clear gell like balls on bottom of okra leaves

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by vancanjay, Apr 24, 2007.

  1. vancanjay

    vancanjay Member

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    i'm sure something fun is about to hatch but I have what looks like small clear gel beads on the bottom of my okra leaves in the greenhouse. They are not on anything else? Any ideas on what they may be and if I should try to spray them off?
     
  2. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Slug eggs?
     
  3. vancanjay

    vancanjay Member

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    Maybe, but they are not in masses. They are also not on other plants?
     
  4. Carol Ja

    Carol Ja Active Member 10 Years

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    Is your greenhouse heated? if not it could be that your watering to much.
     
  5. vancanjay

    vancanjay Member

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    It's not heated - what would be the cause of these "balls" and why only on the okra?
     
  6. Anne58

    Anne58 Active Member

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    Here is a wild guess . . . .

    Could it be that sap has oozed out of the leaves and has 'dried' into these little balls? I know that the okra pods have a thick mucus like sap in them. I assume you have checked for any critters that may have chewed into the vein network on the leaves. If they are okay then perhaps the leaves are just 'sweating' sap.

    Although I have never seen oozing sap on my vegie plants, my orchid gets beads of sap along the midrib of it's leaves (nice and sweet and the ants love it) and the flowering cherry regularily has large gobs of a gel like substance that seeps out of the bark.
     
  7. Noni

    Noni Member

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    These are natural for the okra plant. The clear little balls are normal for an Okra plant. They are a sign of a healthy plant.These are sap produced by the plant to attract beneficial bacteria to the leaves for better disease resistance and plant nutrition. :)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 20, 2010
  8. vanessa108

    vanessa108 New Member

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    Hooray! Thanks for the answer!
     
  9. Mindy Loper

    Mindy Loper New Member

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    OOMMGGGGG I SEE THIS IS 10YRS OLD But at the last minute decided to throw some okra seeds in my garden for the very 1st time and started noticing the EXACT SAME THING except I was calling it "sugar or salt looking" lol but now that you mention it it does look like just little tiny pieces of the inside of a wet diaper lol. So this ISSSS NORRRMAL??? TIA
     

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