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Gary350
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How many peas does 1 plant produce?

I already have a bag or Alaska Early Peas so I guess I will plant them just to get rid of them so I can try growing something different next year. In the past I get about 3 peas per pod and about 5 pods per plant that = about 15 peas per plant. I have to grow a lot of pea plants to get enough peas for 1 dinner. 300 seeds planted = about 4500 peas still not a lot of peas. I have always planted in the fall because that is the advise of local gardeners. My garden is underwater until mid May I cannot plant any seeds until about May 7 to 15 when soil is dry and 65 degrees. If I plant pea seeds May 10 a 65 day crop will be ready to harvest about July 15 in 98 degree weather. Is there an Early Pea variety better than what I have that produces more pods and more peas per pod and grows good in hot 98 weather?

Vanisle_BC
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Gary; 3 peas per pod and 5 pods per plant sounds like you're growing the wrong pea? I tried Alaska Early a few years back and it was so unproductive, with puny pods, I never did again.

I don't know anything about gardening in your area but I'd suggest you try other varieties. Here we get very cool wet springs with summers that can go far into the 90s. I grow only determinate or near-determinate(?) peas that don't get too tall. They grow well. I don't know much about the other - indeterminate - types except they can be too high for me to deal with.

Novella, Maestro and Oregon Giant (huge snow peas with long heavy production) are my early-ish standards that might fit in your season. I doubt that soil has to be both dry and 65deg. I've successfully got them going early (mid-Feb) by 1) pre-sprouting indoors and 2) building a ridge about 4 inch high to plant them above the wettest ground. This was like a mini raised bed: 2 planks part-buried edgewise with soil in the raised area between them. I think I also covered it, but don't recall. (Birds & critters love the sprouts.) It worked OK, where in other years seed planted that early just rotted. I think it's a combination of too-cool and too-wet that does them in, but they don't need specially warm dry ground. -- BUT those early-started peas matured at the same time as the ones planted "conventionally" a full month later so I've not bothered doing it again; mid-March seems about the earliest that makes sense here.

This year those 3 varieties were all planted - pre-sprouted but otherwise normally - on April 4 and took about 80 days till harvest. Green Arrow produced very heavily and took an extra 10 days. We vacation close to home & have been known to dash back for a day, to bring in the peas :) Timing is everything!

You asked how many peas per plant? I can't tell you - didn't weigh them, much less count! This year I had about 30 ft of row (4 double rows across 3'-6" raised beds) and we had peas for many meals, but not enough to last into fall.

There's nothing so relaxing as shelling peas, summer afternoon in a deckchair.

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jal_ut
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How many peas does one plant produce? Plant one and see. It will depend on the type of pea and the conditions.

Want some peas? Plant two rows 30 feet long, spaced 12 inches and a seed every three inches in the rows. Have fun!

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Gary350
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I planted a 40 ft row of peas yesterday. Tomorrow I am sifting those seeds out of the soil and throwing them into the yard. I don't need to be wasting my time with the same pea seeds again, I need something that is a big producer.

I found Oregon Giant Pea Seeds on Ebay 25 seeds are $4.00 if the seeds are Organic or Heirloom the price DOUBLES. Picture shows 8 peas per pod. How may pods per plant? Where are you buying reasonable price pea seeds? Garden store and Farmers Co-op have no seeds now.

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Gary350 wrote:I found Oregon Giant Pea Seeds on Ebay 25 seeds are $4.00 ...... How may pods per plant? Where are you buying reasonable price seeds?
Here on the west coast, last time I had to buy any I got them from West Coast Seeds - currently $2.99 Cdn for approx 75 seeds or $3.99 for 225. If you'd rather spend $US I'm sure Territorial will have them. Unless I'm mail-ordering several things I try to find them on in-store racks & save the postage. I'd think there must be many companies selling them across the US. Aren't you anyplace near a decent sized garden supply outlet? They're not really rare.

How many O.G. pods per plant? Lots. Peas in a pod? I don't know; never counted either. These are meant to be eaten whole, pod & all, when the peas inside are young & tender. But you can let some mature all the way (still very edible), harvest the seed and never have to buy them again.

I could even send you some seed but I think it's only legal in the opposite direction.

Good luck.

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Gary350
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I am getting a lot of conflicting information & incomplete information online for Oregon Giants.

One company shows photo of 11 peas in the pod and says plants are 30" tall.

Another company says 8 to 10 peas per pod plants are 3 ft tall.

Another company shows flat pods with no peas, plants are 3' tall.

Another company says, harvest in 60 days plants 30" tall.

Other companies say variations of the same thing.

No one says how many pods per plant or how many peas per plant.

40 years ago I grew peas year after year, I grew a lot of different varieties trying to find the best one. I never found a variety that would make enough peas to CAN 50 mason jars of peas. I was growing peas in a 40 ft row seeds 2" apart harvest was enough for a few meals. My best crop of peas was 1 lb of pea seeds sprinkled in a patch about 10'x10' square the harvest was small waste of time for mason jars so we ate them. I don't recall every getting a large number of pods per plant or a large number of peas per pod. Maybe I should grow peas in summer like I do Beans and Tomatoes? I thought peas are a cold weather crop how will they do in 98 degree weather. I gave up on growing peas for 30 years I like to grow large food producers.

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jal_ut
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Can you get some seed for Wando Pea? They seem to do better in warm weather.

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jal_ut
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Interesting, you counting peas....... I have never worried about counting peas, and for sure I won't waste my time trying to shell them for canning. Peas are for fresh eatin right out of the garden.

Vanisle_BC
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My Oregon Giant peas grow about 4ft or a little taller. They give us more food per plant that any other pea I grow, but I've never weighed it or counted how many pods, peas etc. At end of season it outlasts the others I grow. We chop & freeze the pods in bags for use after summer in soup, stir fries etc.

I believe published "days to maturity" are only a guide, subject to local conditions & timing. At best they are likely over-optimistic.

I've never heard of anyone planting peas at this time of year (October), in this hemisphere. Maybe there are places where you can do that. The latest I've tried it was August - and that was unsuccessful.

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Gary350
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We don't get frost until 1st week of November and no Freeze until 3rd or 4th week of December. There has been times we have no hard freeze until 1st or 2nd week of January. Sky is very over cast & 12 hours of daylight, soon we only have 11 hrs of daylight. Peas plants are always very skinny like they need sun & fertilizer, not many leaves and only about 5 pods with 3 peas per pod. Last year I let the plants grow hoping peas in the pods would get larger but they never did. Plants did ok with several frosts and several nights below freezing but plants did not seem to be growing they continue to be the same size. I am starting to think peas will do better in spring I will have to try and see. I can plant seeds soon as mud is gone about May 15 and harvest last part of July when it is 98 degrees. It will be blistering hot and dry as the desert last of July until Sept. It rained last night so I will let my peas grow to see how they do maybe I be lucky and get 1 pint jar of peas.

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jal_ut
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Here in high dry Utah we get about 4 months of growing time. From mid May till first weed of September. Peas do well in cool weather. We plant them early. April to mid May. We used to jokingly say "shoot them in with a shotgun" if conditions were wet.
What varieties does you seed supplier carry? Here I have had good luck with Little Marvel, Victory Freezer, Laxton Progress, and Wando. Wando seems to do better in warm weather than the others, so it makes a good summer pea.

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Gary350
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jal_ut wrote:Here in high dry Utah we get about 4 months of growing time. From mid May till first weed of September. Peas do well in cool weather. We plant them early. April to mid May. We used to jokingly say "shoot them in with a shotgun" if conditions were wet.
What varieties does you seed supplier carry? Here I have had good luck with Little Marvel, Victory Freezer, Laxton Progress, and Wando. Wando seems to do better in warm weather than the others, so it makes a good summer pea.
James, you probably have more sun & less clouds than we have through out the winter. It has been very cloudy here for several weeks. Weather man said more rain & clouds for the next 5 days. Farmers co-op has no seeds this time of the year & not a large selection to choose from in spring. The Amish Garden Store is sold out of seeds and will not restock until spring. I will read about Wando seeds online. Your hot weather is probably not as hot as TN. When rain stops and mud drys up here it will be about 75 to 80 degrees my growing season is 2 months long to get a good harvest on all my crops before 98 to 100 degree weather. I should probably plant 5 different varieties of pea seeds in spring to see which 1 does best.

Vanisle_BC
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As I said before I think it's a combination of cold & wet that will rot peas before they can germinate. I also suspect (without knowing whether it's true) that once germinated they are better able to survive those same conditions. That's why I pre-sprout. Maybe someone who knows of actual research on the subject can tell us whether my suspicion has any validity.

Maybe it acts as a kind of placebo? - If I believe in it, it works! (Kidding.)

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Gary350
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This is my garden the month of, March, April, and first week of May. Nothing grows in this swamp except tomato plants. Do you see my tomato plants in the picture. Do you think Pea seeds will grow in this swamp in April? I planted these tomato plants in the mud and they lived. Seeds, onions, garlic, potatoes, all rot in the mud.

Image

Soon as soil dries out like this I can plant seeds. My growing season is from the time mud drys up until weather is about 100 degrees every day, about 2 months and 1 week. I try to plant tomatoes April 15 to 30. I try to harvest 500 lbs of tomatoes the first 2 weeks of July. Seeds get planted when soil is dry and 65 degrees, air temperature is 75 to 80, about May 10 to 15.

Image

Peas will probably not like this swamp but if I plant peas May 15 a 60 day crop will harvest about July 15 in 100 degree weather. This summer we had several weeks of 98 degree temperatures and 1 day of 102 degrees F and a few days of 100 deg F. No rain July 15 to Sept.

Vanisle_BC
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Gary you have my sympathy, trying to establish planting dates & techniques for your soggy garden in the spring. Also my congratulations on your determination to produce significant amounts of vegetable in such difficult conditions. I hope your experiments with different pea varieties & timing are useful - and productive. Please post follow-ups later.

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I have had good luck with laxton #9. it yields 7-9 peas/pod and 3-5 pods/plant. they are 3 foot climbers, so I plant them in 3-4 foot rows, one plant every 4 inches in all directions, and let them climb themselves. then at harvest time, I use the 80-10-10 rule...80% ripe, 10%over ripe, 10% under ripe... and pick everything. I spring plant, but have had volinteers come up in the fall and bloom and bear peas near Christmas, as long as they are not buried in snow, they survive.

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jal_ut
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Certainly growing in Tn is going to be different than growing in Northern Utah at 5000 ft elevation. Gary350 have you given any thought to digging a ditch around the garden to collect the water, then run it off the low end? IOW drain the swamp? Is there a place the water could run away if you did this?

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jal_ut
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My goodness, you should dig a trench around the plot and let it collect the water. Hopefully there is a low side where the water could run off?

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Gary350
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jal_ut wrote:My goodness, you should dig a trench around the plot and let it collect the water. Hopefully there is a low side where the water could run off?
I was thinking about this yesterday. It is 150 feet from the garden to the front yard. The front yard runs down hill 200 feet to the street elevation drop of about 15 feet. It would be a lot loss work to plant a garden in the front yard it will never collect water being on a 5 degree angle. If the neighbors would not complain I would put a garden in the front yard but with all the deer and other animals it will need a fence around it. It will be less work to dig a hole in the garden and put a sump pump in the hole run a pipe to the front yard. WHAT I would really like to have is 2 dump trucks of top soil dumped in the garden so it will never flood.

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Gary350
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What temperature kills Wando Peas? Seeds should be here in 2 days, it is going to be near 70 degrees for a week. I am going to plant several types of peas to see how well they grow and produce. Maybe they live and maybe not we will see, it won't be cold here until Jan and colder in Feb & March is often our coldest month. I will plants more peas again in April.



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