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Post by hedgeapple on Aug 18, 2022 21:11:11 GMT -6
Well, I certainly hope this doesn't turn out to be a persistent herbicide issue. SMH
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Post by Sheila on Aug 19, 2022 11:49:01 GMT -6
heavyhitterokra - Does the heavy hitter need to be hand pollinated or will each flower equal an okra on its on?
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 19, 2022 12:48:07 GMT -6
Sheila,
You can hand-pollinate okra if you really want to do some improved selections, but it's not necessary, as okra has a 'perfect' blossom, meaning that it can be self-fertile with the help of an insect to move the pollen around within its own flower.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 23, 2022 23:10:06 GMT -6
This is a re-post from back on page 45, made in December of 2018. It still amazes me to see how much farther this project has gone than I ever had any intention or expectation of it going. This is all the Lord's doing. God grows this stuff, all I do is gather the seeds.
Back in the Spring of 2018, I donated some 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, 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.
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 the new seed strain from.
All I did was select seeds from the 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 Nora Hara on Aug 24, 2022 0:18:30 GMT -6
I would like to access some heavy hitter okra seeds. I'm in Lusaka Zambia
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 24, 2022 20:17:01 GMT -6
Nora Hara.
Sorry to say this, but I no longer ship overseas. The Postal Service lost track of over twenty of my overseas packages in the chaos of the Covid Pandemic. One example of that was a package I recently received from France. It took a year and six weeks to reach me. Seeds are too fragile to be stuck in transit for over a year. Postal prices have since soared, plus, there is no longer a standard price in effect, so I often get to the Post Office with a customer's package and find I have under-priced the postage and have to make up the difference on the spot. Either that or I get there and find out the US has suspended service to some particular country for reasons unknown. I had to re-send a package to Israel three times last winter before it finally arrived. Oftentimes, overseas packages get stuck in customs. I had one package get stuck in customs for three weeks in Bangalore, India. I've had packages confiscated and had to refund orders. I shipped two kilos of seed to Africa and never received payment. Finally, I just said, "Enough is enough." And stopped shipping seeds overseas.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 24, 2022 20:29:21 GMT -6
A friend of mine at the ODAFF read the post that I put up earlier and sent me an updated version of a second OSU Vegetable Trial Report done in 2021, reported in January 2022. The new stats are even better, I'm unable to copy the report in full here, so I'll paste a link to it below.
agriculture.okstate.edu/departments-programs/hla/research-extension/vegetables/pdfs/2021-vegetable-trial-report.pdf
The okra in the updated 2021 Report was harvested from July 2, 2021 all the way through to October 2, 2021, a total of twenty harvests.
Once again, okra did significantly better grown in plastic mulch than it did grown in bare soil or even under paper mulch. If you scroll down to page 41 of the updated report you'll see that Heavy Hitter Okra produced 652 bushels per acre on plastic mulch in 2021. At 30 pounds per bushel, that equals 19,560 lbs/acre. That is incredible, considering the Clemson Spineless that I started out with in 1972 only produced 11,000 lbs/acre. (That's an 8,560 lbs/acre increase over the original seed stock).
Thanks, Lynn and John, for the updated version. I had not seen the new report until you sent me that link.
Once again, I would like to thank the folks at OSU and the ODAFF for all of their help, technical support, and generosity. Without them, I would not be where I am with this project today.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 24, 2022 21:00:49 GMT -6
That's good news. So if I use plasticulture and keep the deer away, I should, theoretically at least, have okra to fry up next year. Plans have now been finalized...
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 28, 2022 12:02:45 GMT -6
The 4-1/2 rows remaining out of 12, after deer depredation, draught, grasshopper plague, and Grazon poisoning, are making an impressive recovery. We've received over 7" inches of rain in the month of August and that has really revived a lot of stuff! For reference as to size of these plants, my rows are set on 10' foot centers, so that I can drive a pickup truck between rows or use the tractor to till them. As you can see by the little red wagon sitting here, there is only about 3' or 4' feet of walkway still showing. These plants have quite a spread.This photo shows an example of 'bolting' when the okra begins to produce stems above the foliage. The grasshoppers this year are so bad that hardly a tender blossom gets by them at this stage. Because of that, my harvests along the tops this year have been quite scant. Still, there is a lot of potential here on the lower side branches.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 28, 2022 13:14:13 GMT -6
Your plants look astounding! Or outstanding! Or remarkable! Or magnificent! Take your pick, they deserve a massive quantity of adjectives...
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 28, 2022 13:39:22 GMT -6
Looking good @ heavyhitterokra
Love the wagon. I bought my Mom one a few years ago and she uses it for everything!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 28, 2022 15:09:32 GMT -6
Your plants look astounding! Or outstanding! Or remarkable! Or magnificent! Take your pick, they deserve a massive quantity of adjectives... Or maybe even adverbs with the adjectives: astoundingly outstanding! Magnificently remarkable! Absolutely amazing! My ten year old took a look at your photos, heavyhitterokra, and was just blown away. I think it takes a lot to impress kids nowadays, and your garden did it. Congratulations! You impressed me too, by the way, and I also appreciate your photo of the okra bolting. Mine do that to some extent but not like yours yet. I’m not sure that my okra does anything nearly as well as yours does, though. Just as I aspire to be one quarter of the woman that my mother is, I can aspire to get my okra to perform one quarter as well as yours does, and then I’ll be ecstatic. I’ve still got a ways to go, though.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 28, 2022 16:10:24 GMT -6
Addition of the adverbs was a great idea chrysanthemum .
You have reached the peak of my knowledge of parts of speech, so if you add past participles or infinitives, to name a few, you are on your own...hehehe
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 28, 2022 18:47:32 GMT -6
You guys crack me up! I didn't do anything special, God just happened to plunk me down in a hot, sweaty, incredibly humid place where okra likes to grow. I wish I knew how to transport some of that to other places.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 28, 2022 20:21:24 GMT -6
The okra bar has been set high, but alas, I will continue to try.
If I can get just half a dozen plants that look similar to yours next year, heavyhitterokra , I'll be ecstatic...
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