How to grow okra

Plan the new okra plot in the months before you sow (about 1–4 months ahead), while you can still choose the ground.

Don't plant okra where okra, cotton, hibiscus or roselle grew last season. Leave 2–3 seasons before okra comes back to the same ground.

Avoid any spot that grew a stunted, wilting or sickly okra or cotton crop before — the trouble is still in that soil. Give it a long rest.

Know the two soil troubles that rotation dodges. Root-knot eelworm: knobbly swellings (galls) on the roots, with stunted, yellow, patchy plants above. Fusarium wilt: plants yellow and wilt from the bottom leaves upward, then die.

Pick a sunny, free-draining spot sheltered from strong wind — tall okra is easily rocked loose or snapped.

Plan to direct-sow — okra's taproot resents being moved, so it transplants badly. The seed goes straight where the plant will grow; there is no nursery to fall back on.

Buy in the 2–3 weeks before you sow, so everything is in hand and you can sow the moment the soil is warm.

Get fresh, good okra seed — okra seed loses its sprouting power as it ages, so old, leftover seed comes up thin and patchy.

Where yellow-vein mosaic virus (the disease that turns the leaf veins yellow and shrivels the pods) is a problem, choose a resistant or tolerant variety. This does more to save your pods than anything else you can buy.

Buy the seed rate and basal fertiliser your recommendation gives for your plot. The basal carries the crop's phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and a first share of its nitrogen (N).

Store seed and fertiliser dry, off the floor, and away from food, water and children. Keep the label and receipt in case the seed turns out poor.

In the 2–3 weeks before sowing, choose full sun (okra is a hot-weather crop) on free-draining ground, sheltered from strong wind.

Loosen the soil and break the clods down to a fine, crumbly tilth, so the small seed sits snug against moist earth.

Make sure water drains away. On heavy or low ground, sow on ridges or raised beds so the roots never sit in standing water.

Level the planting lines so water doesn't pool, and clear the weeds off them.

Use only well-rotted manure or compost — dark, crumbly, no strong smell. Fresh manure burns young roots, steals nitrogen as it rots, and carries weed seeds.

Spread it thick and even — about one heaped wheelbarrow load over every patch five strides by five strides (about 25 m², a generous 20–25 t/ha). Okra loves organic matter.

Add the basal fertiliser your recommendation gives — it carries all the crop's phosphorus and potassium and a first share of its nitrogen (the rest of the nitrogen is side-dressed later).

Work both into the topsoil with a hoe, 1–2 weeks before sowing, so the P and K settle down where the roots will reach them.

Wash your hands afterwards, and keep the fertiliser off any food, water and children.

The day before, soak the seed for 24 hours in warm water — this softens the hard coat and hurries a slow crop along.

Sow on the day, into warm, moist soil (over 18–20 °C). If the soil still feels cold to your hand in the morning, wait — cold soil rots the slow seed.

Sow about a finger-joint deep (2–4 cm) — a touch shallower in heavy, wet soil, a touch deeper in dry, sandy soil.

Space rows about half a stride apart (about 50 cm) and stations two hand-spans apart (about 40 cm) along the row.

Drop 2–3 seeds per station — you will thin to one strong plant later.

Keep the seed off the fertiliser: sow a little to the side of where the basal went in, never touching it, or it burns the sprout.

Firm the soil over the seed so it sits snug in moist earth, and keep the bed moist until the seedlings show.

Re-sow any cold, patchy gaps within a few days, while the soil is still warm, so the stand stays even.

From about 5 days after sowing, walk the rows twice a week, checking plants right across the bed — not just the edge by the path.

Count the gaps — stations where nothing came up. Okra is slow (about 6 days in warm soil, up to 27 in cold), so give it time, but re-sow clearly empty stations while the soil is still warm.

Look for flea beetles: tiny dark beetles that jump like fleas when you come near, leaving the young leaves peppered with small round 'shot-holes'. Heavy attacks on just-emerged seedlings set them right back.

Look for damping-off: seedlings that flop over and die, the stem pinched, dark and water-soaked right at the soil line, often in the wettest patches. It comes from cold, soggy, airless soil.

Check the shoot tips for early aphids — small, soft, clustered insects with a sticky, shiny coating (honeydew).

Write down what you find. Keep the bed moist but never waterlogged (damping-off loves wet feet), and act on pests at the thresholds.

Keep the topsoil moist but never waterlogged, from sowing until the seedlings are up.

Water little and often — every 2–3 days, more in heat and on sandy soil that dries fast.

Check with a finger: water when the top few centimetres are dry.

Drain any spot where water sits — standing water rots the slow seed and brings damping-off.

From about 2 weeks after sowing, walk the crop twice a week, checking plants right across the field, not just the edge.

Turn the leaves over and look on the undersides for whitefly — tiny white moth-like flies that rise in a little white cloud when you shake the plant. They are what spread the virus.

Look for yellow-vein virus: the leaf veins turn yellow and stand out in a net or mesh pattern, then the whole leaf yellows; later the pods come pale, small and hard.

Rogue any yellow-vein plant — pull it out and destroy it (burn or bury) the moment you see it, before whitefly carry the virus to its neighbours. Don't leave it standing.

Check the leaf edges for jassid (leafhopper) 'hopper burn' — margins yellow, then curl down and go brown; the small green wedge-shaped hoppers sit under the leaf and run sideways. Act at about 4–5 hoppers per plant.

Check shoot tips and leaf undersides for aphids — clusters of soft green or black insects with sticky honeydew and black sooty mould growing on it. Too much nitrogen brings them.

Write down what you find and act at the thresholds. If you must spray, cover your skin, nose and eyes, spray in the cool with the wind at your back, keep it off any pods, and wash afterwards.

Thin when the seedlings have their first true leaves, about 2 weeks after sowing (day 14–18).

Keep the single strongest seedling at each station and snip the others off at ground level with a knife or your nails.

Don't pull the extras out — pulling drags and tears the roots of the one you are keeping.

While you're there, re-sow any big gaps (if the soil is still warm and it's early) so the stand stays even.

Weed early — from about 2 weeks after sowing (day 14) — and keep the crop clean through the first month, before weeds overtake the little plants.

Hoe shallowly between and along the rows — okra roots are shallow, so deep hoeing near the plants cuts them.

Pull weeds roots and all where you can; slicing off only the tops lets many regrow.

Time a weeding just before you side-dress the nitrogen, so the feed goes to the okra and not the weeds. In dry areas, leave the pulled weeds lying between the rows as a mulch.

Apply about 3 weeks after sowing (day 18–25), once you've thinned and weeded.

Use the amount your recommendation gives — this is the first side-dressing of nitrogen; a second and final one follows at flowering.

Band it (lay it in a line) a palm's width (about 10 cm) to the side of the plants, not on top of them.

Do it on moist soil and cover or water it in, so it feeds the plant instead of gassing off into the air.

Keep it off the leaves (the grains stick and scorch them) and away from food, water and children, and wash your hands afterwards.

Water in dry spells, about every 5–7 days, enough to wet the root zone.

Let the top of the soil dry a little between waterings — deeper, less frequent watering now draws the roots down.

Still never waterlog the bed — keep it free-draining.

From about 6 weeks after sowing, check the crop twice a week. Look first at the shoot tips: a tip that suddenly wilts and droops (a 'dead-heart') has a borer caterpillar tunnelling inside.

Clip off each wilted or bored shoot below the damage and destroy it — caterpillar and all.

Check the flower buds and young pods for borer entry holes plugged with frass (sawdust-like droppings) — a caterpillar is inside and the pod is tunnelled and spoilt.

Look for bollworm caterpillars chewing larger holes in the buds, flowers and pods.

Keep turning the leaves for whitefly, and rogue (pull and destroy) any yellow-vein plants you missed earlier.

Act at the first pod or shoot damage. If you spray (for example spinosad, emamectin, or Bt — Bt is a natural bacterium that kills only caterpillars), cover up, spray in the cool with the wind behind you, keep it off open pods, wash afterwards — and mind the pre-harvest interval (the wait on the label between spraying and picking), because you'll be picking pods within days.

Apply as the first flower buds appear, about 6 weeks after sowing (day 38–45).

Use the amount your recommendation gives — this is the second and last nitrogen feed of the season.

Band it a palm's width (about 10 cm) to the side of the row, on moist soil, and cover or water it in.

Don't keep adding nitrogen once the pods are coming — the plant then lives on the soil while you pick, and extra N now just makes leaves and pulls in pests.

Keep the grains off the leaves and pods, away from food, water and children, and wash your hands afterwards.

Keep the soil evenly moist right through flowering — never let it dry out or the plants wilt.

Water about every 5–7 days, more often in heat, keeping it steady — swings from bone-dry to soaked make the buds drop.

If you can water at only one time, water now and through podding — these are the stages that pay you back.

Every few days as you pick, check the pods for borer holes — small holes plugged with frass (sawdust-like droppings), with a tunnel inside. Remove and destroy every bored pod.

Look for pod-sucking bugs on the pods — shield- or stink-type bugs whose feeding leaves sunken, discoloured spots and can twist the pods. Knock them off, or act if there are many.

Check the leaves — especially the lower, older ones — for powdery mildew: white, powdery patches like a dusting of flour or ash on the surface, spreading until the leaves yellow and dry.

Keep the crop open and airy (not crowded or weedy), and treat spreading mildew with sulphur or an approved fungicide — a resistant variety helps most of all.

Keep removing any over-mature pods and any late yellow-vein plants you spot.

If you spray for anything, cover up, spray in the cool with the wind behind you, keep it off the pods, wash afterwards — and respect the pre-harvest interval (the label wait between spraying and picking), because you are picking every 2–3 days.

Keep watering every 5–7 days through the whole podding period, more often in heat.

Don't let the plants wilt between picks — thirsty plants make small, tough, misshapen pods and set fewer of them.

Ease off only if you are leaving a final seed crop, so the last pods can ripen and dry on the plant.

Start picking from about 6–7 weeks after sowing (day 45), then pick every 2–3 days — okra waits for no one.

Pick pods young and tender, about as long as your longest finger (5–10 cm), roughly 7–8 days after the flower opened.

Cut or snap each pod off with a short stalk (a knife, or a clean twist) — don't tear the branch.

Test each pod — bend the tip. If it snaps crisply → it's tender: sell or eat it. If it bends like rubber or feels woody and hard → it's over-mature.

If it fails the snap test, pick that woody pod off and throw it away anyway (feed it to animals if you like) — one maturing pod left on the plant tells it to stop making new ones.

Wear gloves and long sleeves and pick in the cool of the morning — the pods and the whole plant are covered in fine hairs that itch and prickle the skin.

As soon as you pick, get the pods out of the sun — into shade, or a basket under a damp cloth. Heat toughens and blackens them fast.

Handle them gently — pods bruise easily, and the bruises blacken. Don't overfill or press down on sacks.

Keep them cool and a little humid (shade, a damp cloth, or an evaporative cooler if you have one).

Sell or eat them within a day or two — okra does not keep. Take them to market the same day if you can.

For seed: leave a few good pods only on healthy, virus-free plants to ripen and dry hard on the plant, then shell out the dry seed and store it dry.