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Post by grungy on Jun 11, 2009 1:41:58 GMT -5
Gosh, Dave those almost look like sweet peas. Great growing.
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Post by bunkie on Jun 11, 2009 8:25:30 GMT -5
awesome color dave!
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Post by redneckplanter on Jun 13, 2009 6:21:01 GMT -5
just gorgeous...
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 13, 2009 8:13:20 GMT -5
So why do my peas act as though the soil is poison? They started dying by the time they were maybe a couple feet tall. They are all gone now with the exception of some stunted secondary growth at the bottom of 1 or 2 plants. I replanted and 15 have sprouted, I don't have a ton of hope.
Maybe lime? Some soft rock phosphate? At Martin's suggestion, we have sourced oak leaves for our potato beds. We were not going to go after it until this fall, but maybe we should work some into this bed?
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Post by americangardener on Jun 13, 2009 9:26:17 GMT -5
Geeze.. i can't think of why you're having bad luck with the peas. I've only seen mine shrivel and dry up when it gets too hot. Usually for me that's around the end of August. Except for one variety of mine that is supposed to have yellow leaves all the rest are looking lush and green. My problem is gonna be with aphids.. i just noticed a couple on one of the red podded pea blossoms this morning. I think i'll have to spray the plants with some mild dishsoap and hope i don't kill em off. I did that once with cucumber plants. Anyways.. Rebsie if you read this.. i think i may have to start calling your creation the rainbow pea. It's turning darker and darker purple by the day. Started out yellow, turned red and now it's turning purplish. Just hope the next plant keeps em a red shade for a longer period.. and yep.. i have another plant that's putting out the red pods.   Dave |
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Post by americangardener on Jun 14, 2009 7:32:10 GMT -5
Hey Rebsie... hope you don't mind... but i'm trying to cross one of the yellow podded ones that came out of your F3's with one that's half purple and half green. If i read your blog right you said that the purple is the dominant one.. so i should probably use the yellow podded one as the mother and see if it crosses. Anyways.. my thought on this is that since the pods are starting out yellow with the MBPxA's and then turning red for just a little while, before it changes to purple... that maybe if it had a less pronounced purple coloration in it's genes that it would stay red longer. Anyways.. that's my project for today.. i think i have some buds that are just about right on both plants. i41.tinypic.com/2r5fb10.jpgDave |
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 14, 2009 18:22:34 GMT -5
Thanks Dave! Good input. I kinda (but not totally) doubt it was heat that killed them off. I've made 4 plantings so far. One was in February (I think) 2 weeks before what was supposed to be the last frost date. The second planting was 4 weeks later, DEFINITELY after last frost and we had a couple light chills, but no frosts afterwards. The third planting was again 4 weeks later in April. I got half a dozen sprouts off the 2nd planting which all keeled over around the time I made the 3rd planting. The 3rd planting saw about half of the seed germinate. Interestingly, most of them came up on one end of the row and very few on the other end. I think it's more like an nutrient issue. The 4th planting I made just a couple weeks ago. More of a desperate hope planting since it is getting hotter. But I will say that I FINALLY got enough peas to make a pot of creamed peas and potatoes with fresh garlic. That was some fantastic garden food there. I would just like to have it more than once a year!
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Post by grungy on Jun 14, 2009 23:32:12 GMT -5
Jo, do you by chance have cutworms?
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 16, 2009 6:15:58 GMT -5
Cutworms? It's possible/probable. OK, just googled images and I would have to say that I probably do though I'm not sure it's enough to be pervasive? Can you tell me a bit more? They don't seem to be affecting other parts of the garden. The peas are on the edge of the patch followed by a 3 foot strip that is currently in weeds then a row of garlic.
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Post by americangardener on Jun 16, 2009 6:53:37 GMT -5
Jo.. i suppose cutworms could be chopping the plants off at soil level. If that's the case.. check for rabbits too. Rabbits around here will nibble the base of the stems.. they don't eat much.. you can't even really tell they've been there untill a couple days later when all the plants start shriveling up and drying. If the base of the plant is cut.. it's a good chance it's rabbits. Usually they'll do more than a couple of plants at a time though.. if it's just a couple then scuff up the soil around the base of the plants and see if you can't turn up a cutworm or two. They don't go far from where they do they're work. Anyways.. good luck with those peas. Here's what i went and did yesterday. I went and played creator.  Father of cross with rebsies F3 that is half purple and half green. If i marked my rows right this yellow mother is called Lil Sugar. If not i'll look up the name later. Anyways.. we'll see in a couple days if any of my pollinations took. I did 3-4 of em, between different plants. Here's the father..   least i hope so.. i had only one paint brush and there may of been some left over pollen from the yellow one on there.. or even some other purple ones that i was playing around with earlier. Anyways.. probably won't even work... i've got to learn where to place the pollen for best results.. my figuring is at the very tip... so we'll see if i was close or not in a few days.    Dave |
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Post by bunkie on Jun 16, 2009 9:09:10 GMT -5
great pics dave! i'm crossing my fingers for you! i wonder if this process is used for crossing beans? jo, we have two varieties we plant of peas every year that bloom and produce right through the hottest part of the summer and into fall. they are Mayfair, from Peters Seed and Research, www.psrseed.com/ and Multistar from Peace Seeds, www.peaceseeds.compeas producing in 100F weather and still blossoming... www.imageuploads.net/ims/pic.php?u=27615PDlUo&i=156888 |
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Post by americangardener on Jun 16, 2009 10:45:27 GMT -5
Well i'm still at it. This crossing peas can get addicting. Every time i see a new blossom starting to form i start planning on crossing it with something else. Hope i'm getting the hang of it. Sure hope this new one takes. Its from both Rebsies F3's. The mother is a taller plant, as of now i still have no idea what color pods it will have. It's just starting to blossom. But you can see the butchered blossom in some of these pics of it. If it works it'll be the pea pod right under the piece of twine. It's father is one of the red podded plants. And it's shorter.. i'd say maybe 4 ft, whereas this mother plant is at least 6, maybe closer to 7. Anyways.. this is the creation of the day: Lower down on mother  Top where blossom is crossed  And again  And of course you've all met the father already:  with his oldest kids:  and  Yeah that's right.. those in the last picture used to be red. They're lower down on the same plant that i used for the father. Anyways.. hope it works. Dave |
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 16, 2009 13:57:46 GMT -5
Thanks Bunkie! I'll have to go give those links a peekaboo!  |
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Post by americangardener on Jun 19, 2009 20:22:23 GMT -5
Hey bunkie.. you should try crossing some of those heat resistant plants of yours with some purple podded ones or even some of these red ones. I'm gonna try and make an umbellate plant with 50 or more blossoms per head that is 7 ft tall and the pods are red or better yet half red and half yellow. And of course edible podded too. that's not too much to ask for now is it? It seems to be so, so, simple too. I'd of never thought hand pollination could be so easy. And to top it off.. there's absolutely no way peas can cross pollinate so i can grow a thousand varieties one right on top of the other if i want. I've probably made at least 200 or so hand pollinations.. i ran out of blossoms already. Least all the yellow podded ones.
Just picture this one pod here with the purple and green.. if i can get it so that it's red instead of purple and yellow instead of green that'll be a good start. I'm gonna grow all the F1's out this fall. Now i don't usually grow fall crops of peas.. but i want to see what all the F1's turn out like. In my mind they should all be identical... so that'll mean i can have quite a few of em to produce a larger quantie of F2's with. And that's where i understand the fun part starts.
Anyways.. Just thought you'd enjoy this little hobby. I've got probably a good 40 or so different combinations i've tried. Everything from Dwarf purple podded plants with tall Edible podded ones that are green to those tall plants with the umbellate types. It's gonna be interesting even in the F1 stage for me.. i have no idea how any of em will look.
Anyways.. anyone else interested?
Dave
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Post by americangardener on Jun 19, 2009 21:04:57 GMT -5
Anyways.. back to the red podded ones.. here's what i crossed today back in the back garden. If the critters don't eat em first i think it should be a red blush edible pod in the First generation. Anyways.. it should have some red. I crossed a dwarf yellow edible podded one shown in this picture.. there are actually 3 plants there.. sorry it's so blurry.  Dwf yellow edible  And i'm using the purplish one here as the mother.... again sorry bout the blurr. And the plants aren't in the best of shape.. both of these have already been nibbled by rabbits or something.  Dwarf twotone pod  You should see what they did to some dwarf purple podded ones.. these had dark purple pods on em.. i did get some blossoms to make crosses with that same dwarf yellow though.. and with a couple of other yellow podded ones. |
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