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Gary350
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Are Okra seeds legumes?

I planted beans yesterday with legume inoculant on the seeds.

I planted okra and decided to try legume inoculant on it too. It surely won't hurt anything.

Definition of legume is, seeds in a pod. Onions are listed as an legume but I don't see okra on the list.

cynthia_h
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According to [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okra]Wikipedia[/url] (not an authority, but at least *a* source), okra is "a flowering plant of the mallow family." Its complete scientific classification is provided in the article I've linked to.

Not a legume.

Cynthia H.
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Artemesia
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Okra is one of those odd plants that even though it is not a legume, it does respond well to having been inoculated with Rhizobium meliloti, Rhizobium sp., and Bradyrhizobium sp. They will inhibit harmfull fungi on the okra. Okra also responds well to things like Streptomyces. There are several okra inoculant mixes on the market.

nosta
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Gary350 wrote:I planted beans yesterday with legume inoculant on the seeds.

I planted okra and decided to try legume inoculant on it too. It surely won't hurt anything.

Definition of legume is, seeds in a pod. Onions are listed as an legume but I don't see okra on the list.
I'm curious. Do you ask because you have had poor germination with prior plantings?

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Gary350
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nosta wrote:
Gary350 wrote:I planted beans yesterday with legume inoculant on the seeds.

I planted okra and decided to try legume inoculant on it too. It surely won't hurt anything.

Definition of legume is, seeds in a pod. Onions are listed as an legume but I don't see okra on the list.
I'm curious. Do you ask because you have had poor germination with prior plantings?

Germination has nothing to do with legume inoculant.

Legume inoculant gives the plant the ability to use nitrogen in the air.

If you want good germination plant after the soil has warmed up to 65 degrees F and use good seeds.

I have never had a problem with okra. It always grows and the hotter it gets and the less it rains the better okra seems to like it. It starts off a bit slow making okra but within a couple weeks I have to pick it every day it makes more okra than I can eat. A month later the plants make more okra than several families can eat. Any time I can get free fertilizer from the air I want all I can get for my plants. I might even put legume inoculant on squash, tomatoes, potatoes just to see what happens. LOL

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h292/mikeweaver/The-biggest-potatoe-ever.jpg[/img]

nosta
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Gary350 wrote:
nosta wrote:
Gary350 wrote:I planted beans yesterday with legume inoculant on the seeds.

I planted okra and decided to try legume inoculant on it too. It surely won't hurt anything.

Definition of legume is, seeds in a pod. Onions are listed as an legume but I don't see okra on the list.
I'm curious. Do you ask because you have had poor germination with prior plantings?

Germination has nothing to do with legume inoculant.

Legume inoculant gives the plant the ability to use nitrogen in the air.

If you want good germination plant after the soil has warmed up to 65 degrees F and use good seeds.

I have never had a problem with okra. It always grows and the hotter it gets and the less it rains the better okra seems to like it. It starts off a bit slow making okra but within a couple weeks I have to pick it every day it makes more okra than I can eat. A month later the plants make more okra than several families can eat. Any time I can get free fertilizer from the air I want all I can get for my plants. I might even put legume inoculant on squash, tomatoes, potatoes just to see what happens. LOL

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h292/mikeweaver/The-biggest-potatoe-ever.jpg[/img]
LOL. Hope it works for you. I woulda never thought to try it.

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jal_ut
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Crops in the family leguminosae include clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soy, alfalfa, locust, and peanuts.

To put legume inoculant on plants not in this family seems to me a waste of your money.

Onions are in the family umbeliferae. I doubt they are going to benefit from inoculant for legumes.

The nitrogen fixing bacteria form a symbiotic relationship with the plant. They need a specific host.

Artemesia
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When I say that okra benefits from bacterial inoculation, I do not mean they will fixate nitrogen. You are absotuely correct in that the Rhizobium will only produce nitrogen when infecting the roots of a proper host plant. That is not okra. But they can suppress fungus in okra. Especially the Streptomyces.

Artemesia
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I forgot to mention that sunflower is also another one of those plants that benefits from Rhizobium sp. and Streptomyces sp. If you google it you will see a ton scientific research literature on it. I have never seen any research on any other crops benefiting due to the supression of fungus besides okra and sunflower. And of course it would probably only be economic if your soil is already infected with harmful fungus. Not all soils are.

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Gary350
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2 tablespoons of water and a sprinkle of legume inoculant goes a long way when planting a small garden. After removing my beans seeds from the water I dumped in the Okra seeds. What the heck its better than pouring the unused water on the ground. After removing the okra seeds I still have water left. What can I inoculant next I still have a tablespoon of water left. LOL. I know its a waste of time to inoculant the wrong thing but I'm going to use the last of this water for something.

Artemesia
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I like your inoculation method. I do something very similar. I soak my seeds overnight though, in the water / inoculum solution. The more the seed swells, the larger the pores and the more bacteria attaches to the seed. Of course it makes planting with the Jang seeder impossible. Now that I have a much larger garden, I can no longer plant by hand. So I mix dry now even though I do not think it is as effective. Or I use a soak after planting.

I agree with using your left over inoculum. Conduct your own bacteria experiments. We are constantly discovering new relationships. We used to think that endo and ecto mycorrhizal fungus relations followed very strict categories of plants. Now there is evidence that any plant can become mycorrhizal given the right circumstances. ( Mycorrhizal Symbiosis, Second Edition, S.E. Smith and D.J. Read, Academic Press, 1997 ). It's a crazy world out there.



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