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Okra Disaster
Mr BB
Posts: 21
in Fruit & veg
Hi all,
Having some great weather in Cambs and the garden is looking great...apart from the okra!! A new venture this year and having had more than one attempt the following happens everytime!
Strong germination 
Seedling develop nicely
Pot on at about 2 inches
Continued strong growth with new leaves forming
Reaches about 6 inches and growth stops...
Then leaves turn yellow, dry up and die 
I've tried inside, outside, soil changes...just cant seem to crack it!
Has anyone any experience with okra? If so, please provide a silver bullet with which i can either solve the okra conundrum or out myself out of my misery.
Thanks
BB
0
Posts
Similar experiences to you, Mr BB, what varieties have you tried?
I get plants to a certain size, lower leaves seem to die and drop off, and plant fails to thrive. I did have a small number of small pods last year with 'Cajun Delight', but frustrating not to be able to get the plants bigger and more productive.
This year I've got a couple of 'Red Burgundy' growing, and one of the plants is a foot tall and small pods are forming, but same problem with lower leaf drop.
Already got my seeds for next year, 'Clemsons Spineless', so I haven't given up yet.
Most years i trr something new. Last year was cucamelons and yard long beans. Waste of time. Some things just do not do well in a british environment.
I've also tried growing this more than once in a greenhouse, but then finally gave up when I realised the main okra growing areas are India and West Africa!
Check out the Worldwide okra production map on
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okra
It also needs a really long hot season as it can reach 2 metres tall - I think mine got to 30cms!
I had more success with apricots. One decent crop in 20 years. I chopped the tree down.