Topic: peas

[ACE]

My pea seedling have got rather large in the greenhouse even though it is not heated. I transplanted 3 outside last weekend and they don't seemed to have suffered so I put a small row out this morning. It was only a half a pint for 20p out of date ones so I ain't losing much if they fail and plenty of time to re-sow if they do. The weather is supposed to be nice and warm for the next few days so fingers crossed.

[Plot 18]

I've planted a few early mangetout in the greenhouse border, they should be finished before the tomatoes take over :)

[ancellsfarmer]

They should stand it if they are hardened off, its the effect of strong drying winds on soft tissue that might do for them. Also, they are light dependent to flower and pollination may be an issue if there are few insects and moths about.  Some plant autumn peas and hope they survive.
Good luck.

[Plot 18]

No insects required for peas.
"Pea flowers contain both male and female parts, called stamen and stigma, and usually self-pollinate. Self-pollination happens before the flowers open, "
https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1999-mendel-s-experiments

[galina]

I have started sowing peas here and we are much further north with much less benign climate than you are Ace.  Admittedly in pots so far, not yet in the garden but will plant as soon as they are ready.

Unless you are going to get inches of snow that can crush and lodge the plants, they should be fine.  Should a late snowfall happen, I am sure you can cobble a temporary cloche together with short pea sticks and fleece on top to keep the snow off the plants.  Chances are that such a snowfall would be very unusual in your location at this time 

[ACE]

Just in case the pigeons get hungry I have surrounded them in a very fine mesh corded netting. I will keep the wind off and give them a bit of a micro climate.

[ACE]

Well they have all grown a bit and stood to attention, they are a short, self supporting type so they can be planted closer together, they have to be now as I have bunged the rest in with them.

[Vinlander]

Just in case the pigeons get hungry I have surrounded them in a very fine mesh corded netting. I will keep the wind off and give them a bit of a micro climate.

I'm a great believer in netting for a micro climate - putting cloches over stuff has caused many total disasters (I blame condensation) - broad beans, lettuce etc. have all done much better under netting, and though it isn't always enough the alternative has always been worse - even cold frames (but polytunnels are OK).

Cheers.

[BarriedaleNick]

I have some just poking through on the heat mat in the garage.  I normally direct sow peas but reading this inspired me to bung some in root trainers - looking good!

[ACE]

Starting them off in modules does help and just like broad beans they are tough as old boots. Another reason is mice, although another guy at the allotments saw my efforts and decided to have a try. The next day there were little holes along most of his seedlings and they were nipped off. He puts it down to mice. Mine were in a small plot surrounded by recently treated wood. Now there is a school of thought among the old boys about soaking the peas in paraffin before planting. (a bit too drastic for me) but perhaps the smell of the wood preservative stopped the mice getting at mine.

[Tee Gee]

there is a school of thought among the old boys about soaking the peas in paraffin before planting.

I don't think it is as drastic as it may seem!

Think of it this way;

A seed consists of three primary components:

1)The embryo, or undeveloped plant.

2)The endosperm, which stores food.

3)The seed coat which contains and protects the above.


As I see it; wetting the seed coat (3) with paraffin makes it unpalatable for the mice but the paraffin does not come in contact with the endosperm (2)

That is assuming you have only dipped the pea seeds, as opposed to allowing them to soak in the paraffin as you state in your comment.

IMO To soak them will potentially increase the chances of the paraffin getting into the embryo (1) and killing it off! meaning now; that mice will be the least of your problems!

After all; as I see it; the seed coat rots away once the roots and stem form, so the chances of the whole plant being affected by the paraffin are negligible, if at all!


By the way;I have not practised this technique since the days I used paraffin heaters.

Just a thought:  Could the use of paraffin heaters be the origin of this technique? that is; an 'old boy' accidentally dropped his pea seeds in paraffin and noticed he was not troubled with mice again, so the technique was born!  

[ACE]

I only used the word soak. Having never dipped, sprayed, soaked I would not really know the right way. But thinking back to the old seed merchant days we used to buy loose peas and broad beans and as you dipped the can in the sack there was always a whiff of paraffin although the seeds were not wet with the stuff. The shop was really an old farm supply store, so we must have been buying a commercial seed. No mice problem though.

[Vinlander]

Starting them off in modules does help and just like broad beans they are tough as old boots. Another reason is mice, although another guy at the allotments saw my efforts and decided to have a try. The next day there were little holes along most of his seedlings and they were nipped off. He puts it down to mice. Mine were in a small plot surrounded by recently treated wood. Now there is a school of thought among the old boys about soaking the peas in paraffin before planting. (a bit too drastic for me) but perhaps the smell of the wood preservative stopped the mice getting at mine.

I got a couple of seasons when paraffin worked, about one more season's remission from using the more aggressive white spirit, but then it gradually got back to as bad as it ever was, and then seemed to get even worse... until I stopped using smelly stuff and it went back to normal.

The mice seemed to have learned to be more accurate with their little holes -  I think they were homing in on the stronger smell of paraffin - because they were too hungry to care about the taste.

Part of the problem was that these were very early sowings when there was nothing else to eat. At other times of year it might still work

Nowadays I lay a barrier of metal mesh on the soil (with holes 10-20% smaller than a biro) - that stops them digging the seeds out - they don't think to burrow under it.

The shoots find their way through the mesh, but the mice are much more interested in the pea seed than the shoot - if they can't dig down they don't bother to eat many shoots.

I use this for short peas, but for taller types where you sow fewer, I grow them in pots where mice can't reach them.

They have to reach about 30cm before the seed shrivels and the mice lose interest - unfortunately the traditional guttering method is too shallow to do this (squareline might be better), and round or square pots are too fiddly.

1L fruit juice 'bricks' on their long narrow side or the wide part of 6 pint milk containers can be cut to make long narrow bottomless pots > 100mm deep, much more compost and the right size for a 7-pea to 9-pea section of double row - they fit neatly across the width of standard trays for watering - you get up to 1m of row from each tray of 5 or 6 'pots'.

I promised some time back to put some photos & details in Top Tips but I can't find anything - maybe I'll do it this year.

Cheers.