VEGETABLES / OKRA
Elegant, slender, whitish green pods with a slightly curved axis. Downy pods with 6-9 ridges. Best picked between 2-4" long, with anything over 5" becoming a bit too tough. Tender and sweet with a great depth of flavor. Dry pods measured 11.6" long by 1" wide, but the donor notes they can reach 16" long and 3-4" wide at seed maturity. Large, robust plants that reportedly reach up to 10' tall, but reached around 6' tall in 2024 at HF; plants were significantly impacted by disease in NE Iowa, but are reportedly quite resilient where they are adapted to in Arkansas. Moderate productivity and vigor at Heritage Farm in 2024. This okra variety has been in Tracy Bull’s family for generations, yet he only began stewardship in 2016. One summer evening in 2015, Tracy’s neighbor Jim Newton asked him if he wanted some okra he’d just harvested. Tracy gladly accepted but complained about his lack of success growing okra in his garden. Despite being a seasoned gardener, he told Jim he’d tried okra seeds from many catalogs but they wouldn’t germinate. When they did, the results were poor. “Well, Jim replied, your cousin gave me the seed for these when I moved in from Tennessee in the 1970s. I’ve been saving seed from it every year since and this is the only okra seed I’ve ever used.” Tracy’s cousin was Hoyt Miller (1938-2004). He got the okra seed from his uncle James Gerald Moore (Jerrell) (1927-2009) in the early 1960s, who got it from Tracy’s grandfather, Eddie Bull (1904-1979), years before. Tracy believes the variety has been growing in the area long before his grandfather did. However, he can’t tell for sure because the last elders of his family passed away over ten years ago. Tracy reconstructed the variety’s stewardship history from what Jim Newton, now in his 80s, remembered from his friendship with Hoyt, Jerrell, and Eddie. Tracy donated this variety to SSE in 2021. SSE Accession # 133868
SSE Accession: 133868
$4