Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: Improved Okras?

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: mckemie AT austinfarm.org
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Improved Okras?
  • Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 16:14:09 -0600
  • Resent-date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 16:46:56 -0600
  • Resent-from: root AT inetport.com
  • Resent-to: market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu


On Sat, Dec 08, 2001 at 01:17:12PM -0600, Jim and Julie Vaughn wrote:
> We are taking a wet, wet day to start looking at seed catalogs for next
> year. Has anyone grown the "improved" okra varieties such as Annie
> Oakley, Cajun Delight, or North and South. Is the extra production
> really there over Clemson Spineless to pay for the extra cost of seed?
> Also what is the customer response to okra that looks slightly darker and
> different from Clemson?

It's cold, rainy day here, too. I just got back from a farmers market
where I paid a $15 stall fee and brought home $32. :-(

Fellow growers have told me that Cajun Delight is worth the money; that
it produces early and more heavily than open pollinated varieties.
However, for the past five or more years I have been satisfied with
Emerald Velvet and have not tried any hybrid varieties. When I started
growing Emerald Velvet, I was told by a fellow grower that "the market
demands Clemson". I have not found that to be true, though I have had a
great deal of difficulty getting acceptance for Big 'Un.

This past season, my Emerald Velvet started producing sometime in June
and was picked daily until last week when we had a freeze. That would
be over five months of continuous harvest from one planting. Other
folks, with Cajun Delight, did not see that long a harvest period. I
don't know about overall production, on about an acre of okra, we
peaked at more than 3bu a day and were down to 1bu or less near the
end. I estimate average production to be 1.5 to 2 bu per acre per day
or a total of 200-300bu.

As soon as the okra plants get up around shoulder high, I try to start
cutting back a small portion of it with each picking. If you let it
all get to un-manageable size at the same time, you will be without
okra for weeks after you cut it back.

--
Willie Onward! Through the Fog! http://austinfarm.org/homegrown
Are YOU an html abuser? http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
Linux system uptime 45 days 9 hours 11 minutes




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page