April 5, 2018

Good morning,  How surprising when talking to a fellow gardener that he has a variety of okra that sustained a good frost, survived and continued to produce pods. I was a bit gob smacked. This fellow is going to give me some seeds to try. This could make a lot of my okra fans pretty happy. It would be nice to have a very late okra. I look forward to trying it and seeing if I can replicate what he experienced. 

I think back a few years when I attempted to try and over winter some solanaceae (eggplants and chilies) along with some okra. The plants were all cut back to only a few leaves before a  freeze and then mulched very heavily.

All was going well until that winter we sustained several ice storms. The melt water was very effective at chilling the soil several inches down into the horizon. I think this was the folly for most of these over wintered plants.

Once things started to warm in the spring it was discovered that 5 of the six eggplants had  survived. These eggplants were slow to resume growth and were far behind the new plantings of eggplants. But once they they began producing they were quite prolific.

It really did surprise me that anything survived.

As with all experiments there is the evaluation to see if there is a tid bit of information that can be gleaned from the experiment. From evaluating everything, I feel, the biggest reason for most of these plants not overwintering was due to the severe soil chill down.

My experience with okra is that it abhors soils cooler than 60 degrees. It would be interesting to see if between 60 and 50 degrees the roots go dormant. And below 50 they die.

Now skipping back to the previously mentioned frosted okra, did it survive because the soil was still warm or is it resistant to cooler weather. This would be fun to find out.

In Africa where okra is from, it is a perennial plant. 

My experience with okra is that it grows like a rocket until it stops growth. It then seems to enter a brief resting period and then latent buds at the base start to grow. Sometimes it is the very lowest branches but mostly buds at ground level.

Soooo, in the mildest of winters like the winter before last, okra could be over wintered?

There would be a game plan. A soil thermometer to monitor winter soil temps. This would be used to test the 50 / 60 degree soil dormancy (a critical element). Most years the soil 5-6 inches down is near 50 degrees. There would be greenhouse film on the side in case of an impending ice storm. The okra would be pruned down to the lowest leaves or branches. Then heavily mulched.

One would say why the bother? For me it is purely the curiosity of whether this can be done. After all there was the success with eggplants which are also supposed to be temperamental will cool  conditions. Then there is the potential for very early harvests.

This so intrigues me and I always love a challenge.May have to try this once again and especially if I get some of the above mentioned cold "tolerant" okra. The plants will be in the ground, so it will just be a mater of preparing for winter then set back and watch. The worst thing that can happen is it doesn't work and the okra stumps become compost.