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Been raising okra all my life. This year can't get it to start bearing. It is about 4 ft. tall and should be making more than I can eat. Lucky to get a few pods a week. The okra is short jointed. Since mine is the old orginal cow horn, that normally gets to be 12 to 15 ft. tall in the course of a season, this is odd. I have given it a hair cut three times. Usually, you have to cut the leaves back once or twice to get it to start making okra instead of leaves but so far it hasn't helped. The only varmint I've had this year is aphids. They were hard to get under control but finally did. Could they have slowed down production? The okra was the only thing they bothered. Got any ideas let me know.
Jim, Did you have a cool spring like we did?
That's the only thing i can think of. The aphids should'nt have slowed them down if you got rid of them. I always liked the cowhorn. Another one that did well for me was Davids Star from Isreal.
How did you control the aphids? I've read 2 tablespoons of Ivory liquid to a spray bottle of water will take care of aphids. But i haven't had an infestation enough to use it. Using Diatomaceous Earth to dissuade the fire ants seemed to control the aphids also since ants herd aphids like cows. DE has worked wonderfully keeping the fire ants in control. Hope this helps.
I just recently bought one of those 15 gal. spay tanks (Father's Day money from favorite daughter in Ohio) and I put in 10 gal. of water and enough ivory liquid to wash down northeast Louisiana and I washed underside of leaves, top side and stalk. Didn't think it had done any good but three days later it was slick as a button. Read in another thread that murphys oil soap was good but was afraid the oil in this high heat would kill the plant. I have gotton 6 pods of okra in the last 10 days. I should be getting at least 3 or 4 gallons a week. Friend who gave me the seed said he was cutting 5 gal. every other day off of his. Don't understand why it isn't doing anything.
Never heard of David's Star. I'll have to check out the web for it.
Glad I got the aphids stopped before the fire ants took over. As dry as we are in our area, they are bad to suck the blooms for moisture.
Thanks for the help guys and happy gardening.
P.S. The rest of my garden is going great guns. Squash, cukes and tomatoes are bearing like crazy even in this heat. My running string beans are putting on new foliage and blooming. Was going to pull them up and replant for fall but think I'll wait and see, now.
Jim, We are so lucky so far. The fire ants don't seem to want to climb mountains and we don't have any.
We had them in ETX. and those rats would go into our cantalopes and eat the insides out.
You are truly blessed. When I was raising cattle, I have had them go up the navel cord of new born calves. It would paralize the calf and it would die and then they'd eat the whole darn thing except the hide and bones. Quick test to see if someone is from the South: If when he stops walking he looks down at his feet even if he is inside, you know he is from fire ant country.
