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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 24, 2019 17:41:19 GMT -6
Hey, Hank, good to hear from you.
I fared alright. We got over 5" inches of rain this weekend, but I still pulled two wheelbarrow loads of weeds out of my garden and used it for compost on some of my okra and tomato plants this morning.
I've been pulling at least, one 5-gallon bucket full of weeds every day for the past two weeks. Sometimes I pull more than that. I use them to feed my hogs and my Cotton Patch Geese, but today, I pulled more than they could eat.
This muddy weather is perfect for pulling weeds, but I sure come home a mess. I have to hose my clothes down outside some days, before I can put them in the washing machine.
I saw a few okra pods ready to harvest this morning, but I had too much mud on my hands to pick any of them.
Maybe, next time...
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 25, 2019 0:30:36 GMT -6
If I think my okra plants need to catch up a little bit before being burdened with fruit production, I prune the calyces before they blossom. If not, I let them go. The trouble with Heavy Hitter is that it blossoms 55 days after germination, so sometimes the plants are not quite ready for the added burden of fruit at that age.
With all the heavy rains this year and cooler than average weather, many of my plants were somewhat stunted for their age, so I pruned more than usual this season. However, I also see much more branching this year, than in years past, so that has an adverse effect on their height. The more branches, the slower the upward growth because the plants are too busy growing broader with so many branches that some resemble small trees.
I've got some really good genetics going on out there right now I can't wait to see what a few sunny days in a row will do to their stature.
I'm looking forward to growing some real monsters by mid-August if things continue on this current course.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 25, 2019 16:11:06 GMT -6
Thanks, for that comment, Bon.
Some photos of the pod size are one of the main things people have requested of me over the years. It's hard to explain to some folks, that the pod size is not affected by the 'plant size'. No matter what; they are going to grow regular Clemson Spineless size pods because that's what I chose as the parent stock all those decades ago.
I have been able to manipulate the number of seed chambers though. Each year, I harvested pods with extra seed chambers, until I changed them from 5 chambered pods to 8 chambers. I even got a few pods with as many as 10 seed chambers. (I like a pod that is wide enough that you know you ate something besides batter when you slice it up to fry).
Then, I found out, some people don't like 8 and 10 chambered pods, so I started bringing the number of chambers back down, by selecting 5 chambered pods for seed more often.
Currently, I grow a variety of plants, with pods, ranging between 5 and 10 chambers. I plant the different chamber numbers in separate rows and mark each row with a piece of 2x4 wood that I ran through the table saw for that purpose. I use a laundry marker to write on the wide slats and drive them in the ground (Ink facing North or East) as ink facing West or South tends to fade very fast.
When I plant my seeds, I crack them straight out of the pod I want, and I write down the plant it came from, along with a description of the seed pod as I go along, planting seeds. That way, I keep a lineage, much the same as ranchers do when breeding cattle. I grew up on a farm, raising 90 head of mama cows. We always kept a calf book with each calve's lineage, which cow, which bull, who the grandma and grandpa were, etcetera, etcetera.
It makes my work more interesting to know that I'm not just getting random results. I can see favorable characteristics passed on, in almost every plant and can attribute those characteristics to one of the ancestors of that seed.
If ever there is an undesirable trait, like single stemming with few or no branches, I pull that plant up before it blooms, so that it doesn't pass those genes on.
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hank
New Member
Posts: 34
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Post by hank on Jun 25, 2019 16:32:55 GMT -6
I received 5.9" of rain Sunday. Most of it before noon. I was mowing the yard this afternoon when a rai shower dumped almost a tenth of an inch I a few minutes. I waited around a hour and finished mowing wet grass.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 25, 2019 16:40:20 GMT -6
Man, Hank, That sounds terrible. Today was way too hot and humid to be straining yourself with yard work.
I got a few weeds pulled this morning and had to bag off my job to go help a neighbor who's mower broke down. He needed to borrow my truck and trailer to haul it to the mechanic. By the time we got back home, it was too hot to get back on my weed pulling job (which was very frustrating, as I was on my last row in the garden).
Hopefully, I'll be able to finish up, either later this evening or tomorrow morning.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 27, 2019 14:40:40 GMT -6
I pulled weeds last night until after dark. My back hurt so bad that I was still awake this morning at 4:00 am. I probably only slept an hour or so between 1:00 am and 4:00 am, so I took a break from pulling any more weeds today. I just walked around in my yard and in my garden, picking blueberries, blackberries, ripe tomatoes, and a few jalapeno peppers.
I have a good sized deer roast in the crock pot and dug a few potatoes to add to it this morning. I'll eat good tonight, but right now, I'm bushed.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 27, 2019 20:58:08 GMT -6
Well, I guess I lied about, "Not pulling any weeds today"... I wasn't going to pull any weeds today, but I needed to take my geese out to the garden to graze.
About an hour before dusk, I thought, "I'll just pull a few weeds, to fill this one 5-gallon bucket."
By about 9:45 pm, I had pulled a 5-gallon bucket so full I could hardly carry it, plus I had filled a 6 cubic foot wheelbarrow to overflowing with weeds.
By the time I was done, I was too tired to even push it across the garden to dump it on my compost pile, so I left it there for tomorrow morning. I'm down to the last half of my last row. (I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now).
Maybe, tomorrow I can get in there with the tractor and till all the middles before they harden over from baking in the hot sun. I've got all but that one-half row of edges weeded out already. Just in time too, I think starting about next week, I'll be too busy with the harvest to do much more weeding for a long time.
my okra plants are doing a lot better since the sun came out and started making them grow. My tomatoes are about to start coming on strong. (I have about 120 tomato plants). I'll need to do all my tractor work around those caged tomatoes this week, so I can hook up my irrigation lines.
So far this year, I've not needed any irrigation, but that will be quick to change, as soon as that 90-degree sun starts hitting the black plastic after today. My compost pile is getting bigger and better every day. I've been averaging a wheelbarrow load of weeds per day, for three or four days running. All those greens caused me to have to buy three bales of straw to balance them out with some carbon. I pile greens, carbon and topsoil, like a lasagna, then let it compost into my soil to be plowed under this Autumn.
Right now, I have three compost piles going at the same time, so it takes a lot of fodder. Not to mention, I've been picking two 5-gallon buckets extra each day, to feed to my hogs and my geese. (Two months of steady rain sure did put me behind on gardening, but I'm almost caught all back up now).
it's hard to imagine that I am almost out of any more weeds to pull. My back will sure be glad of that!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 29, 2019 12:38:48 GMT -6
It's okra pickin' time again! Everywhere I look, I see more pods! All this okra and heavy branching too! These Heavy Hitter Okra plants have really got their job cut out for them, trying to branch out wider and produce pods at the same time. I'll need to go out this evening when it cools off a little and relieve some of their burden. It's currently 95-degrees outside. I worked in the garden until noon then, I got roasted off of my project, but it has been an enjoyable morning, just snapping photos and pulling a few weeds as I go. The plants are finally getting some height to them. My poor back will be glad of that. I hate stooping over, looking for okra pods on short plants. (Just look at that sunshine there in the background). My okra plants are loving this!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 29, 2019 16:35:58 GMT -6
I am down to my last 1/4 row of plants and then my weeding will be complete.
Just in time too, it's starting to rain. This will be the last wheelbarrow load of weeds going to my compost pile for a while. It sure does feel good to have the edges of all my rows weeded out. Now, my okra can really stretch its legs and grow! Check out the skips in the next row over to the East. Those skips are compliments of the resident deer. I feed them all Summer long, then, they feed me all Winter. I just had a big deer roast yesterday, so I suppose they also feed me in Summer. My tomatoes are really enjoying this sunlight too. I have more okra planted on the ends of each tomato row, you can just see them, poking their leaves into the foreground. In another couple of weeks, I'll be driving my truck down these middles to harvest okra and tomatoes.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 1, 2019 10:09:51 GMT -6
Bon, I got a grin out of that "Leggy" comment. It put me in mind of those poor ol' 2' foot tall tomatoes that you see in late May, still in the tiny starter pots at the feed store. That was a good analogy ... I liked that I've got okra plants that are only 2' or 3' feet tall at the most, because of no sunlight and too much rain, so I was not expecting what I found this morning when I went to harvest my first mess of okra for the season. These are all just overgrown pods that I picked to feed to the hogs. I had no idea they had already grown so big! I've been so busy pulling weeds after all the weeks of rain, that I hadn't taken time to really look at anything else that was out there. Some of these pods were nearly 9" inches long already! And look at how fat they are! Nearly an inch and a half across! It's amazing what a little chicken litter, Lime, and composted leaf litter can do. I did get some frying size okra too ... I got about 3 pounds of that. I fed the big pods to the pigs and kept the tender stuff to go with some fresh, sliced tomatoes, and corn on the cob, for tonight's dinner. I might cook up some new potatoes too.
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Post by In Defense of Okra on Jul 1, 2019 12:19:31 GMT -6
Hey Ron! I lost the thread last year a little with my okra trial and the book, but now that I'm finally published, I wanted to circle back round and thank you for the Heavy Hitter seed. I enjoyed growing it as part of the trial and sharing your stories in my book. Heavy Hitter performed well, although I planted at 18" spacing so it didn't have the space it wanted to go crazy! Certainly a heavy producer though. Here's a link to some photos from the trial. Last year I grew 76 varieties and this year I have an entirely different set of 50 okra varieties! Cheers, Chris
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 1, 2019 13:00:26 GMT -6
Chris,
Thanks for dropping in. I'm glad to hear you got your book published. I'd like to see your photos, but I don't think the link came through. At least not on my computer. Do you have a website?
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Post by glen on Jul 1, 2019 17:41:26 GMT -6
Ron, your okra is very impressive this year. Good work!
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Post by In Defense of Okra on Jul 2, 2019 15:18:46 GMT -6
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 3, 2019 1:02:58 GMT -6
Thank you, Chris, for the wonderful feedback. Glen and I certainly do appreciate that. And WOW! Thank, you for the awesome, new okra recipes too! I Can hardly wait to try them out this summer.
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