Where do you live? Do you have a long growing season? This info is needed to answer your question.

I had 4 plants last year, I didn't even end up eating half of what I harvested. A good portion of it would just go bad sitting in the fridge because I got tired of dealing with it. One bag of it didn't seal right and got freezer burn so I tossed that one. This was while we were eating it fresh with dinner every few days, too. That's with 3 people eating it.

A lot will depend on how hot your summers are and how long those summers last. Okra starts to slow down when it gets below low/mid-70F during the day or into the low 50F during the night...and it won't start growing well from seedlings until it's consistently 80F+ during the days and nights at/near 60F.

Given ideal temperatures you can pick okra every 2-3 days...everyday if you have many plants.

I usually grow 6 plants and in ideal conditions I'm picking 10+ pods off those plants every 3 days from June-September. It lingers on into cooler temperatures, but the production slows down. I mainly use my pods for soups, stews. If I wanted fried okra I'd double my plants.

Many thanks for the information! I live in Israel and am gardening in desert conditions (slowly, so painfully slowly, adding good organic compost into the sand/semi-cement soil). It is hot, hotter than hot, and you feel like hell would be a relief hot here for 9 months out of the year.

When you say 10+ pods, do you mean off all 6 plants combined or off each plant? Many thanks in advance!!

This post was edited by Yaeli on Sat, May 25, 13 at 6:44

If you have the space, try 6 plants. Once you've frozen what you need for the winter, and if you still have a surplus then you can give it away and make your okra-loving friends very happy.

Make sure you give the plants enough space. Then you'll get a higher yield. I've seen see packets that say 6 inches is adequate, but that's garbage. Give them at least 1-2 feet. I'm including a website that might be helpful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Okra cultural notes

What everyone else said.

I usually grow between 6-8 plants for my family of five, and I end up freezing a lot, eating fresh until we're sick of it, giving it away, and finally pulling it up early because we have too much...

You'll pick about 10 pods a day total (not per plant). Unless you're wanting it for dinner every single night, 10 pods a day is plenty.

I plant them about 1 foot apart.

Many thanks and awesome website!!!!

There should never be a problem with how many that is if you have good friends. I never had a problem with 90+ plants of Louisiana Long Horn okra. Always found a good home and none went to waste. I also always kept one plant for seed the following year.

Great question! I have four plants myself and was wondering about how much okra I'd get (assuming optimum conditions, etc). In my case, the original seeds were purchased for my mom (who passed a couple of years ago) and I wanted to see what would happen if I planted them, so I did. Hopefully, I'll get enough for soups and stews too. Okra is not a popular veggie around here; I have no idea why.

I am no help for how few plants to plant, but we plant over 300 feet of Okra every year. We plant it 1 foot apart, this makes a big difference. We get lots of side shoots and branching. We also plant it in black plastic, but with your location it sounds like you don't need any more heat!

We harvest 20-30 pounds 2 to 3 times a week. To help you picture this, 15-20 pounds will fill a plastic shopping bag and you can barely tie it shut. We sell okra at Farmers Markets, along with many other vegetables. We also pick it very small, 2 to 3 inches long.

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Good luck!

Jay

annew21 said "I've seen see packets that say 6 inches is adequate, but that's garbage. "

He couldn't be more true. Okra is such gigantic plant it is a monstrosity in my garden! Even when it is blown down by strong wind it never die! I planted them for their pretty flower and now I don't know what to do with their high productivity of pods!
Here is one with its main branch literally lying on the ground:
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Here's another one with a somehow more straight branch:
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I would vote for 10 plants to give the amount of okra you indicate. They should be 18 to 24 inches apart in a row with 2 plants per hill. To get that number of healthy seedlings, put 5 seed in each hill, then thin to two seedlings per hill.

If I had a choice, I would grow a different variety. Clemson Spineless has to be picked daily to get tender pods.

DarJones