Please help! I am in (blazing hot) NC and just moved so got my garden started late this year using seedlings that I purchased. This is my first time growing okra. The seedling came as a 6" tall cluster of skinny stems with maybe a single round leaf on each of them. Since I consider myself lucky when I find a "two-for" seedling in a container for purchase, I assumed that this was just one okra plant and surely it wasn't like TEN okra plants! Well I've been wondering when my okra was going to do anything because my tomatoes are taking off but no baby okras growing, so I googled some info and discovered holy cow, okra has a single tree-like stem that grows super tall - so I transplanted like 10 plants TOGETHER! Now they are over 1' tall and have the bigger okra-plant-leaves and the stems are probably 0.5 cm wide. Should I thin this cluster at this point, or is it way too late? Should I wait and see if like 10 "trees" will grow in a cluster like that and actually produce, or risk injury to other roots by thinning so late? Thank you in advance!
Please help! I am in (blazing hot) NC and just moved so got my garden started late this year using seedlings that I purchased. This is my first time growing okra. The seedling came as a 6" tall cluster of skinny stems with maybe a single round leaf on each of them. Since I consider myself lucky when I find a "two-for" seedling in a container for purchase, I assumed that this was just one okra plant and surely it wasn't like TEN okra plants! Well I've been wondering when my okra was going to do anything because my tomatoes are taking off but no baby okras growing, so I googled some info and discovered holy cow, okra has a single tree-like stem that grows super tall - so I transplanted like 10 plants TOGETHER! Now they are over 1' tall and have the bigger okra-plant-leaves and the stems are probably 0.5 cm wide. Should I thin this cluster at this point, or is it way too late? Should I wait and see if like 10 "trees" will grow in a cluster like that and actually produce, or risk injury to other roots by thinning so late? Thank you in advance!