***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[NanaKat]

Quote:
I don't recall it taking anywhere near that long but I guess anything could be possible. Okra is very heat and dry tolerant and very low maintenance for a high yield plant. That just doesn't seem right.

It was an older man. I do agree it is low maintenance high yield but picking is where the time comes in. Kinda like beans, easy to grow but too much time to pick for market. Look around the farmers market. Even @ big markets I see maybe 1 in 10 or 15 vendors selling okra. If it was that easy everyone would be selling it!

Surely the container was not a one gallon bucket, but a much larger one. Hubby's fathers sold over 1000 pounds one season to a local grocery store for 97 cents a pound. The problem with okra is the pods "wilt" quickly after picking and begin to change color. The little spines make your skin itch. He picked every other day and had several bushels a week. He could pick a 5 gallon bucket in about 45 minutes.

 

[michaeldaugherty]

I was looking on Back yard chicken's Oklahoma Auction's an Swap's no one has posted on ther in a LONG LONG TIME??,,
To tire'd to post anything gotto go...

 

[mjgigax]

Quote:
I know of a man that has Dottes and Astrolorp chicks in the Tulsa/Inola area.

Thanks for the quick response! We do already have birds - the oldest group are about 6 months old, the youngest are about 2 months old. We have 3 barred rock hens, 2 buff orpington hens, 1 New Hampshire roo, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Welsummer, 1 easter egger, 3 bantam D'uccle mille hens, 1 bantam D'uccle roo. With the exception of the batams, they are feed store chicks. We have room for more as the hubby is fast and furiously remodeling our current coop.

SOOO, what we are looking for now . . . . we would love to begin acquiring some non hatchery birds, possibly even some our two young boys could show. We did bite the bullet and order some eggs from a seller on BYC. We are expecting BLRW and RIR eggs this week - yeah! We would love to have some Gold Laced and/or silver laced wyandotte, and Marans (LOVE the dark eggs). This is a big chunk of our family fun - we have a 6 year old who cannot get enough of "the big girls" - HA! So, whatever we end up with has to be willing to be LOVED on a lot - no meanies.

One last thing - we heard about a poultry show in Shawnee in December . . . what goes on there?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/103360_rubberchicken.jpg

What a great picture! Check out large fowl (LF) Cochins for some BIG sweethearts.

 

[mjgigax]

Quote:
I'm more of a Seinfeld-ian or a Breaking Bad-ian than a Dr. Who-vian, but understand your concern. Those squash bugs are annoying and destructive. I have a problem with the Box Elder Beetles, I think because of the Golden Rain Tree next door. Those things are everywhere!

Squash bugs killed my giant gourd vine that was giving my big pen such good shade.

 

[old*cowboy]

Quote:
Doesnt look like it gets used much.

 

[jcatblum]

Quote:
It was an older man. I do agree it is low maintenance high yield but picking is where the time comes in. Kinda like beans, easy to grow but too much time to pick for market. Look around the farmers market. Even @ big markets I see maybe 1 in 10 or 15 vendors selling okra. If it was that easy everyone would be selling it!

Surely the container was not a one gallon bucket, but a much larger one. Hubby's fathers sold over 1000 pounds one season to a local grocery store for 97 cents a pound. The problem with okra is the pods "wilt" quickly after picking and begin to change color. The little spines make your skin itch. He picked every other day and had several bushels a week. He could pick a 5 gallon bucket in about 45 minutes.

Wow 5gal in 45 min! I know okra does damage easy & doesn't have much shelf life. The bucket the man showed me was a black feed type pail. It is smaller than the 3 gal buckets I use for oats. Might have been 1.5 gal. But I don't think it was much bigger. Maybe it took so long because of how he cuts the pods off. I think snipping them with shears (one handed) would be much faster than using a pocket knife (2 handed). I dont worry too much about picking time for personal consumption, but when I see what stuff cost it helps me understand pricing. Like asparagus, plants must be 3 yrs old to harvest & can only be harvested for a few weeks. So I understand why it is one of the most expensive veggies I buy. Hope next yr to get an asparagus bed prepped with a few dozen plants of my own to enjoy!

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
It was an older man. I do agree it is low maintenance high yield but picking is where the time comes in. Kinda like beans, easy to grow but too much time to pick for market. Look around the farmers market. Even @ big markets I see maybe 1 in 10 or 15 vendors selling okra. If it was that easy everyone would be selling it!

Agreed, however I think the problem - hence higher prices - is because there's just not a high demand for okra. It seems to be something that you love to eat or hate it. Many folks are on the "hate it" side. Personally, I love okra, but love it or not, I'm not willing to pay a premium price for it.

You can definately put me in the dislike catagory. I grew it for the girls (chickens) it is very high nutritionally speaking especially in some of the B's and b/c it is easy in our hot summers. This was the first year for me w/ okra I was totally impressed w/ it's looks, it soooooo could go in a flower bed. I will grow it in the future as a protector plant on the south and west side of crops like peppers and a few others that can't take the full on Okie west sun.

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
I'm more of a Seinfeld-ian or a Breaking Bad-ian than a Dr. Who-vian, but understand your concern. Those squash bugs are annoying and destructive. I have a problem with the Box Elder Beetles, I think because of the Golden Rain Tree next door. Those things are everywhere!

Squash bugs killed my giant gourd vine that was giving my big pen such good shade.

See like I said primary evil in the universe bent on total univeral destruction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
Surely the container was not a one gallon bucket, but a much larger one. Hubby's fathers sold over 1000 pounds one season to a local grocery store for 97 cents a pound. The problem with okra is the pods "wilt" quickly after picking and begin to change color. The little spines make your skin itch. He picked every other day and had several bushels a week. He could pick a 5 gallon bucket in about 45 minutes.

Wow 5gal in 45 min! I know okra does damage easy & doesn't have much shelf life. The bucket the man showed me was a black feed type pail. It is smaller than the 3 gal buckets I use for oats. Might have been 1.5 gal. But I don't think it was much bigger. Maybe it took so long because of how he cuts the pods off. I think snipping them with shears (one handed) would be much faster than using a pocket knife (2 handed). I dont worry too much about picking time for personal consumption, but when I see what stuff cost it helps me understand pricing. Like asparagus, plants must be 3 yrs old to harvest & can only be harvested for a few weeks. So I understand why it is one of the most expensive veggies I buy. Hope next yr to get an asparagus bed prepped with a few dozen plants of my own to enjoy!

I found a great deal on asparagus seed, (would have cost a small fortune for how many I wanted for the crowns) I got 250 for $4 including shipping. All male a mary or martha washington version. I plan on planting major asparagus beds!!!!! I found some crowns on sale earlier this year and planted those they all did well except for the purple ones. Everything I have read said they are pretty easy to start from seed and only take an extra year to harvest well worth the savings to me over the crowns.

 

[mjgigax]

Quote:
My Okra plants are amazingly beautiful, and they are just the clemson spineless, not the fancy orange or red ones. Tall, lush, thick, green etc............... but not an okra in sight!!!!! I figure there is a little to much nitrogen for them.

I bought the egyptian walking onions online, they will self perpetuate so once I get them established they will keep me in onions for the rest of my life!!!!! The onion bulbs will be smaller, but just put 2 in a recipe, after all the best things come in small packages don't they!!!!

I have tried beans several times this year w/o success, I am going to try one more time this fall I have yellow bean seeds left.

I plan on hitting the ground running this spring too. Can't wait to see how successful the chicken garden will be and the changes I have planned for from this seasons problems.

I have identified several issues this year and researched some potential problem solvers so we'll see.

I can't pick mine fast enough! Seems some grow too big overnight. They can hide in the leaves till they get too big. Have to toss half of them because they are too big. Too bad the chickens don't like them much. Cantalope has grow well too but not as much flavor as last year.