Okra

I got a pot of okra from the nursery, thinking it's too much of a hassle to grow from seed. 

But with 3 plants in a tiny pot, I was advised by fellow gardeners that they are too crowded, yet too matured to repot. Leaves start falling off and the new leaves were barely bigger than 5cm. Fruits were also smaller and not tender. 

By fluke, I left the fruits on the plant and let it turn brown because I wanted to observe how long it will take for that to happen. I kept the dried pods and seeds because they were too pretty to throw. Turns out that is the right thing to do to save okra seeds!

The okra seeds in the pods were black and all dried up. 

Unwilling to pay for more okra plants, I decided to try my luck at germinating the seeds. Bearing in mind that I am not too lucky with germinating seeds, I am tip-toeing in this experiment.

I started 9 seeds in an ice tray filled with substrates (Welgro), because I had some lying around.  

We suffered a few nights of torrential rain and the ice tray was literally flooded and overflowing, as the rain managed to splash in. Each time I emptied the excess water, I am certain I lost some seeds, as it's hard to tell them apart from the peat.

On Day 3, 3 seedlings miraculously sprouted. Interestingly they turned up in assorted stages. The tiniest little sprout in the right most cubby can barely be seen.

So I potted the 2 more advanced seedlings in the substrate. 

It's the 5th day since we started growing the seeds. The cotyledons are peeking out from under the shell of the germinated seeds. We are still holding our breath and fingers crossed... 

Will keep this post updated. 

Update 12 August 2015:

1 week after planting the seeds, the seedlings have grown beyond 10cm and the cotyledons are looking healthy. I repotted them in more of the Welgro substrates and increased direct sun to 1-2 hours.

Update 28 August 15: 

3 weeks after planting the seeds, these saplings are more than 20cm and furry leaves have started to develop. 

Update 9 Sep 2015:

I came across a facebook post where a fellow gardener mentioned that he was given an okra plant grown from a sucker. He has no idea how it works and I could not find information online on how to propagate from okra suckers. So it's time to experiment!

On 4 Sep 15, I cut out a sucker that was about 20cm, from our existing okra plants and put it in a cup of water to hopefully root the cutting. Within 3 days, small white dots appeared on the stem. 

An okra sucker is the shoot that grows out from the side of the main stem, usually above the stalk of one of the leaves. I cut the sucker closely where it joins the main stem. 

4-5 bigger leaves were attached to this sucker. They were droopy by the 3rd day, so I snipped them off. 

On the 5th day, roots formed clearly at the base of the stem! Hoorah! I will leave it for a few more days till a healthier root system is established before putting it in soil.

Update 26 Sep 2015:

These are the okras grown from seeds. It's been 7 weeks since sowing the seeds and we are seeing our first flower buds!

Waiting patiently...!