Growing & Harvesting Okra: How Many Okra Pods Per PLANT?

Okra is amazing, especially when its many pods are cut up, battered, and fried.

Okra in all of its golden delicious and tender glory is also one of the easiest plants to grow on our farm.
It’s one of the most prolific too,
I begin to dislike okra pods as the season comes to a close, to be honest!

Once you’ve eaten pounds and pounds and pounds of even the most delicious food, you just begin to want for something else.

If you are obsessed with okra, you might be tempted to go a bit overboard with the planting.
After all, what harm could come from having extra plants?

DO NOT DO THIS.
For the love of everything,DO NOT underestimate the production of a single okra plant, especially if you grow this spineless variety!
You think I’m kidding?
Go ahead and plant some extra and when you’re standing in your kitchen crying because you have three bags full of okra sitting there,piling up, and your freezer is full of those (once-delicious-but-now-you’re-sick-of-them) heavenly little golden nuggets?
You’ll learn the very same lesson that I learned.

Or maybe it’s because I’m in warm & sunny area,where the okra plants don’t fool around when the sun comes out to play.

With all play aside, let’s see just how much okra YOU could expect from YOUR farmyard.

And if you have a few minutes to spare and are interested in another extremely prolific veggie for your farmyard,

How Many Pods Will One Okra Plant Produce Per Day?

Once the season ramps up and you’re beginning to see flowers appearing(big, beautiful, landscaping-worthy flowers!),you know the okra is close behind. Once the plants have put out several flowers, you should begin to see the development of several pods on each plant. and it will continue to flower as well.

These plants will grow over 8 feet tall, and they can put out a lot of food!

At first, the harvest can be kind of slow until the plants are all producing in unison.Don’t be discouraged, they will become harassive soon enough.
You will probably pick your plants once every two days, sometimes once per day if you live in a hot area(boy, let me tell you, okra plants thrive in heat just like peppers do!).

You can expect between 1 and 4 pods per plant every 2 days, making it roughly 1 to 2 pods per day. If you have 200 plants,you could be picking between 200 and 400 pods per day, I pick mine on the larger side,
Now you must remember my plants thrive in loamy soil, they get lots of sun, really hot temperatures, and adequate rainfall.
They also have MONTHS of productivity after maturing.

How Many Okra Pods Will One Okra Plant Produce In Its Lifetime, Or During the Growing Season?

Okra reaches maturity in 50 to 65 days.
If you plant your Okra on May 1st, you could expect pods to appear close to harvest around July 5th or earlier.

We’ll be generous and say that we have exactly 3 months or twelve weeks of mature okra plants producing pods for us.
Even on the very low end of the spectrum, a pod per day, that’s a whopping 84 pods.
Don’t quote me on this,

If we estimate our okra harvest based upon an average plant, at 3 pods every two days,we ought to get roughly 126 pods.

If you venture into the behemoth producers like I’ve dealt with.
With up to 4 pods or more every 2 days We’re looking at 168 pods,

So, as you could see, regardless of where your okra plants fall on the spectrum, in a warm gardening zone measly plants could produce between 59 and 117 POUNDS of OKRA!

If you live in a cooler gardening zone, we’ll cut it back to 1/3 of my estimates, in favor of a very short growing season, so between roughly 20 and 40 of okra across ten plants.
That’s a lot of food in a very small space, but that’s due to the fact that these monstrous plants look like small trees. They are gorgeous and breath taking, even if the backyard becomes a small forest for your family.

How to Increase Okra Pod Production

If you want to truly maximize the amount of okra your plants produce, lop off their tops when they hit 3 feet in height. When you do this, you’re pruning them, encouraging them to branch out.

Okra grows along the main stem, and by cutting the stem,it is forced to branch out into several pod-producing limbs.
You should always be prepared to fertilize your okra properly with the right organic fertilizers as well.

Once blooms begin to appear after their frantic growth, top them up with a bit of organic fertilizer or compost.

If you prune them fertilize them when they’re pruned. This will support the intensive growth of new branches and foliage.

Always pick pods when they reach 4cm in length! By keeping the pods picked, you encourage production. because they grow incredibly fast here! If pods are left to mature, production will slow down because the plant is no longer being preyed upon.
It grows pods to protect its seeds,
ensuring that the next generation has a shot at survival
when you stop picking, the plant has essentially won, and served its purpose

How to grow okra or lady's finger?

Before stepping into this, let us make it clear that there are different varieties of lady’s finger, that can be grown. Meanwhile lady’s fingers are called using different names all over the world. Some of them are (that I came across)

*.Okra
*.Gumb
*.Bhindi in hindi
*.Vendakkai in tamil.

If you are a newbie in gardening, starting this summer, then growing lady’s finger is the right choice.

HOW TO START?

TEMPERATURE
Okra loves warm climate. Ideal temperature is 70F in daytime and 60F in nights. Summers are the best time for growing lady’s finger.

PLANT OKRA IN WARM CLIMATE

SOIL
For growing lady’s finger, a well draining soil must be used. Usually, the plant grows faster and healthy in a well draining soil.

HEALTHY OKRA PLANTS WITH RICH SOIL

FERTILIZERS / MANURES
Natural / organic manures can be added initially at the time of soil preparation. Instant manures or fertilizers Can be added after the plants shoot shows up.

SOWING SEEDS
Lady’s finger should be “directly”sown. If you prefer transplanting, if planting before the last frost date, make sure you are giving more attention to the “fragile” tap root.

Or if you are directly sowing the seeds in the pots / containers, consider sowing seeds at a depth of ½ inch and 12 inches apart from each plant.
IF THE POT IS SMALL – 1 PLANT
IN CASE IF THE POT HAS GOOD SPACE – GO FOR 2 PLANTS

If you are using grow bags, then plant 2-3 seeds per bag with enough space.

WATERING
Lady’s finger can withstand drought. But providing enough water in summers, the plant to grow faster and healthier. Water the plant in the mornings, to avoid pests.

WATERING OKRA PLANTS REGULARLY = FAST GROWTH

GERMINATION
Lady’s finger germinates and starts showing up in 2-3 weeks. If you see any weeds, clear it. At this stage, it needs good nutrients and warm climate. So water the plants daily.

GERMINATION OF LADY’S FINGER
2 weeks after germination, it is the best time to give, manures / fertilizers that enhances the growth of the plants.
2 WEEKS AFTER GERMINATION
This is the best time to provide fertiliser and manure. Keep adding nutrients to the plant at regular intervals to get healthier growth of okra.

FLOWER BUDS & POLLINATION
The flower buds of lady’s finger starts to appear in the 3rd to 4th week after germination.
The buds blooms so beautifully. Okra flowers are half-white or pale yellow with reddish core, so attractive.

These okra flowers are“self – pollinating”and we need not pollinate manually.

FLOWERS SET FOR BUDS
PRUNING
Pruning okra always makes the plant to grow faster. Okra grows up to 6-10 feet high. In that case, to make harvest easier, we shall prune them.
LADY’S FINGER CAN GROW UP TO 10 FT

STAGES OF PODS GROWING
These are the stages of okra growing from flower to pods. A quick glance!
OKRA FLOWER
FLOWER SET TO POD
POD FORMATION
GROWING POD
OKRA PODS – HARVEST
Okra pods starts to appear 3-6 days after the flowers appear. Wait for the tender lady’s finger to grow 2-4 inches and then start harvesting.

PODS OF LADY’S FINGER
Harvest these pods daily based on their growth. Okra pods are ready for harvest in 2-3 days. If you let the pod to mature, their skin thickens and becomes unable to eat. Okra tastes good when they are tender.

PODS READY FOR HARVESTING
If you missed any pods to harvest in their tender stage, dont worry! Instead save the pods for saving seeds. Generally speaking a lady’s finger plant can provide more yield in summers than winters.

FRESH HOME-GROWN OKRA
The best way to pick okra pods is to wait for 2-3 days after the pods appear. Or try to break the last or tail part of lady’s finger. If it breaks easily then, it is tender!

DISEASE & PESTS
The common pests that I saw across my lady’s finger plants are aphids and ants.
ANTS IN OKRA PLANT
I used neem oil cake to protect my affected plants. It worked pretty well. You can also use neem oil or any measures you prefer.

WATERING OKRA PLANTS – PREVENTS PESTS
Meanwhile, when I see any pest in my plants, I usually water the plants especially at the infected areas forcely or wash the pests away. This helped me when the pests or disease is at the first stage.

SHEDDING OF OKRA FLOWERS
You can also come across many problems other than disease and pests while growing okra. Like, Shedding of flower buds, before they set to pods.
shedding of okra flowers
This is mainly because fluctuation of temperature. Either the temperature is not constant, too cold or too hot for the plant to grow.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF LADY’S FINGER
Lady’s finger is famous for its myth (as said before) that is
“Ladys finger is good for excelling in maths “
It is true because okra is rich in nutrients that helps the brain development. Okra mainly rich in
*.Fibre
*.Vitamin C
*.Little amount of vitamin B, K
*.Folic acid
*.Calcium, magnesium

It helps in managing diabetes. Since growing lady’s finger is very easy to grow and maintain, do give a try this summer in your garden

NUTRIENTS RICH LADY’S FINGER

“Nothing tastes as good as growing your own greens!”
So I encourage you to grow okra in your garden and share your experiences with me. Hope you liked my story of growing lady’s finger. Comment me below how many pods you harvested this summer.

A plot filled with Okro plants can really make you money on your investment do take note thanks

Lovely write-up

ifedola28:
Lovely write-up

thanks dear

What variety do you plant and where can it be purchased?

Nice

I planted okra too.
Initially, I just wanted few plants in my garden, but they became quite much, producing okras everyday. I knew so much would go to waste since I can't be eating okra everyday, so I monetized it, and I am even praying it produces forever.