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Post by kenneth on Oct 10, 2020 17:21:19 GMT -6
I just wanted to let everyone know how my first year of growing heavy hitter okra went. I live in north MS. on the line of zone 7A and 7B. I followed the pre- germination instructions and on 5-16 I planted my seed. I planted on the 30 inch spacing except for one. I put it on 36 inch for a test. (I will stick with the 30 inch ). On 5-19 I had a 100% stand.
I have a raised bed that is 3 feet by 23 feet. I applied about 8 ounces of 8-8-8 fertilizer with lime and slag ( Slag is a by product of the steel mill and is not available everywhere. It has Ca,Zn,Fe,Mg,B. and Mn.). I have about 6 inches of good topsoil and blue-yellow clay underneath.(This clay will hold water and does not drain very fast. This is why I had to put in a treatment unit and not a septic tank).
On 7-22 I picked the first okra. I picked the last on 10-2. I found a miracle-gro hose end sprayer and some bottles of fertilizer that I needed to get rid of. You could tell when I used it. The plants were 8-9 feet tall and 3 feet across. Each plant had 4 branches or more and a central stem.
The final numbers: I picked 1983 pods that weighed 100 lbs. and 15 ounces. Each plant produced an average of 247 pods and an average pod weight of .8 ounce. This is about 20 pods per pound. I waited until the pods were about 5 inches long before cutting. (All I wanted was for frying ). This is very good for the first year with only 8 plants ( I would have had 9 but I put one on 36 inch ).
The total number of pods and pods per plant are actually higher. On 7-22 I put the weight down but forgot to get a pod count. I guess the pod count at 2025 and pods per plant at 252.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 13, 2020 8:59:56 GMT -6
Kenneth, what an awesome report! I imagine Mississippi had a lot better okra growing weather than we did, here in Oklahoma this year. Our last frost date was May the 8th. That, coupled with several weeks of cooler than normal temperatures and heavy rain caused us to lose our best window of opportunity for sowing Spring seeds. Then, in June, we experienced a month with no rain whatsoever. The heat of June coupled with several weeks of no rain left our gardens parched and struggling by mid-July. (It was a tough season).
Thank you, for your report. That was very uplifting after such a lean year locally.
Also, thank you, for sharing your fertilizing methods. I used to work near the Case Foundry in the Pryor Industrial Park and have seen plenty of slag, but never had heard of using it to enrich the soil. Boy, did we miss the boat on that one!
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Post by kenneth on Oct 13, 2020 18:16:55 GMT -6
Our weather was cooler than usual until the end of May. The raised bed is on a slight rise with no shade. This helps with sunshine but it gets cooler when the wind blows. Last year in April we had a F2 tornado come through and blew down a lot of trees (no shade ).
I am no fertilizer expert. I read all the reports from the experiment stations that I could. For a long time here there was a saying-Cotton is king. The farmers would use 13-13-13 at the rate of 300 pounds per acre. In the early 2000 the price of cotton fell and fields that had been in cotton for 40 years were planted in soybeans or corn. The result was people used 13-13-13 because that is what they had or that was what they were told to use if they asked. (They used to have a 6-8-8 but it is not available anymore.) The amount of 8-8-8 I used will translate into 300 pounds per acre. I did not start the water soluble fertilizer until harvest. I believe I should have started 3 weeks earlier. I believe that the lower analysis is better because it has less nitrogen ( small plants need less ) and some people tend to over fertilize.
I have 2 questions
1. I read that if you apply to much fertilizer at the start of the season to okra that the plants grow to fast and you will have fewer pods per plant. ( I think this was in reference to nitrogen. ) Is this true?
2. Can i plant okra in the same raised bed next year or do you need to rotate every year? I have a second bed I am putting in but I do not think it will be ready in time. The plan is to alternate the beds every year. I know that nightshades need to be rotated every year but okra is not a nightshade.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 13, 2020 22:13:27 GMT -6
OSU has done an intense study on growing okra in Oklahoma and has published the following paper, which includes fertilizer and pH recommendations for best harvests. extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/okra-production.html
OSU advises against applying nitrogen before fruit set, due to over-production of foliage.
Personally, I am a certified organic gardener and have only used chicken litter, leaf mold, agricultural lime, straw, bio-char, and annual Autumn plantings of Austrian winter peas, hairy vetch, crimson clover, and ryegrass. For that reason, I am not familiar with the use of commercial fertilizers. I'm not opposed to them, I'm just not familiar with their use.
I try to rotate my beds each year. I grow mostly tomatoes and okra, so I just swap them out each year as I plant. I have a quarter acre garden, so it takes a lot of amendments to keep that much soil tended and enriched. I rake about 3 acres of leaves each Fall and pile them to decompose each winter, then apply those to my soil each Spring.
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Post by kenneth on Oct 14, 2020 16:37:15 GMT -6
Thanks for the link to the OSU publication. I like the use of a split application of nitrogen. I did a variation of that this year. Low nitrogen at the start and water soluble (12-4-8) at the start of harvest. Next year I will start the water soluble a little earlier.
I noticed that they said you could use transplants. I do not know if you will gain anything if you have transplant shock. I was wondering what size container you would use (3 inch peat moss cup).
I am going to try and have the other raised bed ready and plant the okra in it. I did dig up two of the plants and look at the root system. I did not notice any nematode damage. The last time I planted tomatoes in that bed i had a nematode problem ( about 4 years ago ). I have never had to cut okra stalks with a chainsaw until this year.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 14, 2020 18:34:39 GMT -6
I don't do transplants with okra. The transplant shock sets them back too hard.
I suppose if you just wanted early okra that would be okay, but I'm looking for production. Stunted plants don't produce very well. So far, I've hand shucked 15 pounds of okra seeds this week, for Baker Creek. My fingers feel like I've been picking a banjo on a 5-day whirlwind tour of the South. Just 45 more pounds to go and I can quit picking!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 16, 2020 6:48:43 GMT -6
October 16, 2020
We had a light, visible frost on the overhangs of our roof this morning and in the low spots around the garden. I don't know yet if it killed any plants, but it couldn't have been good for them.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 16, 2020 17:12:49 GMT -6
A few of my plants got a little frostbite, but for the most part, the warm soil temperatures kept them safe from the brunt of the cold. That would have been a different story had the wind not stopped blowing before nightfall. It was so still last night that warm air was able to rise without being blown away by the predawn freeze. Our temperatures stayed right at 33 to 34 until 6:00 am. It always seems to get the coldest just a few minutes after sunrise. So the freezing temperatures were brief this morning and quickly burned off by the sun.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 17, 2020 22:37:37 GMT -6
My best guess is that we harvested 5,200 dried okra pods Saturday morning. I have 18.75 pounds of seeds shelled out so far and many, many, more recently harvested pods to go. At least I have them all inside in the dry now! That's the important thing! (About 18, 5-gallon buckets full of pods still waiting to be shelled out).
I still have a few more plants to harvest, but those will have to wait until after Church today. I don't usually pick on a Sunday, but there's an 80% chance of rain today, starting around 1:00 pm (like they know that). The forecast calls for rain every day this week, so it sounds like I'd better get everything inside before things get wet.
Last year, I got several thousand pods rained on during harvest time. I hoped the wind would dry the pods on the stalks so I could harvest them after the rain, but it rained continually for about a week before it let up any at all. When the weather changed and the sun came out, it caused the seeds to sprout inside the pods. The result was that I ran out of inventory this Spring before my seed customers were finished planting. I had to put several people on back order. Hopefully, this year, I'll get a jump on the rainy season and all my seeds will be in the dry.
Due to our wet and very cold Spring in 2020, all my crops were planted a month late, some were planted as late as July 4th. So, there are many plants out there with green pods still on them at this time. So far, we've dodged more than one bullet on a killing frost. It would be really, really, nice if those pods had a chance to ripen before winter weather sets in.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 25, 2020 5:18:16 GMT -6
I now have 28-pounds of Heavy Hitter Okra Seeds shelled out ... Only one more 55-gallon barrel of pods to go! It's gonna be really close if I make 60 pounds out of what is left. There are a lot more pods out in the garden, but they are not mature yet. If we dodge the bullet on the forecasted frost Monday night, they might possibly reach maturity before the plants die? This time of year is always a gamble, much like Spring; a frost could wipe you out at any time.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 26, 2020 22:57:39 GMT -6
We've had about 2" inches of very steady, cold rain today. The temperatures are hovering right around 34-degrees. So far, no freezing has taken place.
I picked all of the mature okra pods I could find yesterday and added maybe 5 or 6 pounds of seed to my collection. The forecast calls for more rain, continuing for at least two more days.
I've had two seed orders come in today, and because of the delayed frost, I'll be able to fill those as well. In years past, I've harvested more seed than I could possibly sell. This year, I might have more orders for seed than I can possibly harvest?
We've encountered problems with our sewer line running under the slab of our house that I may have to tunnel underneath to repair. That, and the brakes started going out on my truck today and need to be repaired. I bought new rotors and pads this afternoon, as well as a few plumbing supplies. For those reasons and a few more, I may not get much done toward shelling out anymore of my 60-pound order for a few days.
This year has proved to be a tough one so far, but we've had worse. I'm very thankful for the extended season that God has seen fit to provide us this Autumn. If I ever get the time, I've still got lots of Roselle to harvest and quite a few more peppers too.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 27, 2020 18:18:25 GMT -6
I just heard on the radio that it was snowing in El Paso, Texas today. I thought to myself, "No way." Then I came inside to check the Internet and sure enough, it snowed in El Paso today.
So far, here, we never got a hard freeze. (Knock on wood).
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 29, 2020 20:33:50 GMT -6
Bon,
Prayers were answered. I'm glad to hear your elm tree stood up to the weather. I was very surprised back in 2007-2008, during the ice storms we had here, to see that the hickory trees sustained the most damage. The oaks bent double and suffered so much deformation that some never grew straight again, but the hickory trees just shattered. The elms were very elastic, bending over until their branches touched the pavement, but when they thawed out, they straightened right back up.
I've been freezing, sitting outside under the patio roof, shelling okra seeds the past two days. I've got 33 pounds shelled out so far and still counting. Hopefully, the latter part of the week and the upcoming weekend will be a little bit warmer. My back is killing me from sitting in a lawn chair for so many hours, being so chilled. My fingers were so cold yesterday, that our cold well water felt warm when I came inside to wash up for dinner.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 30, 2020 7:32:09 GMT -6
Those little seeds pop out and fly in every direction when I'm shelling pods. They are like stepping on BBs, so I moved outside. It was 28-degrees here at 6:45 am today. We finally got our killing frost. It has been below freezing for about 9-hours.
Supposedly, the high today will be around 63-degrees, so that won't be bad at all.
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Post by kenneth on Oct 31, 2020 12:16:28 GMT -6
Fall is finally here. This morning there was a light frost and the temperature went down to 40. Yesterday the temperature fell all day. The worst part was we had 2.5 inches of rain from Hurricane Zeta ( I will be glad when hurricane season is over ). They are predicting the lows will be about 35 for the next 2 or3 nights and then going up to about 60 at the end of the week.
This year Halloween is very different: There is a blue moon and we have to set the clocks back.
I agree with Bon: shop vac and indoors.
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