Time of maturity depends (along with weather conditions) upon variety of seeds.Annie Oakley will mature in 45 days where as Clemson spineless will mature in 54 days.In cold weather conditions it may take few days more to mature.Height and spread variations also will depend upon weather conditions.I have read many postings reporting a height of 8'.Here in MD I have seen okras reaching to height of 6'. I have seen one nursery selling okra plants. Lack of heat, light and moisture ( which is difficult to maintain in house) will make plants leggy.

I googled this, but it seems extreme. I know I got a few to sprout a couple of years ago, and probably just stuck them in peat pots, on the window sill, because thats how I was doing everything then. 1 Heat water to 140 degrees F in a small container that can hold hot water without cracking or melting. Use a cooking thermometer to verify the temperature. 2 Add sensitive plant seeds to hot water. Since the germination rate is very low, use 20 seeds if you want one plant to grow. Soak in hot water for 20 minutes. The water can cool over this period of time. It does not need to stay at a constant 140 degrees F. 3 Prepare the growing medium by adding potting soil to the planting container until the planting container is full of potting soil. Soak the potting soil with water and let drain. 4 Remove the sensitive plant seeds from the hot water bath and place onto the surface of the potting soil. Press the seeds gently into the potting soil but do not cover. Sensitive plant seeds need light to germinate. 5 Set in a warm place (70-75 degrees F) with bright light but not direct sunlight. The sensitive plant seeds should germinate in 20-30 days. After the seedlings have two sets of true leaves, set in an area that receives about 4 hours of sunlight each day and begin a weekly fertilization program with a water soluble fertilizer diluted to half-strength.

To make it produce fruit all year long? Well, it's in the lighting, temperature and nutrients. You will notice after a while the plant will probably stop making fruit. If I can't coax it with the bloom nutrient alone (And yes, miracle grow makes a bloom nutrient, so if you prefer miracle grow, use it's "bloom" version.), then I have to play "tricks" on it with lights and temp. 12 hours of light is what tomatoes prefer to flower and fruit. So, what I do is give it 2 weeks at 15 degrees cooler temperature than it is at fruiting stage and increase the lighting for about 16 hours light on. This moves the plant back into vegetative stage for a while, sorta to give it "amnesia" about it's fruiting stage. I do this for 2 weeks and then I reduce the lighting back to 12 hours lights on and increase the temperature back to where it was at fruiting. Then add a few bloom nutrient to the water. Make sure you do this temp change gradually or it will shock the plant. Unless you have 2 or more tomato plants you can alternate the time you play this trick, you will be out of fresh tomatoes for about 3 weeks, maybe once or twice a year.

In Montana, most of my tomatoes (started by me) become fully ripened in August. However, tomatoes I started this year on 3-25 (and transplanted to 1-gallon pots at some point) ripened in July (early July through the first 3/4 of the month). NOTE: Those started on 3-25 (and transplanted into 5-GALLON pots) ripened earlier--in late June. Transplanting for both sets was the first week of June. (BTW, I have never seen any stress caused by transplanting, no matter the size of my plant/pot. My tomato plants really take off after they go in the ground.) Those started later, on 4-10, have NOT RIPENED as of August 1. ALL of my tomato plants are loaded with tomatoes, ripe or not. This data doesn't give us the same info as comparing the planting of 6" plants vs. 12" ones would, but it shows that starting early CAN produce earlier tomatoes, especially, IMO, if bigger pots are used, as needed. I did, btw, plant some tomatoes in 4" pots (that were very tall and should have been transplanted into 1-gallon pots) at the same time that I planted the ones in 1-gallon pots in the ground. Those made a good effort in catching up, in size at least, but they were just flowering when others had lots of fruit on the vines. Were any of my plants root bound, particularly the ones in 4" pots? Not that I recall. In fact, I need to learn how to produce more root and less growing top because my tomatoes get too tall before transplanting outside (I have them on a southern-facing, plastic-covered back porch WITH a roof, so they don't get full sun, by any means, which is the main reason they get so tall). I like starting plants earlier than recommended, especially since I moved to this colder climate. I believe, if the roots are given plenty of room, this method can produce healthy plants that produce earlier, just like with flowers that you want to bloom earlier. But beware--it's a lot of work to bring all those plants in big pots inside every time the temp looks like it's going to dip below 45 degrees F at night!