UPDATE ON PRUNED OKRA PLANTS

It has been about 5 weeks since I pruned my Okra plants. Two plants have a lot of new Okra producing stems, a couple have 3 stems, most have 2 stems, some still have 1 stem and a few stopped producing. All except the few have many pods on each stem. The two with a lot of stems will produce 18 Okra pods twice a week until frost. All in all I think we may harvest more Okra than if we had not prunned them. Only time will tell.

[estherkon]

How long can an okra keep producing fruits?

[RivetGardener]

Thanks again for the update and pruning information. I decided to do this too late, but will sure do this next year. Love okra and can't get enough to can or eat!

[munchkin]

Is there any reason why you can't prune okra back like this to encourage branching very early in the season before they start blooming?

[rosewood]

Some of mine split into 4 shoots without me doing anything. Lucky I guess. The stalk is as wide as my wrist.. Mine are about 7 feet tall. Thanks for you ideas I will try next year.

[charlescoker]

Who was the person you said okra was real bushy?

[navajopa]

Chuck: We started giving away okra to some of our friends about two weeks ago. We probably have 50 or 60 plants in the 33' row and get 70 to 80 okra a week. I picked about 35 today and gave them to our neighbor who loves them. If the grand children had been down to the river more this summer we could use all we could pick because they love them fried. Next year I will plant them at least a foot apart because when pruned they tend to shade the plant next to them which hurts production.

[ZRanger]

If you plant the okra 3 to 4 ft apart in rows 3 to 4 ft apart you will get lots of shoots without pruning it. 10 plants like this will produce like 70 plants 1 ft apart. Give it a try. Also the plants want get so tall you can't pick it easy.

[navajopa]

Paula: Pepper plants produce more if pruned so they will grow more stalks which produce peppers. We have multiple stalks on our peppers and we picked 12 red one today off 9 plants. We get less because my bride likes them to turn red. I am going to pickle them tomorrow.

[navajopa]

Chuck: I check the two with the most stems today and they are loaded with okra. Before next weekend they will give me at least 18 okra between the two plants. Plus they are easier to harvest even though there is not a lot of difference in their heights. I watched a video on this a couple of years ago and I am going to find it tomorrow and see if he had one on when he pruned them and how. Susan with imstillworkin pruned hers much earlier than I did but did not get a lot of stems. I will send info

[FensterfarmGreenhouse]

Okra out produces my needs as it is. Cutting them back would allow me to plant 1/2 the # of plants that I normally do.

[nov]

Gotta try this next year, Bernard.

I may experiment with the timing.

[GardeningWithPuppies]

That is interesting. I've heard of people pruning pepper plants, also with good results.