Oh this is this interesting. You climate is much more similar to mine and encouraging to see fruit on one of your plants even though it looks pretty small.
I have always failed until now (maybe 5/6 years) with okra because I sowed very early and in a potâŠeverything remained dwarf and survived without producing.
This year sowing is very late and direct and it grows well 
. I waited for the ground to be at more than 20°C which is late in my life because of the clay that stays cold for a long time.
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Seems okra really prefers direct sow.
Thatâs how I have aways planted, and Iâve planted as soon as there is no more risk of frost and just let the seeds germinate as they want.
I have found planting earlier results in slow germination and very slow initial growth but later those plants are better established and put on faster growth compared to plants that were planted later.
My theory is that in the cooler temps when they are small and donât appear to be growing they are actually putting down a lot of root growth which gives them an advantage later.
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it seems is right, because here it grows but I need to water unlike some cultivator here who say that the gombo grow without water.
I do few watering but in quantity to force them to quickly lower the roots
That is interesting. Is it a variety you are growing or a mix?
Okraâs taproot is the main root that grows straight down, often reaching depths of several feet. This root is crucial for the plantâs stability and for seeking out water and nutrients from deep within the soil, which is why okra is so heat and drought-tolerant.
Okra doesnât transplant well when the taproot is damaged during transplanting and the plants will struggle which is why many Okra growers recommend direct seeding in place where they are to grow.
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itâs a big grex !
and as soon as I stop watering after 4/5 days of hot chills, the leaves drop and turn yellow and growth stops⊠so I water
I sowed in June and lost half of the plants during 2 days of absence without watering.
I admit to being a bit surprised by this dependence on water when it is a reputed resilient culture.
Is this the fault of the clay that becomes very hard as it dries and prevents the roots from descending?
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That does sound odd. Iâm currently in a relatively sandy place, but spent several years in a notorious clay formation, and Iâm pretty sure JinTX is in that same clay. When you water, are you watering slowly enough that the water soaks in, or is most of it running off? Also, when you plant, is the soil moist several inches deep, or only on top? Iâm not sure where your rainy season and warm season fall in the year.
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I tried little patch (more like spot) sowed where I had squash and corn. Black biofilm and cloth for 10 days, but canât have been very warm ground. They (2 plants) took 10 days to emerge instead of 5 under clear plastic. What is surprising is that both survived june when there were many days with highs of 15C. I later culled the other to give one better space to grow. It has grew quite well during hotter weather, although itâs unlikely to make anything. That I knew when I sowed them, but it was fun seeing that they are much more cold tolerant than I expected. If you like I can send you some of the same seeds to play with.
Might be that transplants are just less cold hardy and itâs the shock that kills them if they are transplanted too early.
That hasnât been my experience, and I am in very heavy clay. Also working with a very diverse mix.
I put my seeds in and the only water they ever receive is rain which is mostly in spring. So mine normally go through the highest temps with least water, they will drop some lower leaves but they keep producing until frost.
I water large quantities but infrequently to bring the water gently in depth and encourage the roots to descend.
I think we have simply reached a historic droughtâŠ26mm 1.02 inch of rain since the beginning of June and temperatures at 3/4 between 30 and 40°c and 1/4 between 25°c and 30°c; with some cold nights sometimes. A lot of wind too.
you can see my seedlings sown in June. On the first plant photographed just now, the leaves are starting to wither slightly as I did a watering yesterday⊠but the soil has already dried.
the beans must pump a large part of the water certainly but in exchange for some nitrogenous nutrients and shelter from the wind and sun for a few hours.
@JesseI if you manage to get seeds from your plants and me too we can do a seed exchange this winter to integrate into our grex. 
I have still seeds from last year to spare, at least if and when I get seeds from this years. Still not sure how much I will get from this years, but I think some of the seeds are better used in some more southern location where itâs still possible to sow earlish to have some selection for cool ground, but still have long season to almost certainly get some seeds. Here it feels, like with anything that Iâm pushing, that just when they start to flower early enough itâs only a few days and it feels like days are running out. Lately itâs been just over 20C and already they donât seem to like to open flowers fully.
Finally got the first dried pod of the plant with bigger pods. Here is a side by side of one of the giant pods next to a regular/average podâŠ
I think I am going to save the seeds from this plant separately so I can be sure to include them with each future planting.
This is some of the different variety of okra Iâm getting this year.
I have one plant producing pods like the 3rd and 4th down in the photo. These are cylindrical, no ridges, and they are very fibrous when dried unlike any other okra pod Iâve seen. Has anyone else grown any like this?
I also have a few white pod plants, which I assume are the âwhite velvetâ variety.
And I have one plant making these super fat, stubby pods:
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The last photo on the thread is likely a cross from Abelmoschus caillei. The wider epicalyx is the easiest tell. Worth keeping an eye on that one (the interspecies hybrid is often sterile because if different ploidy of the parents).
Whatâs the parentage?
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My seed mix includes seed from the âultracrossâ mix, so thereâs a good chance it could have come from your own.
I will definitely keep an eye on that plant and Iâll separate any seeds for future plantings.
Those pods are taking much longer to mature than any other plants. They also have amazing coloring showing some shades of blue mixed with the green/purple/red.
Here is a photo of one of the fibrous pods opened up.
The outside is hairy/velvety, no prickles at all. They are difficult to get open (compared to normal okra pods).
The insides are kind of like layered fibers, outside peels like and feels like corn husk but inside is a harder more brittle feel and breaks similar to the feel of a dried sunflower stalk.
I have two plants of my 8 or 9 planted in shade that are producing reliably, and look to be the same variety.
This is my first year growing okra, and itâs delicious Iâve found sautĂ©ed with squash in oil, salt and pepper.
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Hm, probably has something to do with your soil, or okraâs neighbours or sth else. I have 10 okra plants that I watered occasionally because they were in direct sun. And then I have some that stayed in the grass, growing more slowly but I didnât water them during the heatwave, and they are the first to produce pods. On both locations plants are quite small, maybe 20 cm max, but they are producing. I also have clay soil, but maybe a little bit more sand in it than usual.
I kind of forgot about them, but in my experience they will continue producing even in colder temperatures, until frosts arrive, so I just let them exist until I notice pods started drying and seeds are mature. This generations of seeds will be really hardy 
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