[Fusion_power]

I have very very good evidence that okra can and does cross pollinate in my garden. I grew Longhorn and Red River in 2009 with the plants separated by about 150 feet and my greenhouse in between. When I grew out the Longhorn seed in 2010, I got 5 variant red plants and 1 plant that produced very long pods of okra. That was out of about 300 plants grown. Now 6 plants out of 300 is only 2% crossing which is very reasonable and the variants were easy to eliminate from the seed I saved.

In 2005, I grew Cowhorn and African okra very close together. Seed from African grown the next year were clearly crossed at a rate of about 5%. It was easy to tell because the African okra is rarely over 5 feet tall yet I had individual plants that got to 10 feet which is typical of my strain of Cowhorn.

As for okra to grow, I would choose just about anything before Clemson Spineless. It is a decent okra and can be used just fine as long as you pick it before it reaches 4 inches long. I prefer okra that stays tender until at least 6 inches. Cowhorn and Evertender are good candidates.

Okra pods produce a plant regulatory hormone that tells the plant NOT to produce any more flowers. When you let an okra plant go to seed, those big pods basically tell the plant to quit trying to make more and to focus instead on maturing the seed in those big pods. The only variety that I know of that has genetics to avoid this problem is Cowhorn. This is the reason why you harvest okra until near the end of the season and then let it set pods for seed. One mature pod will not prevent flowering but you will get fewer flowers and less okra from that plant. Three to five mature pods of okra will stop most varieties from producing any more flowers.

DarJones