Long Green Okra Seeds

Long Green Okra is loved for its long, slender, ridged green pods that stay tender and crisp when harvested young. The smooth deep-green skin and slim shape make it ideal for the classic Egyptian okra stew and rich tagines, where the pods release their silky texture and lend a gentle, mildly grassy flavour to the sauce. Picked small, the pods are soft and stringless; left a touch longer, the elegant length makes them perfect for slicing, grilling, or frying.

Planting

Okra is a warm-season vegetable with no frost tolerance, so direct-sow only after all danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed. Aim for a soil temperature of at least 18 C at a depth of 10 cm for an even stand; sowing into soil at 21 C or warmer gives the most reliable results. Set the seed about 2 cm deep when direct-sowing (around 1.3 cm if you prefer), and only about 0.6 cm deep when starting transplants indoors. Soaking the seed in water for several hours or overnight softens the hard seed coat and speeds germination. The optimum soil temperature for germination is 21-35 C, and seeds generally come up in about 7-14 days, with the warmest soils giving the fastest emergence. Give plants full sun, and where possible run the rows east to west to capture as much sunlight as possible. Sow in the row anywhere from a few centimetres apart up to 23-30 cm, then thin the established plants to a final 45-60 cm apart, with rows spaced 0.9-1.8 m apart. Transplants can be started indoors about 4-5 weeks ahead and set out only once frost has passed and the soil is warm. In Egypt, the sowing window follows the soil warming past 18-21 C rather than a fixed date: in the cooler Nile Delta and Lower Egypt, direct-sow mainly from mid-March through April, with a second sowing possible in May-June for a long picking season into the warm summer. In warmer Upper Egypt the soil warms sooner, so sowing can begin from late February into March. Avoid the cool, damp November-February period, when low soil temperatures cause poor, uneven germination and seedling-death problems.

Fertilizing

Work a complete fertilizer into the soil before planting; a 10-10-10 type applied at roughly 1 kg per 9 square metres suits a home bed. Go easy on nitrogen, since an excess pushes leafy growth at the expense of flowers and pods. Once plants are established and bearing, side-dress them: start when the plants are 15-20 cm tall and feed again 2-3 weeks later. Alternatively, side-dress with calcium nitrate (15.5-0-0) at about 3-4 weeks and again at 6-8 weeks after planting, as the plants begin to flower and set fruit.

Care

Keep soil moisture uniform down to about 15 cm. During dry spells, give a deep soaking of about 2.5-4 cm of water once every 7-10 days; in the hot, arid conditions of Upper Egypt increase this amount, and water early in the day so the foliage dries. Water at ground level beneath the leaves to keep the foliage and pods dry. Watch for common pests such as flea beetles, Japanese beetles, blister beetles, cucumber beetles, stink bugs, aphids and worms like corn earworm. The most serious problems are root-decay and root-rot diseases that kill young seedlings, along with root-knot nematode, Southern stem blight, and Fusarium and Verticillium wilt, with pod rot also possible. Pods are ready about 60-70 days after planting; harvest them young and tender at about 5-8 cm long (up to 8-10 cm if you prefer). Pick at least every two days, because the pods grow very fast and will turn tough and fibrous if left to mature, which also slows down further production.