ridgetop01: Hello. As a fellow NYer, I will try to give you some advice based on my experience with my Brugs. Do you know how old your plant is? First thing's first, if your day & night time temps are above 50* (or you have some place to store it where it will be warm), I'd definitely get yours out of that pot & take a look at its roots. While overwintering mine, I started noticing a similar situation. I finally got around to repotting mine yesterday & to my horror discovered the poor thing's roots were root bound & the soil inside the pot had completely collapsed into a brick so its roots weren't getting enough oxygen. The soil was so badly compacted I had to break the pot open with a hammer & use a spade to cut some of the root mass away from the sides of the pot, which root pruned the Brug as well. Surprisingly enough the roots were still white & thick so I guess I got to it just in time but I'll know better in a few wks. My advice to you right now is to take it out of the pot, check the roots. If they're white or a light tan color & just root bound, do a little root pruning around the sides & put it in a little bigger pot with ether a good quality soil less potting mix or you can make your own following any of the recipes online many folks have developed (I'm using Al's 5-1-1 for mine this yr). DO NOT use any mix that's peat based because it holds too much moisture & in the Northeast here it will contribute to root rot over the winter. Hope this helps :). If you need help, feel free to email me.

From my experience and I'm south and east of you in very SW KS. Okra would self sow and probably be ok. I always sow my okra in the garden here around Memorial day weekend the same time I transplant my chile and jalapeno peppers. They both like warm soil temps. If planted in cold soil temps neither will grow much and can be stunted and may not ever produce like they should. When I lived in NE NM several of the chile farmers sowed seeds rather than transplant. And usually had a great late crop. The same thing I have seen here from volunteers I've left. And for several years I had a small ornamental type they could also be ate that self seeded every year. It became a nuisance and I finally removed all of them. But unless you just want to experiment a little I would transplant pepper plants. Gives you an earlier crop. On okra I think you should be fine. Soybeans I've never grown so can't comment on them. Again remember I probably have a longer growing season here and warm up faster also. My last frost date is April 16th. Jay

Also even in potting mix, a 5 gallon pot is way too big for a seedling of that size. The mix that does not have roots in it will stay too wet and go bad. If I were you I'd re-pot into a course draining mix, like cactus mix and use a smaller pot, more like a 1 gallon size. Do still put it outside in the summer though. Start slow, put it in a shady spot for a week, and then gradually over a few more weeks move it into more and more sun until it's in sun all day. If you put it in sun right away after being inside, even in a sunny window, it will get sunburn. It needs to get used to it gradually. Good luck!

Thank you for responding! Yes, I had read that post already, but I guess it seemed confusing and like more work than I was thinking. I should have mentioned that, believe it or not, I only have one small south facing window. I am in an older established neighborhood with lots of mature trees, too, so I don't get as much light as I could to begin with. I end up frequently rotating plants to different windows and in and out of the room with the greatest light to make sure they all have a chance to get a healthy amount of light. And they seem to be doing really well. Just nervous about winter coming and having the plants too close to the cold windows to soak up the dwindling light. Was hoping there was a simple lamp or regimen that I could rotate around the house to keep them happy. I'm sure they will be fine, though, and maybe I am just thinking too much about it.