skip
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Posts: 43
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Post by skip on Jul 18, 2015 14:04:33 GMT -6
Another quote fail! Sorry about that. Anyway, in response to Ron, does your camera have an SD card and does computer have an SD card slot? If your laptop doens't you can get an adapter that will slide into a USB port, they are dirt cheap. No need for a new camera. I don't even bother using an interface for photos anymore, much easier to drag them from the SD card and you can pick and choose from there rather than downloading them all at once or selecting individually from the interface software. Just a tip.
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Post by glen on Jul 18, 2015 17:37:40 GMT -6
OK, I am going to snitch on Ron. I have been pestering Ron for photo's for months. Ron has a lot of problems with slow internet. At any rate Ron finally got around to getting some okra photo's to me. The photo's were everything that Ron says about his okra. Incredible branching habit going on. Some very interesting knarly looking multibranched plants that were only 40 days old were shown in the photo's. Not even bearing pods yet. I can forward copy's of these emails to you if you are interested. My email address is blueyes997@live.com I will be glad to forward the photo's to you. I wish I could duplicate Ron's handiwork. I just can't do it. I keep trying.
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Post by fourteenmilecreek on Jul 19, 2015 19:46:20 GMT -6
I finally got a brand new Sony cyber-Shot camera, that is compatible with my computer; but my dial-up Internet connection is so slow that I have to drive 15 miles to the nearest McDonalds to use it. That's a 30 mile round trip just to attach three photos to one email.
Once at McDonalds the connection will only let me upload 3 photos, then it cuts me off. It took me two hours to send Glen two emails containing three photos per email.
(Glen, if you have access to the technology in Panama, please feel free to send those photos on). Over here in the good ol' USA no one cares if people in rural areas can access the Internet or not; that's what you get when you move out of town.
Nine years ago, our dial-up worked well enough to send photos just fine, but AT&T keeps watering down their service until it takes as many as three days now, just to open my email. In years past, I've sent hundreds of photos by email, using dial-up. I've sent as many as 40 photos, copy / pasted to one email before; but now, the lines are so slow that I only get about 19 kbs out of our 56 kbs service. I bought a new modem twice, but changing modems does not work. I've changed providers multiple times, but they are all the same speed. (The phone company doesn't maintain the land lines anymore, I'm pretty sure this is their way of forcing people into buying a cell phone service, problem is, there is no service here).
My Wife bought a VERIZON phone with a "supposed" hot spot to use the Internet, but we've been sitting here for an hour with zero signal. We've been everywhere in our house, and everywhere in our yard, but have not gotten over one bar of signal for more than a few seconds.
We live in a hole that will not get any TV signal either. The closest thing we've had to a television signal since 2004, is sound on channel 6, but no picture. As you can imagine, we've not watched TV for eleven years because of where we live. We can't use a cell phone from our house or our yard. My doctor's office called to confirm an appointment tomorrow morning. The phone call was sent at 4:00 pm, our cell phone received the message at 8:24 pm. (It takes 20 minutes to drive to town, but apparently it takes 4 hours, twenty-four minutes to get here by phone).
Sorry for the lack of photos...
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Post by glen on Jul 20, 2015 9:44:45 GMT -6
Ron, the best thing for you to do it to send the photo's to more than one person. If it takes that long to upload a photo, don't waste it. Email it to as many people as you wish! I just forwarded your photo's to skip. Anyone can do this. I am not computer saavy but I am sure there are other tricks you can use as well. You should also consider making a Little cheap, simple web page where you can post your photo's online. Then when someone wants to view photo's of your okra, just send them a link to the site. Or, consider starting a new heavyhitter thread on this site. Then, ask George how to upload photo's to your new thread. Photo's are a must. I don't know how to upload photo's to a thread, but I bet its easy.
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Post by fourteenmilecreek on Jul 20, 2015 13:23:49 GMT -6
Glen,
In the past, I've emailed photos to George, then called him on the phone to ask if he could put them on the pages of the thread. George is the Administrator of the website; he calls all the shots. I just try to keep up with answering the posts, as I find the time. This morning I've been pretty busy tending the garden and picking produce to sell in town. I started at 6:00 am it's 2:23 pm now, and I just got back.
Ron
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Post by fourteenmilecreek on Jul 23, 2015 15:12:47 GMT -6
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Post by glen on Jul 24, 2015 8:02:36 GMT -6
Ron, fabulous photo's. My okra looks like a different heavyhitter specie than yours. However, they are growing like crazy finally and I noticed new blooms this morning. My plants are bigger and more robust than my first try. I just have less branching and the stalks and branches are smaller diameter than yours. And, certainly fewer in number. I will have plenty of okra for the kitchen, I can see that already. I hope to see photo's of your plants when they are producing.
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Post by fourteenmilecreek on Jul 25, 2015 10:42:02 GMT -6
Thanks to George McLaughlin, and Darin Kight, I was able to upload quite a few photos of my 2015 Heavy Hitter crop to a photo bucket account.
The photos were taken in mid July 2015, just 44 days after these Heavy Hitter okra plants germinated from seed. These are just young plants, not even old enough to start blooming yet, but they are very vigorous and will bear a hardy crop of pods within the next few weeks. Typical days to harvest is about 55 days in Oklahoma, so give them about two more weeks and they'll be blooming like crazy!
I germinate my okra seeds by placing them on a warm, wet, folded, paper towel, sealed inside a quart size ZipLock plastic bag. Within 24 to 36 hours, most of the seeds will be germinated. At that time, I plant the pre-germinated okra seeds 1" inch deep in moist topsoil in my garden. I keep a close eye on them for the first few days; making sure they do not get dried out by the hot sun or high winds. Once they break ground, they are virtually maintenance free.
Use the following URL to connect to my photo bucket account to see photos of my 44 day old Heavy Hitter okra plants grown in 2015:
s1381.photobucket.com/user/fourteenmilecreek/library/Heavy%20Hitter%20Okra%2044%20Days%20Old?sort=3&page=1
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skip
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Posts: 43
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Post by skip on Jul 26, 2015 16:24:21 GMT -6
Those are definitely some stout plants and branches. I can't wait until next year to try HH in my garden. My 35 suburban plants or so are now 106 days old. Mostly Clemson and only a handful have multiple branches. I'm up to picking over 100 pods a week ( full gallon bag) as I pick them when they are about 4 inches and still tender. I only have about 5 Emerald plants, I don't care for the skinny and skimpy pods. Maybe one or two next year, just to say I grew another couple of sixteen footers. lol
I cut two of the Emerald plants almost to the ground just above their branches. They were 8 feet tall when I did so. Now one has 3 branches instead of one and starting to flower on all three branches. The larger one is back up to eye level almost and soon will be putting out pods.
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Post by john on Jul 26, 2015 19:53:47 GMT -6
I am very impressed, I would definitely be interested in growing your variety next year. I wonder how it would do up here in CT. I usually grow 'Cowhorn' and 'Clemson spineless' Both have done well for me in the past, but nothing like the production you are getting with the 'Heavy Hitter'. I love to read about stories of how a particular variety came about. It is amazing to see what neat traits are sometimes tucked away in the gene pool. I grow Atlantic Giant pumpkins for competition. The current world record is now over 2,300 pounds! Howard Dill (the breeder) could never have imagined that his seeds would someday reach such sizes. Crossing of the biggest with the biggest over and over has truly coaxed out these mammoth genes. I too would have never thought such weights were possible even 5-10 years ago. I believe that the internet has also really helped to speed up the progress. People are sharing seeds and information with each other. People of like interests are being connected like never before. I believe the same type of progress (as seen with the Atlantic Giants) could be had with other crops if people had an interest in them and worked together.
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Post by fourteenmilecreek on Jul 27, 2015 17:51:33 GMT -6
Welcome John, and thanks for that input; very well written, and very true!
I believe God made all things perfect in the beginning, or else those genes could not have been pulled out by simple folk like myself.
Seeds harvested by careful selection of only the strongest plants is all that I've done to develop this heavily branching strain. Everything that has come from this process was already in there...
God does all the cool stuff, I just try to pay attention.
After I first observed something out of the ordinary happening in my okra crop, I was able to pull those traits out by careful selection - the same way a rancher would develop a better line of Black Angus cattle by selecting only the best stock from his herd for breeding.
For example: When I was a kid, my Dad started building up a herd of cattle that went from 800 pounds finished weight in 1972, to 1,200 pounds finished weight by 1990. By careful selection, and culling of the weaker animals, he was able to add 400 pounds of finished weight to most of his herd.
This took a little less than 20 years, and about 8 or 9 generations to accomplish. In fact, Dad backed off in about 1992 due to the fact that his cattle were being docked by the feed lot buyers. They were docked in price because the slaughter houses were only set up for 900 pound carcasses, and his were exceeding their processing capabilities. At that time, smaller framed cattle were bringing better prices per pound than his 1,200 pound cattle, so Dad started holding at about 1,000 pounds as a result. Not to mention smaller cattle are cheaper to feed out in Winter, so they require less hay, and less grain too.
I don't raise cattle anymore, so now I'm kind of out of the loop on that subject, but I applied my knowledge of breeding cattle, to the development of my own line of okra over the past few decades... Once again, You can't pull something out of any creature or any plant, that God didn't already have there in the first place.
Think of the giant plants it must have taken to sustain dinosaurs once upon a time... Those traits are still in there somewhere; we just have to be vigilant in our everyday life to recognize them and save the seeds when they reoccur.
I don't know if Heavy Hitter would fair very well in Connecticut?
It didn't do well in Oklahoma last year, due to our unseasonably cool Spring and Summer. We had night time lows in the mid 50s well into July last Summer, and lots of rain, with too many days of overcast skies. My plants suffered as a result. I don't know which was worse, the lack of light, or the lack of heat?
This Summer, we've had even more rain than we did last year, but it's been unbearably hot and humid since mid June, with lots of blaring sunlight. My plants this year are doing better than they did last year, as a result.
Heavy Hitter originally came from Clemson Spineless parent stock, but puts so much energy into branching that it only gets about five or six feet tall in Oklahoma; whereas Clemson Spineless, with its single stalk habit grows to about seven feet tall here. Currently, my Heavy Hitter plants are at about 4' feet tall, but are growing about an inch per day in this heat and bright sunlight we're having after the 50' inches of rain we've received this year.
It's too early in the season to take a guess at how tall the final product will be, but some of my plants already have upwards of 30 branches and it's still only July.
Last night, we picked 10 pounds of 4" inch, frying size okra to give away to relatives and friends; plus picked enough 1" inch, and 2" inch, baby okra, to pickle 12 pint jars for the kids.
Some of my plants produced as many as 6 tender pods last night, from several fruiting branches.
By the looks of all the blooms I'm seeing, I'll be covered up in okra by next week!
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skip
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Posts: 43
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Post by skip on Aug 2, 2015 16:00:20 GMT -6
Greetings fellow gardeners and farmers! Just checking in to say hello and keep the dialogue alive. Okra is still producing, however humble my garden is. Still getting a gallon a week of tasty pods. It is amazing how therapeutic and rewarding a simple garden can be. I have perused several other forums, but not posted anywhere else on the matter. Quite shameful that a few think Clemson Spineless is not a good variety. I find them tender until they get over 5 inches in length. As I've said before, I have a handful of Emerald and the plants get very big but their pods disgust me. No weight and tough past 5 inches long. One pod of Clemson weighs as much as three of those and much meatier to boot. Shout out to Glen and Ron. Hope you and yours are well.
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Post by fourteenmilecreek on Aug 2, 2015 16:13:10 GMT -6
Skip,
we just had great mid day snack!
My Wife took some 4" inch Heavy Hitter pods (which are the same as Clemson Spineless in both texture and taste) put them on a cookie sheet, where she brushed them with olive oil, garlic, and seasoned salt, then placed them in a 300 degree oven, just long enough to soften them up.
They are good served hot or cool.
They also lend themselves well, to garnishing a dish of goat feta cheese, basil, dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and green olives.
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Post by Heavy Hitter on Aug 7, 2015 22:44:04 GMT -6
While browsing Heavy Hitter Okra reviews this morning, I came across an article from Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. It reads as follows:
Delta State University Wiley Community Garden - Cleveland, Mississippi The DSU Wiley Community Garden, on the outskirts of campus, is bursting with life this summer. Green beans, peppers, melons, kale, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, tomatoes — the list goes on. And who can forget the obligatory okra?
This year’s okra is growing with an extra punch, thanks to a seed donation of a new strain that is known for its heavy production.
The “Heavy Hitter” seeds were donated last year by Ron Cook, a retired Oklahoma school teacher who took interest in Delta State’s Fighting Okra mascot.
“We planted them in the back of the garden, and they’re massive,” said garden volunteer and former Delta State instructor Lacey Fitts. “They’re a lot bigger than any okra I’ve seen before, and it grows really large, really fast.”
Source citation: This excerpt was clipped from Delta State University's Wiley Garden Alive, July 15, 2015 - A publication of Delta State University, Cleveland, Mississippi.
Thank you DSU Community Garden Members, for the kind words, Ron Cook -- certified organic seed developer -- Heavy Hitter Okra.
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Post by macmex on Aug 8, 2015 5:41:08 GMT -6
That's great Ron! I bet they'll plant it every year, seeing as okra is their mascot. I've never before heard of a university with a plant mascot. I got Stewarts Zeebest in quite late, and at first it was overwhelmed by weeds. But we're getting close now to being able to pick some. I can't wait. I planted an okra, at work, which I received from Ken Goodpasture, one of our members, who lives in Wagner, Oklahoma. It has the color of White Velvet,but is fat podded. It is also showing some signs of branching. So I am toying with the idea of working on it to develop more branching.
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