I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to help these little okra plants. I have a greenish thumb and usually keep herbs around all year and have dabbled in some veggies like spicy peppers and tomatoes, but these feel like slow starters.
We planted them about a month ago, maybe a little longer, from seeds (germinated inside) and they are about 8-10 in tall. I applied nitrogen fertilizer (fish paste) after planting in hopes of getting them off to a hot start by growing larger, which might have been mistake #1.
I also left each set together, which I'm wondering now if that was mistake #2. Should I pick a 'leader' in each group? Any tips would be appreciated.
by FlexibleDemeenor
8 Comments
i think their flowers look pretty
Mine grew to be huge. Like 5 foot tall. They have massive roots too.
Personally, I would only have 1 plant in that pot.
First of all, that barrel is barely big enough for one okra plant (unless there is a dwarf variety I am not aware of). My okra are towering over my 6ft privacy fence by the end of the season. They’re slow to start this early, but they’re going to take off when it gets hot. So I’d say 1) more space and 2) wait! I have never fertilized mine at all and, well… see below!
Okra are in the hibiscus family and the flowers are gorgeous. That being said, I no longer grow it because ai simply can’t keep up. I narrowed it down to one plant and still couldn’t eat enough okra.
Okra gets huge. Plan on picking every day. Pick at 3 inches….they will grow an inch a day! I had too many plants last year. Concentrating on onions and tomatoes this year. Enjoy!
https://preview.redd.it/fcqcmhckhfyg1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e2ac1d14e47d0ea85839540219849569d52570d
Definitely need to thin that out, I would say 1 plant for that whole pot.
Those look about like mine, which I also planted roughly a month ago. NE Texas. Okra tends to start slow if the weather isn’t warm yet. That was the case here; we had quite a few chilly nights. I knew that I had jumped the gun, and am not surprised at the slow start. It will kick in soon. I could be mistaken, but I don’t think it will matter in the end. It gets so strong and prolific that it eventually drowns me in okra year after year. For now, I’m just being patient.
Agree with the others on one plant per pot, maybe you can get away with two. Yours look a little leggy but are in decent shape. I think mostly it’s slow to get going because of weather – I assume where you are it’s not consistently warm yet, and okra seems to like super hot weather in my experience