For beginners who are starting gardening Okra a.k.a Lady's Finger is much easy to grow and it provides good level of confidence. Okra can be easily grown in hot climates. It can be grown all over the year and yield will be consistent if we maintain the plant properly. It's related to the hibiscus family, and produces beautiful flowers which are yellow in colour. Okra grows upto the height of 7 ft and hence it requires deep containers. This has a deep rooted system and could grow in big containers with capacity of 20 litres.
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| Flower of Okra |
Planting Okra
Once you have container ready, fill it with potting mix consisting of soil, sand and compost in equal proportions. Since the plant will survive for 6 months and more, its better to have good potting mix. Okra grows best in a soil with a pH level between 6.5 and 7.0. Best way is to start from seeds. Once you have seeds you can sow them (2 seeds in one container) in the container upto 0.5 in depth. Keep the containers in shade and check for moisture content in the soil regularly. After 5 days the seeds will germinate and the plant will come up.
Once the plants have started showing true leaves, you could start thinning them. Of course it will be painful process but one container could hold only one plant. Now the plants can be shifted to sunny area as it grows best in full hot sun. After a month and half, it will start flowering and will start yielding pods. Every flower will produce one pod consistently (unless infested with pests). It is better to have around 10 plants and you will get around 5-7 pods daily.
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| Two months old plant producing pods |
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| Full grown plant |
Caring Okra
Water your plants every morning to thoroughly moisten the soil. Okra can withstand a bit of drought, but it grows much better when given plenty of water throughout the summer. When you water okra, try not to get water on the leaves. When the sun starts beating down on the okra plants, the water will act as a magnifying glass and burn the okra leaves.
Add compost once in two weeks which will provide sufficient nutrients to the plant. Adding panchakavya will also help in better growth. Foliar spray of panchakavya will help in keeping the leaves healthy and provides good colour to the leaves.
Pest Control
Okra is normally resistant to pests. But watch out for aphids and mealy bugs. Check under the leaves for signs of infestations. Aphids are usually spread by ants. Control ants by sprinkling turmeric powder. Mix a teaspoon of neem oil and dish soap together well so that they form a light brown colored cream. Mix it with a liter of water and spray. You have to spray it continuously for a week.
I face major problem with mealy bugs. They feed on plant sap and will restrict the growth of plants. Watch out for mealy bugs at the bottom of leaves and also at the growing tip. If the plant is heavily infested, it is better to remove the plant or else they will easily spread to other plants. They produce honeydew, which attracts ants and encourages the growth of fungus called black mold. Presence of ants in the plants is an indication of mealy bug infestation. Ants also help to transfer mealy bugs from one plant to another.
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| After mealy bug infestation, I removed the affected leaves and buds. Now the plant had started producing. You could see the affected portion |
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| Mealy bug infested plant |
Extracting good yield
Once the plant reaches 7 ft high, it normally stops producing pods. I trimmed the main stem and left the plant. Side branches started appearing and again the plants have started producing pods. I am pleasantly surprised and tried the same with other plants and got the same result. My soil is highly enriched and also it has lots of earth worms which is supporting the plant for better growth.
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After trimming main stem, this plant produced 4 branches
and all branches producing pods |
Harvesting Okra
Once you see the first okra pods emerge and mature, you can start regularly harvesting them. Use a scissors or a hand pruner to cut the okra pods just above their caps, where their thick stems meet the branches of the plant.
Good Luck and hope this provides good amount of information in growing okra.
