I cut them.
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Post by tom π on Sept 30, 2020 17:46:33 GMT -5
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Post by tom π on Sept 30, 2020 18:04:43 GMT -5
I've had problems with many okra, which I would cut the top from, as soon as they were getting to high to reach For some, harvesting okra is a cooperative endeavor. One bends the okra down and the other cuts.
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Post by Wheelgarden on Sept 30, 2020 19:08:48 GMT -5
One bends the okra down and the other cuts. My okra is 8' tall, and I'm sitting-height, but if I get positioned right, I can bend those babies right into my lap for cutting and the plants don't mind. My saved-seed Emerald, spaced apart 3', is branchier than ever. I'll save seeds from this, too.
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Post by gardendmpls on Sept 30, 2020 23:29:04 GMT -5
I just found the first flower on one of my two plants in the front yard flower bed. May actually get a few pods before first frost end of November.
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Post by tom π on Oct 1, 2020 6:40:30 GMT -5
Went out to check okra height. Found two green stink bugs on my seed plant. My tallest plant is about 6'6". I once has plants that were twelve feet tall or taller. It was so inconvenient to harvest that I stopped harvesting it. I saved seed from the runtiest plant, and that's why I have short plants now. I may get another foot of growth before frost.
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