okra not producing

[PawPaw gene]

This year I planted a small plot of Fife county okra, my usual variety, in rows 6 foot apart and the plants around 6 foot apart.  The plants grew well and have continued to do so, but are making very few okra. Each plant has 3 to 6 branches but instead of producing a flower at each  leaf, most of them produce another branch. Has anybody else had this problem with Fife of any other okra. To make sure I get some for the freezer I planted 3 rows at my old regular spacing. I can't go the winter without okra gumbo.
"gene"

[2010 National Champs]

a general problem in my area this year....several follks,me included are not getting the normal production of okra....who knows

[LSU2001]

Drive on over to Cut Off Gene and cut my clemson spineless.  I can't keep up with it.  All kidding aside, my okra took awhile to start producing well this year but once it started I have to cut almost every day.  If I miss a day because of the rain I have a bunch that is too big/tough to use. 
Tim

[thebayougardener]

My okra seemed to be a slow starter this year too but when I think back to other years July-August was about right for big production.  Like Tim said the rain has got me losing more okra than anything else.  If I get a bucket full of good okra I’m throwing away 3-4 buckets that have gotten too big.

Donald 

[PawPaw gene]

Well now I don't feel so bad. I guess I'm just impatient. We'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for the offer Tim but we'll hang in there.
"gene"

[sacalait]

myself also having very slow start with okra.I planting the cowhorn and the short ones get hard before they get long.WE are getting rain every day here.I've talked to others in my area some have the same problem

[PawPaw gene]

Sacalait, are you having more luck fishing. I've kinda gave it up for a while, just to much rain and lightning. I see today for the first time in a while we only have a 20 percent chance of rain. Maybe a new trend is starting. I'm ready for less rain and more fishing.

Perhaps my newly planted okra will produce better as summer comes to an end. I hope so as I wanted to put a lot of it up this year. Last year I only put up a little as I had more than enough from the year before. Stocks are running low. Hopefully the snap beans I will plant in about 3 weeks will do well as I'm a little low on those also.
Take care and keep me posted on the fishing.
"gene''

[sacalait]

my cousin caught 28 sacalait at chicot state park last wednesday but not no large ones.Too much rain and lightning lately keeping me from going on the weekends.I work during the week.

[PawPaw gene]

Thanks for the reply.
"gene"

[Davidx357]

And now my is curling at the tops, wierd year.

[Chvymn99]

Sorry to hear that.  But here in the Land of Oz, dry hot weather is making for some great Okra this year.  I'm getting 2 to 4 lbs every other day. I'm growing the clemson spineless too, dont know if that makes a difference or not.   But I'd like to know more about that rain your talking about, we did finally squeak out about .25" two nights ago.  Good luck...

[PawPaw gene]

Chvymn99, .25" is about what we get from the dew each night. I've quit counting the inches of rain. I emptied the 5 in rain gauge again yesterday, seems like it fill up every few days. I'm glad to have rain but I've had enough for now. I have mushrooms growing in my mulch and the yard is sour smelling. A nice streak of dry weather is long past due.
"gene"

[whiskydog]

A couple of overcast days will slow my okra down,  if you are getting a lot of rainy days that might be the

problem. 

[Chvymn99]

Chvymn99, .25" is about what we get from the dew each night. I've quit counting the inches of rain. I emptied the 5 in rain gauge again yesterday, seems like it fill up every few days. I'm glad to have rain but I've had enough for now. I have mushrooms growing in my mulch and the yard is sour smelling. A nice streak of dry weather is long past due.
"gene"

Heck we've only recieved like 5 inches since April. We are like almost 11 inches below normal.  Its amazing how one year will be totally different from the next.  Send up some of that Gulf of Mexico moisture up here.  But they said on the news that this year resembles the year of 1980, that it took Hurricane Allen to break our heat cycle. 

[no_string_2000]

Hey Papa Gene I'm down in Montegut and mine is just starting to produce good. I planted one row of longhorn and two rows of emrald green. My rows are a 100' long and im getting around a five gallon bucket full every two days................. 

[PawPaw gene]

Hi no_string, I hadn't noticed that you were from "down the bayou". With a little less rain this past week I'm starting to see flowers hold on to the plants and did pick enough to fry for supper. The new ones I planted are about 3 inches tall and looking good. Perhaps when the rain slackens I'll be swimming in okra which is just fine for me.
"gene"

[AdamAgain]

Posters, I concur; it does seem to be a different type year for okra.  We usually go with Velvet or Clemson Spineless, but this year I put down Cow Horn seeds (Variety is the spice of life.), about twenty plants.  I go the plenty of seeds and then thin route.  Germination was good.  Growth was good to about half knee high, and then she took the studs, just stood there.  Then we got a little shower and that woke her up, and she started growing and blooming, but not really putin’ out like I thought that she should have.

We had a wet early spring, but have been behind on moisture all summer, couldn’t even get a heavy dew.  I’d come in from a wilted garden, call up NOAA, see wide swaths of Louisiana painted red, and wonder:  Why can’t we get a little of that?  We finally got some about ten days ago.  Now, half of her is showin’ out and half of her is still a wall flower, and that’s strange in itself--a sixty foot row of okra with no discernible soil difference and one half is twice as big and puts out four times as much as the other half.  That’s why I like gardenin’, just to see what she’ll do.

[Wosiewose]

I've found okra kind of hard to grow here in Colorado (zone 5b).  Don't think it's so much the shorter season, as it is the temperature fluctuations (it'll be 96 at 3 p.m. and 57 twelve hours later).  Makes it hard on tomatoes too.

Spring came early this year so I thought I'd try setting out a few plants of Jade okra under black plastic in late April.  The plastic really helped, both keeping the soil warmer and holding in moisture (it's awful dry here all the time).  From 6 plants, we've been able to have it with dinner as a side dish (for 2) several times this season.  It's the best okra harvest I've had in years! 

Next year I want to put in at least twice as many plants, under plastic again, so we can freeze a few baggies for the winter.

[whiskydog]

Welcome to the forum Woslewose. 

Good Luck with those Okra.  sounds like a difficult environment to grow in..

[davidjrtx]

Mine was doing pretty good, got tired of picking and cut them all, they were getting kinda tall anyway...