When to Pick Okra: The Two Day Window and Avoiding Woody Pods

The window is measured in days, not weeks

An okra pod is edible for a remarkably short time. It sets four or five days after the flower opens, reaches picking size a day or two later, and by the day after that the fibers in the wall have lignified and it is inedible however you cook it. In genuinely hot weather, above about 90F (32C), the whole tender stage can pass in a single day.

This is why okra is a daily crop, not a weekend one. Picking every other day in high summer means half of what you take off is already too far gone, and picking twice a week means almost all of it is. If you can only get to the plot every few days, expect to be throwing pods on the compost pile and plan for it rather than being disappointed.

Two tests that tell you a pod is still tender

Length alone is not reliable, because pod size at the tender stage differs between the long slender types and the shorter, fatter, ridged ones. Learn the two physical tests instead and you can pick correctly on any plant.

1. The tip snap Bend the last half inch (1 cm) of the pod tip with your thumb. If it snaps off cleanly and wetly, the whole pod is tender. If it bends rubbery and does not break, the pod is already fibrous. This is the definitive test and it takes a second.
2. The thumbnail test Press a thumbnail into the ridge along the side of the pod. It should sink in easily and leave a wet mark. If the nail skids off the surface, leave the pod and take it off as a cull instead.
3. Sound and feel A tender pod feels slightly soft and has a faint downy grip. A woody one is rigid, light for its size, and the ridges feel sharp rather than rounded. Once you have handled a few you can sort by feel without looking.

As a rough starting size, take slender types at 3 to 4 in (8 to 10 cm) and the short fat ridged types at 2.5 to 3 in (6 to 8 cm). Then correct that size up or down for your own plants using the tip snap test.

Deal with the spines before they deal with you

Most okra plants are covered in fine spicules on the pods, stems and the undersides of the leaves. They break off in the skin during picking and produce an itching, prickling irritation on the forearms and wrists that can last for hours. It is not an allergy and it is entirely avoidable.

So called spineless types are only spineless on the pod. The stems and leaf undersides still have the bristles, and picking is exactly the same job. Do not skip the precautions because of the label.

1. Cover your arms Long sleeves and gloves, every time, including the quick trip out to grab three pods for dinner. Most of the itch is picked up on the inner forearm brushing past leaves, not on the hands.
2. Pick in the morning Pick when the plants are dry but before the day heats up. You sweat less, so less of the irritant sticks to the skin, and the pods keep better than ones cut in the afternoon heat.
3. Rinse cold, not hot If you do get the itch, rinse the skin with cold running water first. Hot water opens the pores and drives it in. A strip of adhesive tape pressed on and pulled off lifts the broken spicules out.
4. Wash the sleeves The bristles stay in the fabric. A shirt worn for picking and hung back up gives you the same itch the next day.

Cut the stalk, never pull the pod

The pod is attached hard, and the stem it grows from is brittle. Pulling or twisting a pod off tears a strip of bark down the main stem, which is both an entry point for disease and a lost node. Use a knife or pruners and cut the stalk about a quarter inch (5 mm) from the stem.

Leave the short stub of stalk on the pod rather than cutting flush to the pod itself. A pod cut flush weeps at the cut and goes slimy in storage within a day.

Never leave an overgrown pod on the plant

This is the rule that decides how long your plant keeps cropping. A pod that is allowed to mature signals the plant that it has reproduced, and flowering slows or stops within about a week. One forgotten pod low down on a plant can cost you a fortnight of production.

So on every pick, look for the ones you missed as well as the ones that are ready. Look from below and from the far side of the row, because missed pods are almost always the ones hidden against the stem. Cut them off and compost them; they are worth nothing to you but they are actively costing you crop.

If you deliberately want seed, leave two or three pods on one designated plant near the end of the season, and go on picking everything else clean.

A plant that has stopped flowering because of overgrown pods will usually restart. Strip every mature pod off it, water and feed, and it comes back into flower in one to two weeks.

Storing and recording what you pick

Okra does not store. Quality falls noticeably after two days and the cut ends go slimy in a sealed bag. Keep the pods dry and unwashed, loose in a paper bag or an open container in the fridge, and use them within three days. Do not wash them until you cook, because surface moisture is what starts the breakdown.

Keep a simple daily tally of pods picked and pods culled as too woody. That second number is the useful one. When the culls climb above about one in five, it is telling you the picking interval is too long for the current weather, and it is the clearest possible prompt to go out every day. Note the date of your first pick and your last, too; the length of that window is what you will want to compare between seasons.