Snowpea plant turning yellow?!

[Aorourke]

History on these are they were outside a few weeks ago for 1 week, however it was too cool and I hadn't had them out enough to harden them off properly so I brought them inside along with the other veggies.
They have been inside for about 2 weeks and now they are starting to turn yellow and wilt a little.
Just today I have staked them as they are getting too long but not ready to be planted yet.
I had them outside in the shade for most of the day yesterday and night and brought them in today as it was a bit cooler. Yesterday was 25 degrees centigrade, hence why I had them in the shade so as not to burn them.
Will getting them outside more help get colour back or is there something else I need to do?

Below is a photo of them, I hope you can see them o.k.

[img]https://i544.photobucket.com/albums/hh323/ameorko/Vegetables/DSCF7423.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i544.photobucket.com/albums/hh323/ameorko/Vegetables/DSCF7425.jpg[/img]

[Aorourke]

they were started from seed on the 7th of April, so are 6 to 7 weeks old. Transplanted into the peat pots about 3 weeks ago.

[DoubleDogFarm]

So it's 77 degrees outside. I would not call that to hot for peas.

It's hard to say, but I might have a few ideas.

They have out grown their little pots. I find smaller plants have an easier time with transplanting.

Stressed. Maybe over watered after under watering. Peat pots are a fickle.

Sterile potting soil mix. Lack of NPK. Maybe give them a shot of Nitrogen.

Hope some of this helps. I would get them outside as soon as you can. Peas are cold hardy and can be planted outside early.

Eric

[Aorourke]

yes that has helped a lot. I've been hesitant to put them out as I killed a few of my cucumbers by leaving them out without hardening them off enough, so I brought all the veggies and flower seedlings in.

Can I plant them the morning of a thunderstorm. I think the rain anticipated is about 1cm so not very much. But could the force of a short spell of rain harm them?
as you can tell this is my first year for snow peas and starting from seeds.

[hendi_alex]

Snow peas don't mind cold weather, though won't grow much while the temperature continues to drop below freezing. We can direct seed down here in SC in February when the night time temperatures are still dropping down into the 20's. The seeds will germinate but will mostly sit until the night time temperatures start staying above freezing. If I were to start snow peas for transplants, I would put them in the garden as soon as nightly lows generally stayed above freezing. IMO even in your short growing season area, the peas should just be direct seeded in the garden, as they will have more than enough time to produce for you, and will likely give you a much longer harvest season than we get here in SC. By May our temperatures usually get up into the 90's and that ends the harvest season as the peas turn brown and die from the heat.

[Aorourke]

I didn't have a bed ready for them to start seeds outside and I was getting a bit impatient waiting for the ground to defrost! lol. So thought I would start inside to give me something to do. Also I havent read up enough to know when to plant them. Just learning as I go and taking the info in as I go.

I will have soil in my bed on the next couple of days so next year I will be more ready and can start seeds outside, or just plant them earlier, knowing they will be fine!
We only get into the 90's in August so hopefully by then I've had some peas from them!
You live and learn! I'm the type of person that isn't very organised at first but in 10yrs time I'll have the best garden and bumper crops to feed an army!! lol

[hendi_alex]

Yes, I'm sure that gardening is an entirely different animal up your way. I always was amused when the seed packet says [plant in the winter as soon as the soil can be worked.] Well, here that mean most any time as the soil can most always be worked. But for things like spinach and sweet peas that have such instructions, though they can be planted and they will germinate, the plants just sit and wait on lows above freezing and highs in the fifties or sixties, and then they begin to grow. The problem with sweet peas, spinach, and other cool weather crops, is that our last freeze date is the third week in April, but by April we often have temperatures as high as mid to high 80's. By May the temperature will sometimes be hitting into the 90's. So there is just a brief period when the cool weather crops will grow vigorously. I'm lucky to pick sweet peas for three to four weeks before the weather gets too hot. Now for heat loving plants, if we can avoid the disease and the pests, the season is extremely long. With luck, I'll pick tomatoes, egg plant, peppers, and cucumbers for 8 months out of the year. Each climate definitely has its advantages and disadvantages.

[applestar]

Peas have been trial and error for me as well. I used to plant way too late -- we have a very short "spring" but when I tried planting on St. Patrick's Day as was typically recommended around here, the peas just sat and wouldn't germinate. So I experimented until I had a pretty good understanding of how they behaved.

I find that peas seem best direct seeded in the ground (although Eric/DoubleDogFarm has an innovative, gutter-starting method ). Pre-sprouting has worked nicely as well.

For me, sowing them on St. Pat's or sowing them a week later doesn't seem to make much difference. They all come up around the same time around first week of April, but waiting to sow the seeds until April is chancy due to likelihood of freak heat wave (upper 80's/90's) in late April/early May, even though the actual hot weather doesn't settle in until around now -- 3rd week of May.

You may need to experiment, too, until you find the best time to plant in your area.