Mini Okra

Latin name: Abelmoschus esculentus

🌱 Days to Sprout: 10-16

😋 Ready for Full Dose of plant food with true leaves or roots .5-inch long

✂️ Thin to: 1 plant per yCube

🍅 Days to Maturity: 60-75

💡 Light Zone: High

📏 Plant Size: 2 ft

💚 Care Level: Advanced

Okra comes from East Africa. It is a part of the mallow plant family, making it a relative to hibiscus flowers, cotton, and cocoa. Okra’s American English name, sometimes called okro or ochro, derives from the Igbo word for the plant, ọ́kwụ̀rụ̀. This Mini Okra is a hybrid variety bred to contain the plant to just 2 feet. More traditional varieties reach over 6 feet tall outside!

Okra pods grow fairly straight in the air, appearing like long upside-down jalapeño peppers. Their flowers are very similar to hibiscus, with white petals that have a crimson-pink center. The pods’ texture relies heavily on their preparation method. Mini Okra’s green pods, which reach 3-4 inches long and have 5 pointed ridges, are naturally crunchy. Once they come into contact with heat, however, the inner pod becomes quite mucilaginous, or gooey. This makes okra a wonderful natural thickening agent! To cut down on the slime factor, cook the pods with an acidic food, like tomatoes.

Okra is perhaps best known in the US for its use in gumbo, a delicious stew famous in Louisiana and the South. Beyond stews, okra pods are also delicious (and crunchy) pickled, eaten raw in salads, or as a snack with dip. You can also fry or sauteé them. Mini Okra flowers are edible as either garnishes or stuffed and fried as their own dish. Remember that if you pluck a flower, however, no fruit will grow from that spot.

💡Temperature/Light: Prefers warmer temperatures (70-85°F) and full light. Due to its height, however, ensure your Mini Okra has room for the majority of the plant to be in the high light zone, even if that means placing its base in a medium or low light spot to accommodate its tall stalk.

🫶 Support: Use a Plant Belt to support the plant’s stem as it grows tall.

✂️ Pruning: Mini Okra requires pruning. Snip away yellow or brown leaves if they appear. Check the roots monthly and trim any that are brown or extending past the yPod.

🔎 Plant Health: Mini Okra produces a natural sap on its stems and leaves. The sap looks like small, clear, jelly-like beads or water drops. Rest assured, this sap is normal and nothing to worry about!

🫛 Harvest: Keep your plant productive by harvesting pods when they are 3-4 inches long. Clip at each pod’s individual stem/base. Pods left on the plant too long will grow oversized and become tough. Flowers can also be harvested when they start to open, but remember, no pod will form in a harvested flower location.

Our Plant Health & Nutrition Team thoroughly tests each variety we offer to bring you the most flavorful and high-quality plants. We regularly rotate our plant portfolio, so please note, availability varies.