If you’re growing okra and are wondering when to harvest it, don’t worry. It’s not hard at all. You just need to keep an eye on your plants and wait for the bottom pods to be ready for picking.
The best time for harvesting okra is when the pods are about 2-3 inches and the plant itself is about 18 inches tall.
How To Harvest Okra?
Wait for the bottom pods.
When you pull an okra plant at the beginning of its growing season, it will have several small and tender pods that are good for eating raw or cooked.
As the plant grows, though, it will produce larger and more mature pods—the kind that need to be harvested when they’re about two-three inches long.
The skin of your okra should be green and soft. If a pod feels tough or too dark green they are too mature and they don’t taste great.
Don’t pick too many large pods because they don’t taste great and instead let them mature so that you can collect seeds coming from them.
Pick okra often.
Okra is a crop that produces well when picked often. Pick the pods when they are small and tender, so that you can enjoy them fresh in salads and other dishes.
To keep your plants producing well, pick okra often by hand or with clippers. You can pick okra at any time during the growing season.
But once they have reached full size and turned yellowish-green in color (which may occur anywhere from 7 to 14 days after reaching maturity), it’s best to let them mature instead.
Harvesting too firm and a bit woody okra is not good for cooking as they will be tougher and less flavorful than younger pods.
If you do not want to eat your okra raw right away but don’t have time to prepare it for cooking right away either, simply place the pods directly into a bowl of water until you’re ready to cook with them again.
Gather one pod from each plant.
Pull the pod from the stalk and gently squeeze it to determine if it is ready for harvest. The pods should be bright green and tender, with no sign of browning or dryness.
If there are multiple pods on each plant, you will want to harvest them individually so that they do not snap off of their stalks at the same time when you pull too many off at once.
To harvest okra?
Scissors or knife? There are two ways to harvest okra: with a sharp knife or a pair of sharp scissors.
Pick okra when they’re young, between three to five inches long.
Picking okra at the right time is key to getting a high yield of pods.
Okra will continue to grow, so picking it when it’s young, between three to five inches long, gives you the most bang for your buck.
This is because the younger pods are more tender and less likely to get tough as they age.
If you wait too long after harvest before eating your okra, you’ll notice that they start turning brown and may even become moldy.
It’s best not to let them sit around too long after harvest though; pick up some freshness by harvesting every day or two until frost or heavy rains (which make harvesting much more difficult).
How to harvest okra seeds?
Okra seeds are usually harvested at the end of the growing season, when the pods have turned brown.
The pods should be left on the plant until they are dry. Once picked, the seeds should be stored in paper bags or envelopes in a cool, dry place until they are ready to plant next year.
If you want to save your own seed, you’ll need to let some flowers go to seed before you harvest them for food or selling purposes.
The flowers will produce large pods that contain many seeds inside them.
These seeds can then be planted directly into the soil in springtime when all danger of frost has passed and temperatures are above 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius).
Does okra regrow after harvest?
Yes, okra can regrow after harvest. That is why it is good to harvest okra more often.
When you harvest okra, new okra will grow on the plant. The plant will continue to grow a lot of okra.
Conclusion
Okra is a delicious and nutritious vegetable. It can be eaten fresh or cooked, and it has many health benefits.
Also, it’s a great source of vitamins A and C as well as potassium, magnesium and iron. Harvesting okra will come once they mature.
Okra is cultivated all over the world but it grows best in warm climates such as Africa, Asia and South America where summers are long enough for maturing fruits like tomatoes or peppers.
