Can I just pull up the plants and hang them to dry if my pods are still green before frost? They’re very hard, but the plants still keep growing despite me not picking them for 2 months now, should I lop off the top to give it a hint? We’re at least 2 weeks away from our first frost.
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I haven’t had experience with getting seeds in before it frosts, I’m in a growing zone that really doesn’t get frost. However, the seed really needs to mature on the plant to where the pods start to come apart at the seems. Are you getting a real hard frost or a mild one? Maybe if it’s mild you could cover them instead. Are you just getting one night of frost or several in a row? Maybe just one frost will kill back the leaves…so your idea of clipping them off should help mature the pods.
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My thought process was it helps with corn and beans if you pull up the whole plant by the roots, so maybe I’ll get more mature seed that way. It’s likely going to be several consecutive light frosts before we get a final warm stretch and then hard freezes. Our first frost is looking to be at least another 2 weeks late so it’s up in the air when that actually will be.
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Oops, I ment clipping off the growth spike of leaves, not clipping pods off the main stem. The longer those seed pods are on the stem, the better chance you have of getting mature seed. Maybe do both, pull some up and leave a few to see what happens. Maybe the cold weather could shock the plants to maturing the seed too.
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If you pull the plants let us know if it works.
@Kimzy I’ve left pods on through cool temps and light frosts. In my experience the plants just slow down all growth and the pods/seeds almost never develop right.
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Because okra has been my best performing and lowest maintenance crop I went heavy on okra this year and I’m planning even more for next year.
I should have until around mid November before average frost so I still expect to add more.
Here are the 2025 okra seeds so far.
The jar is a mix of everything from spring and the first half of summer. After I filled it I started separating seed from certain plants.
The plate in the background is from the A. caillei plant, I still have three large pods on that plant that will be ready to add soon.
The plate in the foreground is the mixed seed from the second half of summer and fall.
Seed from the plant with really fat pods that are stuffed with seed.
Seed from the plant with giant pods. This plant is extremely productive!
This plate is the seed that I’ll be sending in for GTS, a little bit of everything.
I also have a couple plants that have interesting fruits but they are taking all year to ripen. I will probably not include seed from those plants in the GTS mix.
I will also be experimenting with cuttings from selected plants to grow in a greenhouse over winter and then plant out next year.
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Nice seed harvest!
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Uh oh! Areas of frost in the forecast here in 8b. And, plenty of rain. Ugh! None of the pods are dry, yet. My questions for the group… 1) Can I harvest stalks without roots for less mess in the greenhouse? But still gain some advantage from pods drying on the stalk? 2) Will mice eat through the pods and get at the seed?
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Last year I have had rodents bite into a young/soft pod of one red variety but they did not go any further than a taste. I’ve never had them mess with more mature/dried pods or seeds.
Currently about half my plants are top heavy, bent over, with pods touching the ground and they have gone untouched under heavy rodent pressure.
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Everyone is wondering about the same issue with the frost while trying to get seed. My only experience has been without frost and that the pods had to mature on the plants without pulling them up. The pods had to start splitting at the seems and be dry and turn brown. Did you have any early pods mature with seed? You will likely have to experiment and cut some, pull some, and leave some. But if you were able to harvest any early seeds, those would be the best, for a shorter season. Your patch of okra looks healthy. It looks like it produced lots of pods..
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I’ve had a similar experience with rodents, they don’t seem to like the seeds. However, I’ve had wild finches and doves eat the seeds from the pods.
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That super tall one in the center of the patch is cool. Any idea how tall it is?
I read something the other day about the world record being 16ft.
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I’m guessing our tallest stalk is about 7’. Most seem to be around 5’ - 6’ tall. I was able to harvest half a dozen plants with the entire root (it wasn’t that messy 
). If there was a slight frost it didn’t seem to impact the rest of the plants. So, there’s still 50 or so plants in the ground. We’re supposedly going to have a long stretch of more mild nights. Maybe I’ll try topping plants with new buds like somebody mentioned!
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Hoping you get some seed.
As a reminder if you get seed to send into GTS its due by November 22, 2025. Thank you for growing okra and saving seeds. Be sure to save some seeds for your garden again too.
Here is the link
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My wife got a video of a squirrel sitting on the neighbors fence eating a green okra.
I assumed it was mice or rats that always ‘taste’ my okra. Usually it was only a nibble, almost always a red pod type. So I was surprised to see a squirrel eating a whole green pod.
Seems to be very weather/season dependant. I never see any signs of damage until cooler weather in late fall.
We just had our first real dip in temps last night (down to 34°f) and I’m thinking that probably triggers them to start seeking out more variety of food sources.
It’s not due to a lack of food, there’s plenty of acorns and pecans around.
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Interesting how they like red pods over the green pods.
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My final 2025 Okra seed harvest (not including what I sent to GTS, which was about half the big jar!)
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Nice seed harvest.
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