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.