Lofthouse Okra

[William Schlegel]

Was just going through OSSI pledged varieties. Noticed that Joseph's Okra strain was on there.

Wondering does anyone still grow it?

I remember Joseph saying something about being tired of the spines.

Remember avidly reading through Joseph's articles about his breeding process on this.

I've never grown okra myself. Though have been sitting on a packet of Mike's grex.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I grew a large batch of okra seed this year. Was even able to direct seed it.

The fall frost came exceptionally cold: Fierce enough to kill walnuts inside their shells. I harvested the okra anyway, not knowing if the seeds were likewise killed. I intend to thresh them and do a germination testing. 

[William Schlegel]

Probably depends on seed moisture levels at the time of frost which could be variable. Thus even if germ is low, I would expect some.

[William Schlegel]

I finally planted Mike's grex. I think I have been sitting on it since 2017 or 2018. That might have been too long!? Though I mixed in some Clemson spineless from a free box. I did not presoak. I direct seeded. Maybe should not have. I planted on May 28th. I had two good germinates yesterday on June 12th and five partials. It has recently been raining good. Will see what grows from it and if it germinates any better than it has so far.

Snake River Seeds is selling an Okra called Alice Elliot

https://shopsnakeriverseeds.com/products/okra-alice-elliot

I still wonder if anyone is still growing Lofthouse okra.

EFN has several interesting Okras

https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/collections/okra

[Jeremy Weiss]

Assuming anyone here lives somewhere hot enough for it, this is a somewhat interesting looking okra (so interesting that I, who does not like okra one bit, ordered a pack of the seeds some time ago). I know they are expensive, but that includes shipping AND the Phyto.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1106892115/dabo-okro-abelmoschus-esculentus-200?click_key=1b5ab63c9f2093316e3916237485a3a519c55415%3A1106892115&click_sum=94f54cbc&ref=shop_home_active_29&frs=1

[Randy Simmons]

Last year I tried Cajun Jewel after seeing reports of it being grown in northern locations.  Later I found Joseph's okra experiment.  I already had one of the top three in his experiment, so I saved seeds from last year's crop.  The other two were Sultani and Cowhorn.  I wasn't able to find Joseph's okra seeds so I decided to do my own experiment with the top three from Joseph's along with a few others.  I'm looking forward to seeing what happens and will save seeds from whatever does the best.

[reed]

The description of the ultra cross from EFN is interesting to me because of the mention of dwarf types.  Selecting for smaller growth habit hasn't worked for me. Apparently the occasional smaller plant was a result of some random environmental factor instead of genetic. My garden is too small to grow much okra and rabbits love the young plants so much I can't grow it outside the fences. Does any one know the names of some dwarf varieties of okra?

[William Schlegel]

I seem to be down to one okra seedling and the new seeds haven't sprouted yet.

[reed]

I planted my okra this year in a back corner of the garden where it competes for water with tree roots and gets quite a bit of shade from those same trees. Seems to be working in keeping the plants a little smaller. I got some new varieties this year too and on top of competition from the trees it is purposely quite crowded, in an effort to get a lot of crossing. I haven't watered it all nut with all those factors it still looks very good, just shorter than it might be if it was out in the open part of the garden.