What varieties of okra are you planting this year 2023?

As of now I’m going with Clemson Spineless, Heavy Hitter, and Go Big. I have planted Clemson Spineless several times and it has always performed well and I suspect it is what most people are planting. I have never planted Heavy Hitter and I’m looking forward to seeing if it performs as well as its reviews indicate that it will. Last on my list is my spur of the moment variety Go Big. I haven’t seen any reports on it other than what is on the seed packet. Do you have a favorite variety?

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I have seed of about 30 varieties in the freezer. I will wind up growing 3 or 4 of them mostly to produce fresh seed. Be sure to space Heavy Hitter about 5 feet apart. The plants get huge.

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I’ve got burmese and Cajun jewel along with Clemson spineless, was hoping to try a fourth this year as I’ve got a whole bed just for okra and friends, set up. I like really strong flavor in smaller pods, I season and roast it until it’s crunchy and am always looking for that sharp flavor. watching this thread to see what everyone tries

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I’ve settled on “Texas Hill Country” as my standard okra here. Started saving seeds a couple of years ago, and am trying to select for increased production—though it’s pretty productive here as is. We prefer the plump okras—and this one has the added benefit of keeping better in refrigeration than other varieties.

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I just do Clemson spineless, taste good and very productive I stopped trying others

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Every variety of okra I’ve grown had flaws of one type or another. Cowhorn is superb but gets too tall. Lee is productive but gets tough too fast. The same is true of most others. If you really want to get serious growing okra, Heavy Hitter, Jing Orange, and Granny Franklin are worth growing. I could name half a dozen more that are good to very good, however, they would not be significantly better than Clemson Spineless.

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Going back to Burmese. It has a much better picking window and is still tasty at 7-8 inches. I also find some of the reds like Jing do not have the full sweet okra flavor, whereas Burmese tastes really good to me.

However, my area doesn’t have the summer heat for okra to take off (a lot of 80 degree summer days and 60 for lows). They always seem to runt out compared to when I was growing them in an urban heat island in Washington D.C. Going to grow them in dark Earthboxes this year to see if higher soil temperature will encourage growth.

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it gets up to 100+here all of August, usually that’s when I get my good okra. I have high hopes for the Burmese

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I have some red okra that stay supple even when they get big. Great for cooking or eating raw. It’s a heavy and solid producer. If the plants gets too tall you can cut it back and it’ll bounce right back. It may have been a named variety, but probably is a bit muddled. It has lost some of its red, though I’m going to start breeding it back. The seeds also stay good forever. Want some?

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Again this year clemson spineless and jambalaya. I will start jambalaya in my first planting… it is quick to start producing and does not get too tall to pick.

Then will plant clemson spineless. They both work great for me… need to pick them every other day at least or you will be tossing some really big ones in the compost pile.

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yes I do want some if you’re asking me. those sound incredible

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Okra seed will germinate for up to 10 years if properly stored. This means super dry, in a sealed container in a freezer. I’ve grown out 10 year old okra seed and gotten about 5% germination. It was to bring a variety back into circulation. I only needed the 20 or so plants that showed up.

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A couple of years ago I planted Baby Bubba Hybrid (Burpee) which I liked. As the name implies it’s a dwarf. If I could find the seeds, I would plant it again. Clemson Spineless gets too tall for my liking.

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Lee is an okra variety developed specifically to restrict growth below 6 feet. Most plants reach 4 to 5 feet. Burmese is a variety that tops out between 3 and 5 feet tall. I have no idea why anyone would grow Clemson Spineless. There are too many other varieties with better overall performance and better culinary traits.

Here are a few worth digging around to find. Gold Coast, Lee, Jing Orange, Granny Franklin, Perkins Long Pod, Evertender, and Cowhorn. Burmese is a good variety but does not maintain production as long as I like. Otherwise, it is a very good okra variety.

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I’ve done a lot of planting the last couple days which included Emerald okra. Was wondering if anyone here has tried before and what were your impressions of it? @Fusion_power any comments?

We have Clemson Spineless seed but wanted to try something different. From what I’ve read Emerald can grow up to 7ft in some cases.

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IIRC, Emerald correct name is Emerald Green Velvet. I grew it several years ago. It is a decent okra for frying, better than Clemson Spineless. Every variety of okra has one or more flaws, it is a relatively small pod and gets tough a bit too soon.

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my Burmese seeds are the first to make an appearance. it’s just now reliably over 50F every night. next week or so I’ll lay in more seed of other varieties. I’ve got a few of each in the ground but I could eat okra every day so I’ll want more plants.

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