Okra as ornamental plant

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by ireilly

http://dbtbiosafety.nic.in/guidelines/okra.pdf

From Biology of Okra, an Indian government publication - enjoy:

"Okra has perfect flowers (male and female reproductive parts in the same flower) and is self-pollinating. If okra flowers are bagged to exclude pollinators, 100% of the flowers will set seed. It has been found experimentally that there is no significant difference in fruit set under open-pollinated, self-pollinated (by bagging alone) and self-pollinated (hand pollination of bagged flowers), indicating that it is potentially a self-pollinated crop (Purewal and Randhawa, 1947). The inbreeding depression well pronounced in cross-pollinated crops has not been reported in this crop (Duranti, 1964).

Although insects are unnecessary for pollination and fertilization in case of okra, the flowers are very attractive to bees and the plants are cross-pollinated. The cross pollination upto the extent of 4-19% (Purewal and Randhawa, 1947; Choudhury and Anothai, Choomsai, 1970; Shalaby, 1972) with maximum of 42.2% (Mitidieri and Vencovsky 1974) has been reported. The extent of cross-pollination in a particular place will depend upon the cultivar, competitive flora, insect population and season, etc."

Just another proof that you have to do your research closely on the net.

I have looked at plants such as agave and bamboo and found that one place will tell you something will freeze back and one place will tell you it wont.

Daves garden is a good place to find out what will do good in your area.

I have never had okra cross pollinate even with two cultivators growing in the same garden.


Thanks for your support on this.

Worth

[pinakbet]

- deleted post -

[pinakbet]

after the typhoon.. one of my okra plant bloomed 2 flowers.. first time i experience having 2 flowers at the same time on one plant...

[franzb69]

very very nice!

[salix]

OK, Worth - you convinced me! Have seeds for Clemson Spineless on the way. Will try a couple in-ground and a couple in containers. Looks like I should start them about the same as peppers. Hope the "need-to-develop-a-taste-for-them" learning curve isn't too steep...

[Fusion_power]

I have very very good evidence that okra can and does cross pollinate in my garden. I grew Longhorn and Red River in 2009 with the plants separated by about 150 feet and my greenhouse in between. When I grew out the Longhorn seed in 2010, I got 5 variant red plants and 1 plant that produced very long pods of okra. That was out of about 300 plants grown. Now 6 plants out of 300 is only 2% crossing which is very reasonable and the variants were easy to eliminate from the seed I saved.

In 2005, I grew Cowhorn and African okra very close together. Seed from African grown the next year were clearly crossed at a rate of about 5%. It was easy to tell because the African okra is rarely over 5 feet tall yet I had individual plants that got to 10 feet which is typical of my strain of Cowhorn.

As for okra to grow, I would choose just about anything before Clemson Spineless. It is a decent okra and can be used just fine as long as you pick it before it reaches 4 inches long. I prefer okra that stays tender until at least 6 inches. Cowhorn and Evertender are good candidates.

Okra pods produce a plant regulatory hormone that tells the plant NOT to produce any more flowers. When you let an okra plant go to seed, those big pods basically tell the plant to quit trying to make more and to focus instead on maturing the seed in those big pods. The only variety that I know of that has genetics to avoid this problem is Cowhorn. This is the reason why you harvest okra until near the end of the season and then let it set pods for seed. One mature pod will not prevent flowering but you will get fewer flowers and less okra from that plant. Three to five mature pods of okra will stop most varieties from producing any more flowers.

DarJones

[salix]

Dar, thank you very much for the information. I chose the Clemson because the "blurb" indicated that it would be good for containers and we have a short/cool season. Will keep on top of the picking, and if the taste/texture can't be overcome (sorry, Worth -but we WILL give it a good try), will just share and/or pick 'em and enjoy the flowers.

[pinakbet]

Just my observation based on my limited experience,. Okras dont grow well in 5Gals container. They need much bigger containers!

[salix]

Thank you, Pinakbet. I was planning on 10 gallon pots, maybe I'll bump up to 15 gal.