I’m trialling okra in southern Finland that in general has cooler and shorter summer than Switzerland, besides the very highest altitudes, mainly skiresorts. Our average temperature for summer is around 15C although some of the recent summers have been hotter. Not quite okra weather still. First time I tried I had them with black plastic mulch and clear plastic plus cloth on top. Only opened while watering. It got really hot there and they grew well, but didn’t get any pods. At that time I thought it might have been too hot as I later read that even okra pollen can’t survive closer to 40C. Now I think it might have been that they just aren’t quite that selfpollinating as I thought. Second year I had them in greenhouse with black plastic mulch which gives them similar climate to central europe. That wasn’t hot enought to thrive, but they survived to produce some pods. At that time I wasn’t saving that much seeds so those got wasted and I was discouraged by how little they produced. I think it was that year when one immigrant had ill advised trial with no plastic mulch and protection. Those did not make it through the cool periods. This year I thought I could try again with goal of getting seeds and trying to see if I could slowly make them less heat dependant. This year they have similar set up to first time except that it’s not fully closed so temps don’t get that high, but still warmer than without if it’s sunny. I also chose kandahar pendi landrace as starting point as it has some genetic variance. First year is just seed increase and if I can get some crosses with clemson spineless, other variety I had seed for already. So far I have some pods growing in kandahar pendi that should give me plenty of seeds for pushing it next year. What I have learned over the year is that okra doesn’t like to be transplanted that much. 3 weeks transplant period is about as long I would grow them before transplanting. Since they don’t like cold you would have to plant them fairly late. Here it would be mid to late june and still it might not be hot enough without some protection. Good thing about okra is that they have fairly short livecycle. Should be around 3 months from seed to ripe seeds. As for those tomatoes and peppers, tomatoes are fairly easy here, but need to be really picky with varieties. Since your surrounded by warmer climates you might get easily varieties that don’t work as well. Try eastern european and siberian varieties. Even with those you need some selection. And don’t start them too early. Small transplants tend outperform big transplants in the long run. Peppers are bit more challenging and need even more selection for shorter season, but they don’t need as much heat as people think. Here early season with cool ground is slow, but even moderate temperatures after midsummer make them grow really well. There is still some work to be done with them, but I don’t think they are that far off. My theory is that since sweet peppers is fairly new invention (about 100years) there haven’t been that much need to breed them for cold tolerance as you could grow everything you need in a greenhouse.
Emily, thank you very much for this input! Now I feel a little stupid, because we have quite a lot of Hollyhocks in my parents garden and around the buildings. My mother loves them and we leave them be wherever possible while mowing. So there are already quite a lot established plants around. I already knew that they are edible, because I have eaten the flowers. I’ll have to look when and if the seedpods are in an edible stage. So thank you very much for this!
Hey Jesse, thank you very much for your input! I put my Okra out at the beginning of June, so it could propably fit with your dates since you are farther north. Thank you for the input concerning the transplanting! I seeded them in very deep pots but I guess they were older than you recommended, about 6 weeks when I put them out. So I guess I will modify this next year. Additionally, I can try to put them in a raised bed against the south wall of some building (haven’t yet decided where exactly). This should warm up the soil and I could even put an old window over it for more heat. I could take the window away sometimes so it can rain inside and I wouldn’t have to water that much more…Are you talking about the Kandahar pendi from EFN?
Concerning the tomatoes and the chili’s: I am working on it. I am collecting tomatoes that do well and saving seeds from them and I have some chilis I have high hopes for! This year I planted some chilis out in the garden without protection. The goal is to see how they do and save some seeds. Additionally I still have chilis in pots for the actual production. So…I am getting there, I feel.
I haven’t tried eating the seed pods yet, but I’ve eaten the leaves, and the buds of young leaves remind me a lot of okra, including the mucilaginous texture.
Laura and Jesse from the research I’ve found here the recommended soil temperature for planting okra is 18.3 degrees. The recommended growing temperature range is 23.8 degrees to 32.2 degrees. One person said that okra will halt if temps dip below 15.5 degrees. Since I’ve been watching my temperatures with my okra this year I find this to be very true. I’ve also found that I’ll have better production of pods closer to 32.2 degrees than 23.8 degrees. I can stay within these ranges where I am located but not for a long enough period to achieve much production. If you can find some way of keeping the okra at the upper end of the temperature range consistently for 6-8 weeks you should at least have a seed crop.
Laura
I direct seed my okra after soaking 24 hours, but I just checked a seed packet, and it includes instructions for starting indoors and transplanting: 1/4” (6 mm) deep, 2-3 seeds per cell, 4-5 weeks before moving out, and avoid disturbing the roots.
Re: chili, I’ve found that some of the Hungarian or Romanian paprikas are quite a bit more cold tolerant than North American selections and quite tasty to boot. I would imagine that you have access to more of these peppers in the European market that haven’t been picked up be suppliers in the US… I have a 3 year old Leutschauer plant that doesn’t really like my summer heat but produces through my mild winters (I typically get a few light frosts each year), earning continued use of the space. My mother in law (in Montana) is experimenting with growing one in a pot and bringing it onto her enclosed porch for winter to see if she can get production the second year with only 90 days from last frost to first frost.
Days I can get quite warm, but nights go down below 15C even with protection and most likely been quite often below 10C. It’s not ideal, but not much I can about it and they still seem to be doing very well. Nights have been short so cold temps are only limited time. These plants did have a cool start when it was colder than expected during trasplant period and I didn’t bother bringing them in for the night. Then they had often and longer periods under 15C with also ground getting cool in the pots, but they did much better than expected. Can’t say that growth completely stopped, but it did slow down. Otherwise they looked very good. Pods have already started to grow so I’m fairly certain I will get hundreds if not thousands of seeds since they get quite seedy. Next year I can see if I can push and have some selection done.
Glad to hear it your plants are producing pods. In my area we had a few nights in June where it 8.33 degrees, but it was much warmer during the following days. I think the plants bounce back if it gets warm during the day.
Yes, I think air temperatures are somewhat irrelevant. What matters is how they affect soil temperatures and that way roots. Mid summer cool temperatures are just short hick-up. I mean with protection I have. Without protection they okra might not be as happy.
6 weeks sounds too much. At that point they would already (like to) be at growth spurt and transplanting at that time is likely to shock. I also had trouble just keeping them alive longer. I can’t remember how old they were the first year, but I think too old and just barely made it. Some I tried growing in pack in my classed balcony that is lot warmer during nights, but for some reason they did not like they idea and rather died. I think they don’t like being confined in general. This year I started 17.5 when it looked like early summer, but that got postponed and I think I planted them in shelter around 12.6. I was thinking 2-3 weeks transplant period, but little longer didn’t matter when cool kept the growth down. I used 6cm pot that was just right for that size. At first it looked like growth was little slow after transplanting, but then they got going and flowered just before 2 months from sowing. Now they are about 70cm and my shelter is getting little growded. Kandahar pendi I got from Ireland so I don’t have to deal with outside EU regulations.
Hibiscus moscheutos grows wild in my area.
It’s a perennial herb. I’ve found this population that I’m planning to harvest seeds from. I also have permission from a neighbor to take a live start and some seeds from hers, which is a little different than the wild ones.
I haven’t eaten any of this myself but research suggests its culinary uses are similar to other members of the genus. These photos are of the wild population. The leaves, flowers, and seed pods are larger than rows of Sharon.
Has anyone read The Whole Okra, a Seed to Stem Celebration? It’s still on my to-read list.
I have and I love it.
Well reading how big your Okra is, you have to be right about it. I just thought transplanting would work since I chose very deep pots (about 20 cm) but it seems that that wasn’t enough.
I don’t know if my soil ever gets that warm. I guess I will let Okra be and maybe try again if I have more time to baby it.
Concerning the Hollyhock as Okra substitution: the seedpods have 2 fuzzy hulls and inside are the seeds in a kind of ring. If they are very young (individual seeds barely distinguish-able) they are tender, mucilagous and I like the taste. When they get older they are still tasty, but get fibrous. So the pods are no replacement for Okra pods, since with Hollyhocks, one can only eat yhe immature seeds, but I definitely like it and can imagine that the dehulled pods could be a tasty addition to a curry, for example.
Some of the okra is finally starting to produce. Some of it is being ate by ants. I am a first time okra grower, and this surprises me. I will definitely not save seeds from okra with ant damage. We have so many ants over here; I can’t compete with them.
One plant that I took an individual picture of was my first producer. It’s also produced heavier than the rest. I am showing favoritism here for sure.
What variety is in the bottom picture?
I have no idea. It’s very oily to the touch. It might come from the ultracross okra I got from EFN.
Also interested in that variety!
It looks like I will get plenty of seeds to share. It’s a champ! I do need to give a disclaimer in that I believe it was the only one flowering in the beginning so there’s a chance that some of the pods had no choice but to breed with itself. Some of the later pods might have crossed. It has the ability to flower in 100 degree plus weather! The ants are not bothering this one either.