This weekend I had two full days to really focus on the yard, and I made the most of it. With the intermittent help of several others over the course of the weekend, I got both easement planter boxes filled with compost and soil, cleaned up and weeded the alley, got the stump pulled from the coni…
Last edited by shiny on November 10, 2026. View history
Okra
How to sow okra: Direct seed indoors or outside
Sun requirement for okra: Plant in Full Sun
Okra is a frost-tender annual grown for it's edible seed pods and, less commonly, it's leaves and stems. Plants can be green or red.
- 11
- plantings
- 0
- harvests
- 3
- seed packets
Okra facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
250cm × 90cmRow Spacing
30cmWhen to sow
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For okra, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 12°C and a shortest growing cycle of 50 days at its best temperature, about 650 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your okra will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
How members grow okra
Sunniness
Planted from
Varieties of okra
Plant okra with
Photos
Okra crops
Okra plantings
Video
Where okra grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about okra
Coming together
by shawnacscott,
lettuces
arugula
mustard
sunflowers
dill
onions
beets
tomatoes
fenugreek
bell peppers
okra
artichokes
mint
lavender
spinach
basils
thyme
parsley
zucchini
peas
calendulas
Read more
Transplant day!
by inkstone,
I originally wanted to do this yesterday but it rained in the morning so that kinda put a damper on things.
So I did it all today instead! A bunch of the seeds I wintersowed in the milk jugs and soda bottles were getting crowded so it was time to move them to their bigger (permanent) containers….
spinach
mizuna
arugula
tatsoi
lettuces
radicchio
broccoli
Malabar spinach
okra
parsley
anise
Read more
Who's planted okra
- valgrind Vegetable Garden
- Cwilliamson Home Garden · Angleton, Texas
- howell289 Howell's Garden · Bacoor Cavite...
- Storm Garden · Portland, Oregon
- corvi stone hill plot · salt spring island
Okra harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your okra harvests.Find okra seeds
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 50 to 180 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Dilleniidae Malvales Malvaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium, light, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours) |
Learn more about okra
Resources outside Growstuff.