[etrade92]

no need to pull the leaves. okra plants prune their bottom leaves naturally.
jack

Reason I asked, is I visited a commercial Okra operation last year and they had acres of okra stalks with not a leaf in sight. lol

I was told it puts more energy to the fruit and makes mass picking easier.

 

[jack2]

yea, if you're a commercial grower, that makes sense. but, if your just gardening, you really can't keep up with the amount of okra you'll produce. cut it daily, store it in the fridge, and use it when you get enough.
jack

 

[69Viking]

not as good as fried in bacon grease by a long shot but i cut , salt and lightly cover with the oil then roll it in the corn meal and into a basket before the Emeril Lagasse air fryer . can not say it is that great and is a little hard but i am trying to eat healthy . cooking it in a pan taste better

If it's hard you probably let the Okra grow too long, one thing we've learned is not to let them get over about 3 inches, when we do they get hard! Good grief, that statement sounds like sex talk LOL!

 

[jack2]

since some of you are just starting out with okra, here are some hints that you might already know but are very important. use fertilizer with the numbers like 5-10-15 when planting (high n is bad) in about 60 days the blooms will form and you should start using high nitrogen fertilizer like trip13. harvest must be every 1-2 days depending on the quality you want. mature pods will soak up all of the energy and very few new pods will form.
jack

 

[jwilson1978]

since some of you are just starting out with okra, here are some hints that you might already know but are very important. use fertilizer with the numbers like 5-10-15 when planting (high n is bad) in about 60 days the blooms will form and you should start using high nitrogen fertilizer like trip13. harvest must be every 1-2 days depending on the quality you want. mature pods will soak up all of the energy and very few new pods will form.
jack

I was told to cut the "sucker leaf" out from under pod when picked. This help or hurt in your opinion?

 

[jack2]

I was told to cut the "sucker leaf" out from under pod when picked. This help or hurt in your opinion?

i think this is what they call topdressing or cropping (i'll have to look that up) it doesn't matter about any leaves below the developing pods but they say to not cut any leaves above the blooms or developing pods.
jack

 

[69Viking]

How's everyone's garden doing? Looks like we're in a bit of a drought. I'm relying on sprinklers to water mine about 30 minutes a day early in the morning right now.

 

[etrade92]

We are starting to pick. Yes we are running a deficit on rain fall, but its better than last year which was too much rain and drowned our garden.

 

[lettheairout]

I'll post pics later. My maters are looking good. They got another dose of fert. On Sunday. Got tons of blooms and a handful of tomatoes growing

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[jack2]

i've noticed over the years that zone 8b (you guys zone) matures about 2 weeks before zone 8a (mid to south ala)
i'll be picking english peas in a week or two. tomatoes are really blooming (bush early girl). everything else is just taking off and doing well. aphids are starting to show up. i use a tbs. of dish soap with a quart of water to control these. i try not to use anything toxic to honey bees.
jack

 

[lettheairout]

Finally took a few pictures. 8 tomatoes and 1 bell pepper. And a strawberry plant that has been hanging on in the pot for a few years.

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[jack2]

i'm tellin ya those are some healthy tomato plants. are they blooming? variety?
jack

 

[jack2]

oh, and cut those bottom leaves off so the plant won't get diseases from damp soil.
jack

 

[lettheairout]

i'm tellin ya those are some healthy tomato plants. are they blooming? variety?
jack

So I've got 1 sweet 100 cherry tomato. 3 early girl, 3 better boy. 1 of those is better bush, daughter picked a Cherokee purple, and last is a bush Goliath. Yes the are loaded with blooms and each plant has fruit hanging. Except 1 plant that was way smaller then the rest. Kinda my Charlie brown plant. Yes I gotta do some pruning tomorrow. As long as we are getting plenty of wind like we have they will stay on the pallet to keep my dog from grabbing tomato each time she's goes by. Otherwise they will get spaced out for better air circulation

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[jack2]

i wanted some cherry but they were just transplanting a new batch at the nursery. better girl bush and whopper this year. stakes gonna go on next week.
jack

 

[lettheairout]

Next season I'm going back to stakes and getting rid of my baskets. They grew much better that way. When my wife grandad was still alive we planted a much larger garden. Ususlly had 100 tomatoe plants. We would use 2 pieces of telephone pole. 1 at each end. Had a big panel of the red top fence. Plant the plants close and would just keep tying off to the fence. Worked great. We put a soaker hose down the length of fence to keep the water off the plants. Behind all that we had at least 12 rows 50ft long of zipper peas. Then a smathering of other stuff mixed around. I gotta get back to planting like that.

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[69Viking]

Well with as dry as it has been and as dry as the forecast in I decided to upgrade my sprinkler system to make it easier to fertilize the majority of my container garden! So far I've been just been hand fertilizing with a Miracle Grow dispenser attached to the hose but wanted something to easier to apply on a regular basis. When I get my own place again and not renting I think I'll get the larger one to connect to my sprinkler system.

https://www.amazon.com/Chapin-Inter...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

https://www.amazon.com/Chapin-Inter...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[stevenattsu]

I found a snake around my okra plants today. Can anyone ID?

 

[H2OMARK]

I think that may be one of those weed snakes....

 

[jack2]

red diamond rattlesnake
you feed your okra too much nitrogen.
jack