It's not too late to start from seed. Okra likes it hot. Just keep the area moist until the seeds sprout. Some folks pre-soak their seeds, I do not. Something has been eating my seedlings this year so I am constantly putting out new seeds. I've resorted to putting cups over the seedlings just to keep the bugs away until the plants can get a little bigger.

we have BUNCHES planted ... red burgundy, good ole GREEN ... they're starting to peak thru now ...

MM, can I come get some of your bunches for my garden?!? :-)

for the garden? more for the GUMBO pot ... yummy ...

They just don't do anything until it gets warm enough. Mine (Clemson spineless, saved seed) are just now sprouting and will be set out in a couple of weeks when they have true leaves.

I soak the seeds for 8-12 hours to speed the sprouting, then plant them in place or in large cups, 2 to 3 seeds per spot or cup. Thin the extras so you have one plant per spot after they have 3 or 4 true leaves.

My partner's employer has a lot of Indian employees and we can't grow enough okra for the demand. That's great, because I use okra plants to shade the pepper plants and herbs and to screen the end of the swimming pool.

So, can the okra be planted where the shade cloth doesnt cover? Will it continue to produce in full sun all summer?

Well I feel assured now and will start some from seed. I planted my last year in full sun and they did not burn or wilt, they LOVED it, but I was concerned that production was down. On the other hand they shaded my watermelon plants so that's a plus.

luvkuku,

Okra can be planted in full sun. They don't produce much during the summer months for me though. Like peppers, I get a better fall crop than a spring/early summer one.

Last year I tried growing Emerald. The plants survived the summer but production was lower than what I got from Clemson Spineless in previous years. This year I'm back to growing the Clemson. That is if something would stop eating my seedlings.

Luvkuku ... Okra THRIVES in full sun at 110+ as long as you water them liberally. Mulch thickly and have a drip system under the mulch.

Clemson Spineless is probably the best one for Phoenix. I tried two "heirloom" varieties last year and didn't have a good yield.

i grew clemson spimeless last year and they seemed to get better and better as the weather got hotter this year i'm not even going to plant them until the end of april last year a planted in february and they just sort of sat there till the temp hit 100 then they exploded.

Well I found some okra transplants at Baker Nursery. However, I'm not sure what variety they are since the label only had "Okra". There is a possibility that the variety is Cajun Delight since one had that extra label attached. I guess I'll just need to wait & see!

okra HATES to have its roots disturbed so it's not really a good candidate for transplanting. Yes you can transplant them, but they'll just sit there for a long time before they take off. I totally recommend starting from seeds and no, it isn't too late. I've grown Burgundy, Clemson Spineless, Emerald, and they've all done great for me. We eat a lot of okra in the summer. It's one of my favorite breakfast foods (in omlette), not to mention fried. The great thing about okra here in AZ, it seems to me that it isn't as slimy as if it was grown in more humid areas. Okra is also a fairly heavy feeder, so once it gets large, give it a generous amount of rich compost. One more thing, I don't grow mine in full sun. I think just about everything does better here if it gets a little shade from the scorching afternoon sun, so my garden is on the east side of the house

I planted some okra, Clemson Spineless this past week. I put a few in with my sunflower bed, and a few in my bush bean bed, along with a couple spots in my strawberry and herb area. I figure the strawberries will be done and the herbs can use a little shade by the time the okra gets big enough to do so. I will just pull out what doesnt work. My first time with okra at this home, so I am just experimenting to see where it will work.

Has anyone grown the dwarf okras? I have little space, and the regular okra is larger than I would like.

margez,

The two dwarf green pod plants I grew last year performed well. These two plants did better than some of my emerald okra plants, which I was highly disappointed in. The dwarf variety doesn't get very tall, but they do branch out. Nice looking plants that would look good anywhere around the yard.

Here is a picture from last year. Looks like any other okra plant until the others surpass it in size.

{{gwi:401317}}

mister_gin,

where can i get the dwarf okra seeds. please let me know and also it is too late to plant them now?

thanks.

What is the advantage of a dwarf okra plant?

Nycanthus,

You'd probably have to try looking for a seller online. Last year I used some seed from an old American Seed pack that was picked up from Walgreen's a few years back. Might be out of luck there as I haven't seen Walgreen's carry the selection they had in previous years. Also, according to the planting calendar, okra can still be planted. I haven't planted it this late in the year though.

az_pamperedchef,

last year I planted the dwarf variety in front of the taller emerald. Sort of stepping the plants so the back row didn't get shaded out. If that's even possible in the middle of summer here. Also, I believe the dwarf varieties are better suited for containers.

Off topic - sortof - anyone have a great "Okra Chip" recipe??

Guess I am just being optimistic with my crop this year.

Reimers has three types of dwarf okra

I got another small sized okra from Baker Creek. The Milsap White variety is supposed to get only three feet tall.

All my garden will be in containers, so I wanted the smaller plants. I did order Hill Country which is a regular okra as well. I liked the look of the plant.

I will have a few seeds of Lee (a dwarf), the Milsap, and the Hill Country for trade if anyone is interested.

Margez did you just get your Milsap White from Baker? I'm going to be in the area tomorrow and would like to pick some up if still available.

My "cajun delight" okra are doing very well, I lost 2 to some sort of insects, but the other 5 are doing well. I've even picked about 20 okra total so far!

Margez disregard my previous message. I was thinking Baker Nursery, not Baker Creek seeds! Oops!

I just wanted to chime in to say everyone on this forum is so great, and generous about sharing information. Thanks for that. I've been gardening since I was six, and have been on this forum since 2000 I think, and I still learn something new each time I log in. I like that!

I'm sitting here with some seed catalogs and wanted to place an order for okra and I forgot which types everyone had said they loved, so I did a quick search for 'okra' on the AZ forum, and voila! Here it is. I'm placing a nice order from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company (like I do most years) and now I know I'm ordering 'Clemson spineless' okra for planting next spring.

Gardeners are just the best!
Happy gardening,
Grant (who planted a ton of lettuce this morning)

Here is a link that might be useful: Baker Creek Seed Company

Grant-I have some saved Clemson Spineless if you'd like some. I also have some saved mixed seeds, I believe they are probably mostly cowhorn in that particular batch but there could be some emerald.
It's not quite dry yet but if you send me your name and address, I can mail them to you as soon as they're dry.

thanks for that website, Grant! I'm shopping around for seeds right now as well.

Do you guys start your seeds indoors or do you guys wait until the spring and just directly plant the seeds on the ground?

Just a heads up on the Baker Creek website.

I put a bunch of things on my cart and I had left them there for a day and today I got an email from them giving me a 5% off coupon because they noticed that I didn't 'checkout' yet with all of those items in my cart :)

I'm not sure if it'll work for everyone.

Hah! Great tip, raimeiken. I'll try it too. :)

I am just curious but why would you plant okra now when it just cannot seem to tolerate a frost? I normally plant 1/4 of an acre of okra and lost about half my crop one year planting too early. I wait until March first or so.

I just received another coupon code from Baker Creek. This time it's 10% off. LOL they really want me to order these seeds. Too bad though I finalized my order this morning and used the 5% off coupon. Then hours later I got this email from them giving me a 10% coupon.

So whoever wants it, let me know. Im sure it's an one time use coupon code only.