{"id":280,"date":"2019-09-01T02:27:28","date_gmt":"2019-09-01T02:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/?p=280"},"modified":"2019-09-01T02:28:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-01T02:28:22","slug":"growing-okra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/produce-focus\/vegetable-spotlight\/growing-okra\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing Okra"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Many people are surprised to learn that we can grow Okra right here in Michigan. I have been growing it for years and it never fails to be a point of interest during conversation. Okra is very easy to grow here, and quite prolific! We enjoy it sauteed in butter as a side dish, but I grow it primarily for our gumbo! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you should know:<\/strong> Okra doesn’t like to be kept wet, and doesn’t need to be watered very frequently. Plan to place them in an area of your garden that is on the dry side and in full sun. Add some compost to their area ahead of planting, or plan to plant in an area that a nitrogen-fixing crop grew previously (such as legumes). Soil temperature for both starting seeds and transplanting into are very important, as I will share with you in a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Okra plant<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Seed will germinate in 5-10 days, and you can soak your seeds overnight in water to help them germinate quicker. Okra likes hot weather and that is no different for the soil the seed spouts in – plan for that to be at least 75F, but warmer is preferable. My MSU Training Manual tells me it will germinate from 60-105F! That’s pretty warm. Of course, with lower temperatures it will take longer, though germination will eventually happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can direct sow the seed here in Michigan, but you will get a better harvest by giving it a head start as a transplant, and start seed indoors about 4-6 weeks before our last frost<\/strong> and plan to transplant outdoors about four weeks after our last frost.<\/strong> Direct seed about 4 weeks after our last frost also, to allow the soil to warm up and for our weather pattern to be on the warmer side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have seeded in plug trays, you will need to “pot up” your seedlings to a larger container when they are about 2-4 inches tall. This is necessary for proper root growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plant the seed 1\/2 – 1 inch deep, one per cell in a plug tray or if planting outdoors you will aim for a seed every 6 inches or so, once seeds have germinated, thin to one every 12 inches. Okra needs 55-65 days of warm weather to produce. Days to harvest are 40-70 from transplant, 80-90 days from seed. Space rows 24-36 inches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintenance:<\/strong> Okra plants will grow to a height of 2-6ft. depending on variety. When the plants are about 4 inches tall, mulch to retain water and suppress weeds. Side dress with compost every 3-4 weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvesting:<\/strong> Okra should be harvested when the pods are 2-4 inches long, generally about 5 days from flowering. If you let the pods continue to grow they will become tough and fibrous, and inedible. Pods that are not picked will cause the plant to slow down or stop producing. Pick pods every 3 days or so. While our climate won’t allow for it, okra can be picked for a year if pods are continuously removed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Use:<\/strong> Refrigerate okra after harvest. It will last about a week in the fridge. Okra freezes very well, in fact that is the only way we preserve it. You can also pickle okra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you did not use your whole seed packet, store it in a dry, cool location and use it again the next year – okra seeds are viable 4-5 years depending on storage conditions. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Okra flower<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Many people are surprised to learn that we can grow Okra right here in Michigan. I have been growing it for years and it never fails to be a point of interest during conversation. Okra is very easy to grow here, and quite prolific! We enjoy it sauteed in butter as a side dish, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions\/288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/victorygardener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}