Soak or not?

[meandtk]

When directly seeding okra, is it truly better to soak or not?

I have Clemson Spineless and LA Velvet I plan to plant.

[heavyhitterokra]

It has been my experience that okra requires a lot of moisture in order to germinate.

If you direct sow your okra seeds without soaking them first, you'll be depending on the weather to soak them for you. In Oklahoma, that may or may not happen very soon; and if it does, the first rain may be so severe that it 'floats' your seeds out of the ground before they germinate.

I've tried planting okra both ways; soaked for 24 hours, and just straight out of the seed pouch, dry.

The soaked seeds germinated quickly and uniformly.

The dry seeds germinated sporadically, at various time intervals.

I'm guessing this was caused by sporadic moisture content in the soil, from uneven rains that followed sowing.

I used to soak my okra seeds overnight, in a fruit jar of warm water before planting; Mostly, because, that's the way Grandma did it.

Since I met George, I've changed my ways.

George suggested spreading the okra seeds across a well-moistened paper towel, sealed inside a Ziplock bag, and keeping them in a warm place overnight.

After I tried his method, I liked it so well, I'll probably never change.

With George's seed soaking method, none of the seeds 'drown' under water. The seeds are always visible, they are easy to access by cutting the bag open with scissors, there is no more dipping your hand into a tight mouth jar while trying to fish out the stragglers, and there is a wet paper towel there to wipe mud off your fingertips as you plant.

 This is just a photo of a germination test on 100 Heavy Hitter Okra seeds.  (Never let your root tips grow this long without planting).  These seeds are discarded after testing, so the root tip length doesn't matter.  They are tested on a wet paper towel, in a sealed Ziplock bag, at 72 degrees Fahrenheit, then after 3 days, the germination rate is calculated and the results are discarded.

When soaking okra seeds, they need to be planted at the first sign of the root tip emerging, otherwise, the plant may become severely damaged.  (Think of the root tip, as the umbilical cord) if that becomes damaged, due to handling or dehydration, your baby plant will have no way to get nourishment from the soil and may actually die.

[meandtk]

Thanks!

[glen]

This is just my opinion. If you are irrigating your row of okra, then go ahead and soak them. They will germinate much faster.