Okra Growing Guide: Planting, Care & Harvest

Abelmoschus esculentus

Growing calendar

Typical timing for central Japan (Kanto region). Shift it for your own climate, and record your actual dates.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Sow / plantGrowingHarvest

Guides

Common problems

Start from what you can see on the plant.

Wilting Yellow leaves Leaves dying White powder Leaf spots Pests Fruit problems

Pests and diseases (20)

Problems recorded for this plant, most serious first.

Aphids

MajorPest

Small green or black insects cluster on shoot tips and leaf undersides, crinkling the leaves and stopping growth. The honeydew they excrete supports sooty mold that blackens the foliage.

White patches appear scattered on the upper leaf surface at first, then the whole leaf is coated in a white powder. Leaves later yellow, brown and die back, and reduced photosynthesis cuts growth and yield.

Damping-off

MajorDisease

The stem pinches in at soil level, turning water-soaked to brown and thin, and the seedling topples over. Infection before emergence makes the stand uneven with missing plants.

Root-knot Nematode

MajorPest

The plant wilts in the daytime and does not recover with feeding or watering. Pull it up and the roots carry beaded chains of galls of varying size with few fine roots.

Spider Mites

MajorPest

Fine white stippling spreads across the upper leaf surface, and the leaf eventually whitens and dies back. In heavy infestations fine webbing appears on leaf undersides and shoot tips.

Leafrollers

MajorPest

Leaves are webbed into tubes or folded in half, with a green or brown caterpillar inside. Shoot tips and fruit surfaces are also gnawed, disrupting growth.

Late Blight

CommonDisease

Dark green water-soaked lesions appear on the leaves and expand quickly into brown dead tissue. White mold forms on the underside and at the lesion edge, and dark brown lesions spread to stems and fruit.

Southern Blight

CommonDisease

The stem rots at soil level and white silky mycelium spreads over the crown and the surrounding soil surface. Brown sclerotia the size of rapeseed then form and the plant wilts and dies rapidly.

Verticillium Wilt

CommonDisease

Only one side of the lower leaves yellows and wilts, and the symptom moves up the plant. Stem vascular tissue turns pale brown and the plant dies without ever growing well.

Brown Leaf Spot

Disease

Small light brown to gray-brown spots form on the leaves and enlarge into irregular lesions. When they merge the whole leaf dies and plant vigor drops sharply.

Sclerotinia Rot

Disease

The crown, stem or head rots in a water-soaked way and is covered in white cottony mycelium. Black sclerotia later form inside and on the surface, and the plant wilts and dies.

Gray Mold

Disease

Water-soaked brown lesions form on flowers, fruit and leaves, densely covered by a fuzzy gray mold. Fruit rots and drops, and decay continues in storage after harvest.

Leaf Spot

Disease

Small round brown to gray-white lesions appear on the lower leaves, the centers turning gray with tiny black specks. As they multiply the leaf yellows and drops early.

Ring Rot

Disease

The bark of branches and trunk becomes rough and warty, serving as the inoculum source. Fruit develops round brown lesions that soften and rot in concentric rings.

Alternaria Fruit SpotPlant-parasitic NematodesFusarium Wilt and Damping-offLeaf Sooty SpotBacterial Leaf BlightBlack Root

Written byYasuGrowing vegetables and fruit in Chiba, Japan, and building Gadenin. Corrections are welcome. 15 years of growing.