HEAVY HITTER OKRA PHOTO THREAD, PAST & PRESENT.

[heavyhitterokra]

At the suggestion of a couple of my good friends, I've decided to start a Heavy Hitter Okra photo thread, featuring photos, past and present, to kind of make it easier to find the old photos.
 This photo was taken in August of 2011.  It was the first photo I ever took of the Heavy Hitter Strain of okra that I was developing at the time.  I had harvested 44 tender pods of okra, from this single plant that day.  The pods are shown on display at the bottom of the plant.  I was picking okra for the Farmers Market that year and had been nearly wiped out by deer predation, so my plants were spaced as far as 20' feet apart.  For that reason, I harvested okra from this plant right up to the end of the season.

 This is a photo of that very same plant taken in October, 2011.  By that time, I had built a small hoop house over this single plant, to help protect it from frost.  like I said, deer had eaten so many of my plants in that year of drought, that they were spaced too far apart to try and save  more than one plant.  I only had supplies to build one small hoop house, so I chose this single plant to protect.  (It was to no avail though) a freak storm destroyed the hoop house about a week after this photo was taken.  High winds ripped the end off the hoop house and blew my fire away.  I had been spending the night out there on a cot, tending the fire.  The fire was inside a semi-truck tire rim, which was full of oak coals, burning inside the hoop house when high winds ripped the plastic off the end.  The resulting 23 degree temperatures and gale force winds, for the next six hours froze every seed pod.  Only 5 of them were salvageable.

 This photo was taken in February of 2011.  Bill Trammel is shown here, busily breaking my garden with his old mule named, Earl.  The two of us (Bill and I) used to break gardens on 5 different farms each Spring, using a team of Haflinger horses and a mixed team of mules.  Here is the link to a short clip of a team of Haflingers mowing hay, the way we used to do it here. 

[heavyhitterokra]

Here are a few photos of Heavy Hitter Okra, being grown in my garden in 2015.  I was using white plastic that year, due to a very warm Spring planting.
 These photos were taken in late June, about 10 days before pod production.

 Since it was such a warm Spring, these plants really put on a lot of foliage that needed to be pruned back before pod production had begun. (Notice the 'nubs' from leaf removal along the sides of the bottom branches.

 This photo shows some of the 'nubs' left from leaf removal with a pair of pruning shears.  I do this each year, to promote more branching.

 This is just a photo showing the branching characteristics and the spacing of my plants.  These are planted on 30" inch centers. 

This photo shows how I like to keep the ground clean around the plant bases, due to the tendency for Water Moccasin Snakes and Copperheads to seek out cool refuge under my okra plants during hot summer days.  I plant my rows pretty wide because of that.  I like to see where I'm stepping, as I've had way too many close calls.  I once had a Water Moccasin strike the handle of my hoe so hard that it nearly took it from my hand as I was weeding my corn.  I ended up chopping several plants down, just trying to find that thing to kill it.  (My Wife still makes fun of my skinny, white, legs leaping through the air, as I flailed the corn stalks wearing a pair of cut off blue jeans).  

 Just another photo of the 'nubs' left by pruning the lower leaves for better airflow and better vision of my surroundings.

[heavyhitterokra]

Shortly thereafter, I hosted a Nationwide, Heavy Hitter Okra Growing Contest. I was kind of poor back then, so the 1st Prize was only $50.00 but Still, I had a few of my okra seed customers enter the contest.

The Monks, at Clear Creek Abby, near Hulbert, Oklahoma won 1st Prize with the Heavy Hitter Okra entry in the photo below.  This plant was grown on the grounds of the Monastery only 20 miles from here. (I was expecting someone from Mississippi, Georgia, or maybe Florida to win the contest), but the Monks grew the largest, most productive Heavy Hitter Okra plant I've seen to date, which was extra impressive, being how they were from France and had never grown any okra before I sent them my Heavy Hitter seeds as a contribution to their gardening efforts there.



 This photo was taken on site at Clear Creek Abby, on November 6th, 2016.  The Monks in charge of gardening didn't want their photos taken, so I had nothing with me as a size comparison.  (I don't know why I didn't think to ask one of them to take the photo with me as a size comparison?) I ended up placing a handful of 5" inch okra pods at the base of the plant as a reference to the size.  This plant was about 8' feet tall and about 8 feet wide.  It was nearly a small tree in its own rite.

 This is just another photo of that plant, from a different angle.  

 There were 50 men to feed at the Monastery each day, so they had nearly picked these plants clean before I arrived to take photos.  For that reason, I only had about 5 or 6 pods that day to represent production.  This plant displayed signs of harvested okra pods on every branch.  (It had grown a lot of okra over the course of Summer). The Monks were very grateful for some good okra recipes by that Autumn.

[heavyhitterokra]

These are just a few random photos of Heavy Hitter Okra plants over the years, from 2016 to 2018.
 First sign of branching in early June, 2016.

 Branches getting heavier and in much need of leaf pruning, that same summer.

 Early June, 2018, just a photo showing the general lay out of my rows.  These rows are much wider spaced than before, as by this time I had stopped using mules and horses to plow and had started using my Tractor.  These rows are set on 10' foot centers so I can drive a truck or tractor between them.  My okra beds are 30" inches wide and 150' feet long.

 Before pruning leaves back for easier access to the pods.

 After pruning leaves back for easier access to pods (Also, to better watch for snakes), as the creek nearby has no limit to the number of Water Moccasins that venture to my okra patch, in pursuit of frogs.

 The season coming to an end in October 2015.  This branching habit reminds me of a crab or maybe, the forearms of Popeye the Sailor man.

 Examples of season's end branching in October of 2015

 Another example of branching by the end of the 2015 season.

 Just another 'October Gardening Skeleton.'

[heavyhitterokra]

These are a few of my 2019 Heavy Hitter Okra plants.
 This was early-June, 2019.  It was a very cold, wet Spring, so my okra plants were way behind.

 Just coming into pod production June 28th, 2019.

 Branching is starting to look pretty good by the last week in June.

 As you can see by the two fresh 'nubs' I have just started pruning this plant from above, to gain better access to the pods.

 Buddy, my stock dog, listening to the irrigation lines as air is forced from them, making a shrill, squeaking noise.  He thinks there is a rat in there for him to chase.

 Fresh okra blossoms from just enough water to make these plants happy.

 Heavy Hitter Okra coming into full production on July 6th, 2019.  On days like this, I'm getting about a dozen tender pods per plant, per harvest.  It sure makes picking it a lot more fun!

[heavyhitterokra]

These are a few of the Heavy Hitter Okra plants that I will be saving for seed this Autumn. These photos were taken mid-August of 2019.
 These 8" to 10" inch long, maturing pods are very heavy and require quite a sturdy trunk to support all that extra weight.

 The pods in this photo are all growing on a single plant.

 This is just a single side branch on the plant above.  There are several side branches.

 These Heavy Hitter Okra pod bunches remind me of bananas.

 This is how I mark my plants for seed saving, so that my 'U-Pick' customers will know not to harvest any pods from these plants.  I only choose 12 of my favorite plants each year.  That is usually enough to supply me with about 15 pounds of dried okra seeds. 

 This is just an example of what they look like from below the leaf canopy.  As you can see from the 'nub' scars on this one, I prune heavily, to promote top growth (where the pods are).  This also helps me keep an eye out for snakes as I'm harvesting okra pods on hot, humid days.  When my irrigation is running, fogs gather here to play in the cool water.  Where there are frogs, snakes are sure to follow.

 This is what it looks like to gaze down one of my seed saving rows at eye level.  You can probably see why it's difficult to watch your feet as you walk along these rows, looking at pods.  That's why I like to keep the walkways clear of any vegetation.

 That's where my Cotton Patch Geese come in handy.  They like eating weeds and they like gulping the occasional frog too.

 Here is a photo of 'Violet' one of my female Cotton Patch Geese, honing in on a small frog.  She likes a little variety in her diet nowadays.  I just now got them to where they eat frogs and grasshoppers.  The first several months after they hatched, they would not eat anything except weeds.  They wouldn't even eat cracked corn.  As they get older, their diets change to include more proteins.  
 (These are the best gardening buddies I've ever had.) They go with me to the garden every day. At one point, we completely ran out of weeds across the entire quarter acre expanse of soil that I call my garden. No problem for these guys though, they just moved over and began grazing the borders along the garden fence.

[heavyhitterokra]

A few photos of the August 'girth' of these "Sky Rocket" Okra plants that are being saved for seed in the Autumn of 2019.
 "Stump of the World", comes to mind when I look at these Heavy Hitter Okra plants from below.  Too bad, "Stump of the World", is already the name of a tomato variety.

 Finally, I've found a use for the Library Card I keep in my wallet.

 People look at you like you're crazy when you say you need an ax to chop down your okra plants in the Fall of the year, but if you grow this strain of Heavy Hitter Okra, chances are, that's just a thing you'll have to endure.    I have been known to rest my deer rifle on these branches in the Fall of the year.  These plants make a pretty sturdy gun rest when it's time to pay the deer back for all the okra they have eaten all summer long.  My garden feeds them in the summer months; they feed my family in the winter months.

[heavyhitterokra]

Sky Rocket! 

This season (2019) I've continued the F2 generation of a seed-saving vector called, "Sky Rocket."  It is a variation discovered within my "Heavy Hitter" genome. (God has truly blessed me with variations, such as this.)  

"Sky Rocket" is the name I chose for a particular flowering pattern that I discovered, back in July of 2018. This pod bearing phenomena occurs in 'rings' around the central stalk and side branches, rather than the usual alternating pattern of one okra pod every few inches along each side of the central stalk.

The 'Sky Rocket' growth pattern resembles fireworks going skyward as the pods mature, sometimes as many as 5 pods per ring. These 'rings' occur at intervals of about three inches and are a genetic variation that causes extra pod production. I have harvested as many as 25 tender pods from a single "Sky Rocket" plant in a single afternoon this season.

Here are a few photos of that phenomena.
 Notice the three pods at the base of this outcropping.

Here is a close-up of the "Sky Rocket" variation that I am currently attempting to capture by means of selective seed saving.  This is the F-2 generation of that phenomena.  I first spotted these plants in 2018.

 The "Sky Rocket" effect in a series of two consecutive rings of okra pods.  There are six pods in the same space that two pods would normally occupy.  If you look closely, you can see the beginnings of a third ring forming above the first two.  



 The same effect from a different angle on another plant.

 This is a close-up of the nubs that remain, after a few Sky Rocket pods were accidentally harvested for Market ... Sometimes, harvesting 175 pounds of okra in one day tends to lead to slip-ups.  I cut these pods at night, while wearing a head lamp.  I was not very happy the next morning when I discovered what I had done.  (The green, hollow, twig in the left center of the photo was where a leaf was removed to clear the area for a decent photo).  There were five pods harvested within one inch of this ring, although the fifth nub is not visible from this perspective.  Often times, leaves also form in rings at these "Sky Rocket" nodes.  As you can tell by counting them, there were five leaves formed at this one node, in addition to the five tender okra pods formed there.  This variation reminds me of the birth defect that causes some people to have six digits on each hand, rather than only five.

 This is the base of one of my Heavy Hitter/Sky Rocket plants. (Yes, I know skyrocket is one word) but I used two words for patent and copyright purposes.

 This is the end result of the "Sky Rocket" variation:  As much as 3 times as many okra pods occupy the same space as traditional Clemson Spineless okra stalks.  This adds a great deal of extra weight burden for the branches to have to carry.  So far, I have not suffered any lose, due to weak branching.  These plants are very 'big boned' compared to your average Clemson Spineless okra plant.  It will be interesting this Autumn to have OSU assist me in excavating the root zone of these plants to compare them to other Clemson Spineless root samples on file in the Oklahoma agriculture archives.

Great things are happening at Dry Creek Farm this season!  (Thank you, God.  I know it is you who provides.  I only tend the crops you send my way).

[heavyhitterokra]

My 2020 Heavy Hitter Okra Crop

Since it has been a while since I posted here, I thought it was about time for an update. These are a few recent photos of my 2020 Heavy Hitter Okra plants; some of which are producing 15 tender pods per picking.  Each branch produces a crown of okra pods (there are several branches on each plant.)

[Deleted]

Wow! Look at that.  I have the sky rocket planted.  I should take some pictures. 

[heavyhitterokra]

That would be cool to see. 

[Deleted]

Too bright outside. I cannot see my phone screen.  lol   You can see how horrid dry it is.  Whew. 

[heavyhitterokra]

Thanks for posting photos, Bon. I wish we could have sent you some of our rain this year.

[glen]

Bon, looks like you have some real good plants going. Good work.

[Deleted]

Glend, I think the AX Okra is getting ready to bloom. They're still small because of the drought.