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Post by glen on Dec 25, 2022 18:58:59 GMT -6
This photo was taken on December 16th. You can see the ladder in the very back of the photo which is a 7 foot ladder. The plants are much taller than this ladder. Yes, the plants are in tall pots. You can see the huge quantity of pods left to go to seed. I don't know what I was thinking. Obviously I didn't need this much. Something to think about though. This variety is a slow grower. Plus, it takes longer to produce seed. You have to leave pods to go to seed early with this variety or you risk an early freeze coming before seed is ready to harvest. It takes 6 to 8 weeks sometimes to produce seed. Its been said that if you let okra go to seed too seed too early it affects pod production. That isn't true with this variety. You can allow pods to go to seed early if you want. Then just continue to cut okra for the kitchen. It doesn't affect the plant at all. I have never tried germinating frozen AfricanX seed. This variety is so dependable that I have never had to try this. It will come up as a volunteer without any trouble also. AfricanX okra is tough and foolproof-at least for me it is.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 25, 2022 20:06:41 GMT -6
Glen,
Happy, happy, day!
Welcome back to the forum, we missed you somethin' awful!
I can't speak for anyone else here, but my experience with AfricanX has been a very good one. As many times as I've had AfricanX come up volunteer, outside the fence here, (Northeastern Oklahoma) I'd say the seeds take to freezing very well. I know that the seeds just laid on top of the ground after they were shed from the dried pods and basically fended for themselves year after year.
That being the case, I'm sure they must have frozen and thawed repeatedly. God makes some pretty resilient stuff in that regard. That's about as close to plant it and forget it as a guy can get. I've never had Heavy Hitter do that. Heavy Hitter will occasionally come up volunteer, but if left unattended, the weeds will choke it out every time. Not so with AfricanX. AfricanX fought its way to the top of the heap here and outgrew the weeds repeatedly! Plus, it's a beautiful plant, with its fushia stems, fushia veins, and vibrant green leaves, not to mention the fact that AfricanX is 100% spineless, a thing which I have never encountered before. The zero itch factor and the ornamental qualities of this breed's leaves, and its huge, sometimes, peach-colored blossoms lend this plant very well to patio and balcony production, two places where okra is not normally welcome.
I can just see myself snapping off a few pods of AfricanX from a patio container and happily brushing them with oil, to be seasoned and added to the grill. That makes me wanna fire up the grill, just thinkin' about it!
I hate to say, "I told ya so." But I told ya that I thought there would be high demand for AfricanX. I'm glad you have so many seeds this year. Maybe, they'll become more widely dispersed in years to come as a result.
Thanks, Glen! This has been a valuable contribution to the plant world; not only a plant that looks great, but tastes great as well!
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Post by glen on Dec 25, 2022 20:37:08 GMT -6
Ron, I appreciate the nice words. I can't take the entire credit for this cross though. Yes, it was not easy to get this cross to take. However, both variety's used to make this cross were and are good varieties. If they weren't than this new variety wouldn't be any good either. The Panamanian variety is a giant okra and a good producer that makes absolutely stunning looking pods. The other variety is Echo's so called African okra. Its a great okra. Echo African okra is a true African okra that is bushy and grows tall and produces like you have never seen before. AfricanX okra is taller and less bushy. You would have to try Echo African okra to see the differences. George helped me to send them seed and they indeed trialed it. I saw photo's. The trial went very well. However, apparently Echo was not impressed. AfricanX did not replace their African okra and I never heard from them again. Either way, I know AfricanX is a fine new okra variety. AfricanX okra would be an excellent okra for use by poor farmers in area's where food production is difficult outside of the USA. But so is Echo African okra.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 25, 2022 23:42:53 GMT -6
Glen,
Sometimes a variety does well, but the people who do the trials have bitten off more than they can chew, as far as manpower is concerned, and fail to follow up. I've been there before. You wouldn't believe how many places I've sent seeds to be trialed, but every once in a while, you hit the jackpot with a crew that is really on their J O B and do a really good follow-up report. Keep it up. someday you'll get traction and take off like crazy!
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Post by Tucson Grower on Jun 2, 2023 13:51:21 GMT -6
I finally have some decent success with this variety (last year I started them way too late), the plants look impressive, with nice tight clusters of reddish buds, while the plants are still young. It strongly resembles Nkruma tenten, at least while they're both still young. It seems to be staying small, for now, though I'm sure it will take off, soon. Three plants in a 15 gallon pot.
Pic from about 2 weeks ago -->
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Post by Tucson Grower on Jun 5, 2023 6:41:14 GMT -6
Updated pic -->
Presently they're growing like they are dwarfs, but I'm looking forward to their growth spurt.
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Post by Tucson Grower on Jun 12, 2023 2:10:32 GMT -6
I find it fascinating how similar AfricanX and Nkruma tenten appear to each other. And they certainly are different to every other okra I've ever grown.
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Post by hedgeapple on Jun 12, 2023 6:08:49 GMT -6
Saw a Facebook post by a gardener in Mississippi yesterday stating that AfricanX was on his list of varieties he is growing this year (one of the hundreds of people I sent seed to). Also, shipped out a late batch of seed to another person in Arkansas a few weekends ago. That request was interesting because it was from another person in the same small town I had sent seed to previously. They must really like okra there.
AfricanX is officially “out there”.
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Post by Tucson Grower on Jun 12, 2023 9:30:27 GMT -6
I should further qualify my statement about their similarity; they do not appear exactly, the same, their are differences.
A recent pic of the AfricanX -->
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