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Post by glen on Jul 19, 2019 17:19:46 GMT -6
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 21, 2019 17:15:38 GMT -6
Looking good, Glen!
Your plants are a lot less bug eaten than mine. We planted our okra within a day of one another. I planted my first 50 seeds of the season on April 23rd.
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Post by glen on Jul 27, 2019 19:22:01 GMT -6
Looking at my plants this week, you really cannot see any difference in the plants from week to week. I may start taking foto's every 2 weeks. In other words, there is nothing significant to show you all. The plants are making okra slowly and growing slightly taller. Some plants are just aborting all blooms and not producing. In fact, this is common now. The weather has been cloudy and over-cast to the extreme this year. AfricanX okra does well during most rainy seasons. This year is an exception. Plants look nice, however, no okra of any significance has been produced. Very disappointing year.
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Post by macmex on Jul 28, 2019 5:10:48 GMT -6
I have to find my note, concerning when I planted okra this year. It hasn't found it's way into my file yet. I know I planted quite late. Anyway, both AfricanX and Stewarts Zeebest are starting to show some momentum. I think I'll start getting pods within the next two weeks. I wish I had gotten, at least Stewarts in about a month earlier, as they will produce concurrently. In appearance AfricanX is definitely the more striking of the two, right now. I need to get some pictures.
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Post by glen on Jul 29, 2019 20:58:05 GMT -6
George, thanx for making a comment on this thread. We need a ray of hope for AfricanX okra! Please include some foto's of the Stewart's Zbest okra also. I was out in the garden today cleaning up and it dawned on me. I have 2 rows of okra growing in the ground that are almost as tall as me now and they have not put on practically any okra at all. Many of the plants are very robust and branchy with nice central pod heads. The branches are beginning to bloom also. However, the pods just fall off the plants. I do have worms feasting away at the plants also but that wouldn't make any difference to the pod production if the plants wanted to make pods. Plants are over 3 months old and the weather has been so bad that I just can't get the plants to produce. I have to say that it has been very pleasant though. Much cooler than normal when it looks like you are in a nuclear winter every single day. Sometimes we get rain all night. You know, the slow drizzly kind of rain. Some times on and off all day. Sometimes it doesn't rain but we always seem to have over-cast sky's. We have been getting a few days of intermittent sunny conditions. Its just not enough. Plants look nice though. All my plants are suffering right now, including all my pepper plants and tomato's etc. This has been a really weird year for me.
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Post by glen on Jul 30, 2019 13:27:52 GMT -6
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Post by glen on Aug 11, 2019 21:44:37 GMT -6
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Post by glen on Aug 26, 2019 22:21:28 GMT -6
I haven't posted foto's of AfricanX okra lately. Nothing has changed. I have plants that are way over my head now but production is below average this year. I am eating okra though. Every other day at least. The plants do not look tired. Pod heads stay full of calyx's. Just slow production. This has been an unusually cloudy year with very little breaks in the cloud cover. The plants really look the same in the photo's so I don't see the need to post them every week any longer. The okra I am harvesting is of very good quality and the harvest season this year, although smaller, should be just as long as previous seasons. I have not noticed any nematode damage yet. I have noticed nematode damage in some of my peppers, especially the Anuum's and also in the Malabar spinach. AfricanX okra is susceptible to nematodes but very highly resistant to them.
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Post by macmex on Aug 27, 2019 8:19:01 GMT -6
My plants are now a little over waist high and have plenty of flower buds. They have refused to flower, so far. I believe the problem is that I planted a couple rows of corn to the South of them, and they are getting some shade. Okra HATES shade.
My Stewarts Zeebest okra is in the same plight. It has just started some feeble pod production, but hardly enough to pick. I need to leave some on the plants, just to renew my seed.
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Post by glen on Aug 27, 2019 16:45:15 GMT -6
Shade is what has killed my season. My plants are now a few days older than 4 months and rarely if ever do they get a clear day when sun can get to them. They are also in the shade of my house and fruit tree's etc. That combination has been deadly for my okra. I have big plants now also,some are almost 7 feet tall planted in the back yard in rows. Plants in the pots are shorter. Lack of sun causes pod abortion and slow development of pods. This particular year has been the worse for lack of sun that I have ever seen. We have had a lot more rain this year than other years. We have had a lot more mosquito's also and reports of dengue and Zika and malaria have been reported on the news in my Province. I have had acquaintances tell me that they have caught malaria as well. This is the first time I have heard of it. The mosquito's in my neighborhood don't seem bad to me. But, its not the quantity, its the variety of mosquito. My province is the driest in the country if you can imagine. All the other years I have grown okra have been excellent. Nice big, long harvests. And, I do get the same kind of over-cast weather every year but there are enough sunny days to allow the okra to grow. There is a line in the sand where the okra just can't prosper if it is crossed. I am also having problems with other variety's of plants as well. Especially Capsicum Anuum peppers. Peppers are also not producing like they should. Very low production.
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Post by glen on Aug 27, 2019 16:49:51 GMT -6
I have found that okra needs over-cast weather. Okra does not thrive in the full sun dry season. In the dry season the okra bolts early and produces a few okra, then dies. Okra needs some over-cast weather and actually does well in it. But, like I said, it also needs a certain amount of sun. Which I am not getting this year. I actually have to plant things like tomato's and peppers in pots and drag them around to make use of shade in the dry season or they just can't survive. I am constantly seeking a happy medium and sometimes I just cannot find it.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 2, 2019 9:22:04 GMT -6
Glen,
I've had years when I experience 'pod abortion' for the first 5 pods or more. That's a lot of lose when you consider I'm growing over a thousand plants most years. I've consulted every so-called 'expert' I know and none of them know the reason for that problem.
If you can pin that down, you'll have made okra growing history.
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Post by glen on Sept 2, 2019 12:35:00 GMT -6
There is probably various reasons why a pod aborts. With Heavyhitter okra it appears to just happen in the beginning, every season. With AfricanX okra it is condition dependant. It can happen any time. This season, with the low sun levels, it happens more. I have had pod abortions continuously all season. At times, my harvest increases. When the sun is out more for example. Right now, my harvest is better for whatever reason. Lack of sun still seems to be a problem. I expect my okra harvest to continue and I should be eating okra for several more months. Possibly into December. It comes in slow which is alright for me. I am not selling okra. I eat okra every other day, sometimes twice per day. I eat it steamed whole with a little salt. Usually Bercy will cook up a batch and put it on a plate by itself on the table. We just eat it with our fingers. After getting used to eating okra like this you begin to appreciate the health benefits that much more. Don't fry okra! Steam it!! Much better for you.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 2, 2019 20:33:52 GMT -6
I've had pod abortion happening all season this year. I still see them, even now. I think sunlight might be part of the problem? It's really wet here right now too. The newly formed peduncles just turn yellow, wither and fall of.
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Post by glen on Oct 6, 2019 8:31:24 GMT -6
Not enough sun seems to be a major reason for pod abortion. I need to add some more foto's of my okra. Plants are huge and still producing. I have pods on the plants going to seed now also.
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