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Post by heavyhitterokra on Nov 20, 2018 15:08:42 GMT -6
I was looking over some old photos today. These were taken November 9th, 2016, during one of our longest seasons in recent memory. (We usually have a killing frost by mid-October). I just now noticed the secondary branching on the Heavy Hitter okra plant that the Monks at Clear Creek Abbey grew. If that plant had a longer season, I believe it would have made a second crop. I wonder why Heavy Hitter dies in warmer climates within about 12 degrees of the equator? I had one Heavy Hitter plant this year that survived our first two touches of frost, but was eventually killed when the third freeze dropped our temperatures to 16 degrees. You may have to click on these images to zoom in and see the secondary branching. One secondary branch can be seen in the lower right corner, at the very end of the frame. Other secondary branching can be seen about midway on the 3rd branch from the bottom of the plant. The seven, tender pods, shown at the base of the plant were about 4" to 5" inches long and were placed at the base as a size reference. The pods averaged about 3/4 of an inch in diameter, as they were 8 chambered pods, characteristic of Heavy Hitter Okra. The plant was about 8' feet tall and about 8' feet wide. The photo was taken on November 9th, 2016. (It was killed by heavy frost a few days later.) The Monks at Clear Creek Abbey are some truly wonderful gardeners. I myself, have not been able to match the quality of the okra plants they grew there on their first try. Being how the Monks who grew these plants were originally from France, they had never seen okra before. Most of them had never even heard of this plant. It was a blessing to be able to introduce them to a thing they had never grown before.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Nov 20, 2018 15:46:20 GMT -6
@ debbiev, and deepcrkva, I do apologize, debbiev, and deepcrkva, I've been so busy lately, that I haven't checked the forum since my last post, on November 15th. Yes, I did have a very good season this year. I harvested about 820 pounds of fresh, tender pods for the Tahlequah Farmers' Market, a few friends, some good neighbors, a few family members, and a donation or two to a local nursing home. I have quite a few seeds now available. They have been air cured for 30 days and are ready for Winter storage. Contact me by email. My address is: heavyhitterokra@gmail.com This is a photo taken Agust 4th, 2018 at the Tahlequah Farmers' Market. I had about 100 pounds of okra on display that day, plus two more ice chests full in reserve, behind the table. It was a very busy Summer for us, just trying to keep caught up on picking. It takes from 6:00 am until nearly noon to harvest 100 pounds of okra by myself. It sure is nice to have so many hard-working gardening friends at the local Farmers' Market; who enjoy bringing fresh veggies every weekend. We trade veggies, coffee, and homemade bread between vendors at the end of the day. I sure do miss that in the off-season. I can hardly wait to get started again in Spring of 2019.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 10, 2018 0:24:36 GMT -6
Heavy Hitter Okra Seed orders have been pouring in over the last few days. We've had a good season here in 2018.
One of my concerned, repeat customers, thoughtfully sent me a couple screenshots of people selling "so-called Heavy Hitter Okra Seeds" on eBay this season. None of those seeds are legitimate.
I harvest only my best one dozen plants out of a selection of approximately 1,500 or so plantings each year. It is in that manner that I've kept the seed quality at its best over the decades. I sell out of these seeds in a very short time each year because I only harvest a very limited supply from my best quality plants. I don't plan on changing that tactic. I'm satisfied with the results I've gotten from that continued practice and enjoy improving the Heavy Hitter strain annually.
Thank you for your continued patronage. I wish you all yet another year of continued success in the upcoming 2019 planting season.
Happy gardening, Ron Cook
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Post by macmex on Dec 11, 2018 7:00:44 GMT -6
I believe that's what makes Heavy Hitter so superior, Ron. There are very few people who will grow such large plantings and select so rigorously. I suspect any vegetable variety selected in this manner, over decades, would stand head and shoulders above others.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 18, 2018 18:14:31 GMT -6
I got half of my garden Limed yesterday. My soil test came back from OSU, saying that my pH is 5.5, good for growing blueberries, but not so good for growing much else. It took 240 pounds of lime to get a swath 50 feet wide done. I'll have to wait until I get paid to do the other half. My fingers are so sore from dipping lime pellets out of 5-gallon buckets by hand, I can hardly stand to type.
Tomorrow is forecast to rain all day. I had planned to haul in a ton of chicken litter with my tractor and trailer today, but the man who sells it was out on a run, trying to fertilize a neighbor's pasture before it rained. It looks like it will be at least Thursday before I can haul any litter. Hopefully, I'll be able to buy another 6 bags of Lime tomorrow or the next day, so I can finish what I've already started with the Liming.
It's hard to imagine Spring planting time is getting so near that a person has to worry if there is enough time for his soil amendments to decompose before his Mid-March, planned plowing date.
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Post by macmex on Dec 18, 2018 19:40:20 GMT -6
Ron, I have quite a few disposable latex gloves. Next time, let me give you some. They'll save a lot on your hands.
We're hoping to do a lot of garden prep over Christmas break. Hope the weather holds. I did some grape cuttings from my own vines today as well as another attempt at some mulberry cuttings.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 22, 2018 6:56:57 GMT -6
Awesome, George! If all goes well, this might be the Spring that we increase grape varieties and get to give our future permaculture plans a big boost.
I found my best Shenandoah Pawpaw tree destroyed yesterday. Something broke it off flush with the ground. (High winds?) That was a sad thing to see. Oh well, maybe that will make room for a nice paper shell pecan tree right in the middle of my Hugelkulture pile someday.
I got the rest of my lime spread by hand yesterday. (This time, I took your advice and wore Latex gloves.) I had some Latex gloves before. It just never crossed my mind to use them.
I ended up spreading 520 pounds of pelletized Lime, total because Pelletized lime is only 83% powdered lime. The binding agent they use to make the dissolving pellets consists of 17% of the total product, so it takes a little extra. I needed 480 pounds of Lime. It comes in 40-pound bags. That would be 12 bags total, but because of the binding agent, I had to buy one bag extra to get the amount required. The 13 bags of Lime kind of goes with my Organic Farm Certification number, which is always #13 because I was the 13th farm in the State of Oklahoma to become Certified Organic.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 22, 2018 19:01:01 GMT -6
What a busy week in the garden!
By Friday afternoon I had just finished spreading 520 pounds of pelletized Lime by hand, using a one-gallon coffee can as a spreader.
By Saturday afternoon I had just finished spreading 2,000 pounds of chicken litter by hand, using a pitchfork and a shovel.
By Saturday evening, I was nearly done. It got dark on me before I got finished unloading the trailer, so I had to leave the tractor out in the garden with about 500 pounds more chicken litter left to go...
I AM SOOOOO, POOPED... This is what 2,500 pounds of chicken litter looks like, piled high in my homemade, one-ton, farm trailer. Good thing I built this thing with coil springs attached above double leaf springs. This load really tested the limits of my improvised super duty suspension. Halfway there! And a whole lot lighter weight than it was at noon time. This ground ought to grow some really nice looking okra next year. I've only got about three more trailer loads of two-year-old leaf mold and several piles of composted mulch to go, and I'll be ready for Spring plowing.
Thank you, God, for your provision. I've been needing to do this for a long time. It has been almost three years since the last time I hauled a ton of chicken litter out to my garden. My soil was starting to get pretty stressed (and so was I). It seems like every year, something comes up that prevents me from getting my soil amendments in place. In 2015, it was a Christmas flood that washed 100 bales of my wheat straw and my entire Winter cover crop away. In 2016, it was finances. In 2017, it was poor health. Finally, this Autumn, I caught a break and God put everything in order for me to get done what has needed to get done for a long, long, time. I appreciate that. Once again, thank you, God. I am surely blessed.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 27, 2018 14:41:41 GMT -6
Back in the Spring of 2018, I donated some of my Heavy Hitter Okra seeds to Oklahoma State University, so they could use them in a variety of raised bed, gardening mulch trials. They planted several different vegetables in a gardening trial to determine which method was best. There were three methods used:
(a). Plasticulture Mulch (b). Paper Mulch (c). Bare Soil
I couldn't copy their report, so I'm posting a link to it here:
www.hortla.okstate.edu/research-extension-youth/vegetables/pdfs/18vegreport.pdf
If you'll scroll to page 34 of the report you'll see their Okra trial results listed there.
According to their report, okra grew significantly better in plastic mulch than it did in paper mulch or in bare soil.
According to the report, using Plasticulture Mulch, my Heavy Hitter Okra produced 529 bushels of marketable okra per acre, and 581 total bushels per acre, including culls. At 30 pounds per bushel, that was roughly 15,870 pounds per acre and 17,430 pounds per acre respectively.
According to a Victoria Seed Company trial, the old, original Clemson Spineless Okra that I started with, back in 1972 had a potential of producing 5,000 kg per acre or about 11,000 pounds per acre. At 30 pounds per bushel that was about 367 bushels per acre. At 2.2 pounds per kg, that is roughly 11,000 pounds per acre. According to their claims, Clemson Spineless Okra had a potential of producing 10 pods per plant on average.
My Heavy Hitter Okra produces an average of 10 pods per branch. That means the Heavy Hitter Okra Strain that I developed from the old Clemson Spineless variety has a potential of producing about 200 bushels per acre more than the original Clemson Spineless Okra that I developed my seed strain from.
All I did was select seeds from my very best plant each year (Much the same as you would select only your best calves for breeding a better herd of cattle). Actually, I did very little. God did all of the developing. All I did was notice which plants were better and chose only those plants for seed saving.
I am forwarding this information to you guys, in hope that you will take heart in the fact that one person, working alone, with the Lord's guidance can make a real difference, even while using a previously improved variety, such as 'Clemson Spineless' as their 'starter' seed stock. We'll never be able to recreate what God provided for Adam, but I believe all those traits were there in the original 'Garden of Eden Seed Stock' or else how would we, as ordinary gardeners, be able to draw those traits out in our supposedly, "improved" varieties?
Below, is a copy of the Victoria Seed Company's findings on the original Clemson Spineless Okra seed that okra seed suppliers sold back in 1972.
Home About Products Available Contact Social Media More Okra Clemson Spineless The Best of the Best
Vegetable Seed Clemson Spineless
Planting Guide Spacing: 25cm x 60 cm(1seed per hole) or 60 cm x 90 cm(2 seeds per hole) Seed rate: 3,000 grams per acre direct seeding or 1600 grams per acre transplant
Maturity: 60 days Yield potential: 5,000 kg/acre or 11,000 lbs/acre.
Key attributes Pods are tapered, ridged and spineless (without hairs). Rich green in color. Angular in shape. Pods are about 10 cm long. Produces on average 10 pods per plant.
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Post by macmex on Dec 28, 2018 7:45:51 GMT -6
That is so well stated Ron. Thanks for sharing it. It's true that one person can do amazing things when working with the Lord and being observant of what he or she already has happening in the garden. I would add (sort of add, as you already made the point indirectly) that focus is also key. If you get too spread out, you miss a lot of what's going on in the garden and miss opportunities.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 29, 2018 2:22:20 GMT -6
Today, I pulled up 200 of my old okra stalks, pulled out, and stacked, 22 steel Tee posts, and tore out one of my 7 rows of old plasticulture. I'm making progress daily. Winter is an important part of the gardening season. I try not to overlook that time for making Spring preparations. If you wait until Spring to make improvements, you might be too late to do your soil much good. I've been enjoying my "sweat-free" work time in the garden throughout the month of December. (The weeds don't seem to be much of a problem this time of year either)
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hank
New Member
Posts: 34
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Post by hank on Dec 30, 2018 12:30:49 GMT -6
Where did you get the chicken litter?
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 31, 2018 14:01:39 GMT -6
@ Hank, in answer to your question above: My neighbor has 1,280 acres and spreads chicken litter on his pasture. I drove the tractor with a trailer behind me, over to his hay lot and He loaded me out. There are a lot of turkey and chicken houses around here, so it's fairly easy to find litter. (You just kind of follow your nose). When I hear one of the big trucks loading up, I just drive toward that sound until I find someone working with a front loader.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 5, 2019 19:40:53 GMT -6
Another busy day in the garden!
It was 61 degrees again today and the winds were calm. So, I finished getting another 100 okra stalks pulled up by the roots while taking advantage of this good, muddy, weather.
I also got a few truckloads of dead oak leaves raked up, hauled in, and spread out, until they were about a foot deep. I put the leaves where I had run out of chicken litter a few days before Christmas.
I had run out of chicken litter before I ran out of garden space toward the end of the litter load. This left me with a spot about 80' feet by 30' feet that didn't get anything but Lime pellets as my amendments there; so I'm hauling in dead leaves and working them into the soil on that bare spot. It will take several days to cover that much area adequately, but today was a good start.
I've still got a couple tons of decomposed leaves out in the woods to shovel into my hog trailer and get hauled to my garden as well. One pile is two years old and the other pile has been rotting for about one year.
If all goes as planned, I'll spread the decomposed leaves over the top of the fresh leaves that I hauled up today. It will take several weeks to complete this task, but that's what God makes these long, long, Winters for.
This is a time for replenishing the energy that was used by last season's crops. It's also a time for replenishing my own energy and for soaking up some of that natural light that God provides on these beautiful, sunny, and warmer than usual January days.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 8, 2019 1:39:10 GMT -6
I was kind of feeling 'under the weather' today, so I didn't get much done, due to breathing difficulties. All I got done today, was to haul a couple wheelbarrow loads of composted leaves out of the woods and into my nearby garden. I use the composted leaves, as a much-needed carbon amendment to compliment the nitrogen from my Winter pea vines and the 2,500 pounds of chicken litter that I spread earlier. Each Winter, I drag leaves into a single, huge pile with the grader blade turned backward behind my tractor. I drive the tractor over the top of the pile with each pass, as I pull new leaves over them behind me. This compresses the leaves to make them decompose more readily. I stack the highly compressed leaves about 4' feet deep. (That gets kind of scary sometimes, as I drive over the pile each time with a 4,700-pound tractor).
I let those leaf piles decompose under the shade of a dense canopy of mature oak trees. I pile the leaves under heavy shade to prevent Bermuda and other problem weeds from encroaching on them. It takes about 2 or 3 years for the leaves to break down into compost, so you'll need to keep them well shaded or grass will take them over before they are finished breaking down. (I learned that the hard way.)
Storing massive leaf piles in the woods, also requires that I lay heavy plastic under each pile of leaves, to keep tree roots from invading them and stealing all my 'goodies' from below ground as they decompose. The end result of that makes the most beautiful, dark, mulch you've ever seen.
I learned this method while working the Grounds Crew at NSU back in my college days. NSU does this on a much larger scale, as they have an 80-acre campus, heavily wooded with ancient oak trees. In Winter, we would rake these leaves into long windrows to be pitchforked into the back of an old garbage truck that they kept for that very purpose. The garbage truck has a huge steel plate inside, and a hydraulic ram. The hydraulic ram pushes the leaves forward as the workers pitch them in. In this way, the leaves are compressed into a tight bale.
When the compartment of compressed leaves inside the garbage truck is full, they take them to a shaded 'lay down area'. There, they dump the cubes of compressed leaves inside a fenced off place to keep them from blowing away. There are three fenced off areas, each one, wide enough to back a garbage truck through, and about 50' feet long. Each compartment in this area is designed to hold a year's worth of compressed leaves. These leaf bales are pressed so tightly that you can walk across the top of them like a bale of hay the day they are dumped. They 'relax' with time and become huge, rounded mounds. Snow and Heavy rains percolate down through the leaves to begin decomposing them. After 3 years time, the pile is finished decomposing and is ready to use.
As each compartment of compressed leaves decomposes into mature mulch, the Grounds Workers empty that compartment by spreading vast quantities on their many, flower beds. The whole decomposition process takes from two to three years, depending largely on the weather. The leaf compartments are rotated out, once one has decomposed. Once decomposed, that compartment is emptied, in order to store next year's leaves. (Thus, the need for three separate compartments). After the initial first three years, they have a perpetual composting system in place that works really well.
I've adopted that system and now use it on my home garden. It is really efficient.
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