I don't plant okra in the ground any more. It only encourages nematodes. Last year I had two 65 gallon containers with six plants in each and had very good production. This year I added a 30 gallon container and so far the five in that one are producing well. I guess one plant per five gallon container would do ok - but I haven't tried that.

Thank you shuffles...that's a good point, I forgot for a second that they have bad nematode problems...

Do you start yours from seed? If so, do you have any tips in that regard?

Hi - I started my okra this year in peat/paper biodegradable pots - not the itty-bitty 1s, but the medium size 1s they had @ Target. I use Jiffy seed-starting mix.

Okra roots are sensitive & suffer if disturbed too much - hence the nematode probs; I gently sliced & removed some of the sides of the pots when planting.

Plants are in the ground in my garden beds & almost 3' tall right now - just beginning to produce. I add lots of compost/organic material + rabbit food pellets + organic fertilizer when setting them out. They are mulched w/ coastal hay & alfalfa.

FWIW, I always water transplants, soaking the roots w/ seaweed extract (Maxicrop) , which seems to help as well.

HTH

Brian,

I just plant directly in the containers where they are to grow. I put the seeds about 3/4 inch deep and keep watered. If you have good seed, they are easy to grow. They can get pretty tall, so if you plant in 5 gallon containers you might want to consider some sort of anchoring system so they don't blow over.

This post was edited by shuffles on Fri, Jun 21, 13 at 13:02

If you soak your okra seeds in hot water overnight before you plant you will have excellent germination. I grew both red and green varieties last year and they did great.

I direct sowed my seeds about a month ago. I use these large storage containers (with holes drilled in the bottom) they cost me about 8 bucks at Walmart or Home Depot. I have drip irrigation lines in all my plants.

They get full scorching sun from about 10am thru sunset.

I am planning on thinning these to about 4 okra plants per container. I have sweet potatoes growing underneath and over the sides.

I've had great luck growing all the veggies this way. containers are cheap and large enough to hold water through the day without drying. The drip irrigation on an automatic timer gives water if i am here or not..

Muscledbear - If I have plants that look like that a month from now, I'll be thrilled!

Thank you all for your help and input...I think I will direct sow into individual 5 gallon pots (maybe experiment with something like muscledbear has going on above and see what does better...I can also put them in different spots in relation to how much, and what time of the day they're receiving full sun and if the plants in a certain area start to do better, then I'll put them all in that spot.

I'll keep you all posted!

I have Dwarf Green Long Pod and Stewarts Zeebest in smart pots and they are doing better than when I used to put them in the ground. The Zeebest have leaves that are a foot in diameter. They also form branches which bear pods (mine have just begun to branch and flower) so they bear more per plant then straight up okra varieties. I had to order the seeds online, they are not always easy to find, and they start out slow. But now with the heat on, they are growing into little okra monsters. Their trunks are more than an inch in diameter. I have 3 of the DGLP in one 15 gallon pot and 2 zeebest per 15 gallon pot (total of four zeebest in 2 pots). I just direct seeded into the pots because I don't like the chore of hardening off transplants. I've seen a little contraption that is supposed to make seedling pots out of newspaper which would be plantable directly into the garden at the right time without having to touch the roots at all. If I were going to go the transplant route, that's probably what I would do, but I found that direct seeding just suited me better.

squirrel...
That Zeebest sounds like a good variety for container growing. I've been growing Clemson Spineless. Considering the plants start off two feet from the ground, by the time they are six to eight feet tall, it can be difficult to pick the okra. Please let us know how they do and post photos if you can.

I have Clemson 80 Spineless and Burgundy Okra both from High Mowing Seeds that I ordered online...I'm going to plant them this week...and then probably more when I plant my beds for the Fall to see how they do then...I'll post pictures and updates. Thank you all.