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Post by diane on Apr 28, 2012 14:41:25 GMT -5
At last some of the snaps and snows I planted in mid February have started to bloom.
The varieties: Amish, Brazilian, Calvert, Cascadia, Chinese Giant Snow, Golden Sweet, Green Beauty Snow, Hoh Lohn Dow Snow, June's Delight, King Tut, Magnolia Blossom, Opal Creek, Oregon Sugar Pod II, Rae, Rheinische Zucker Erbse, Sugar Magnolia, Sugar Snap, Super Sugar Snap, Sweet Jade.
I will not be able to make as many crosses as I expected, though.
I had never really paid much attention to peas - just sowed and ate. Now I find that they are not nearly as sturdy as beans which grab onto a string or pole and wind their way up. Peas grow any which way and eventually a tendril catches onto something. Then the pea grows another 20 cm or so, waving out in blank space before managing to get a tendril onto something else. If it doesn't manage that soon enough, the stem bends over with a kink in it. The result is a mishmash of vines. They did not grow up the strings that are attached to their own pots.
Another two problems:
I positioned the large pots below the horizontal branch of a big fig tree, with the strings tied to the branch. The peas have taken so long to flower that the fig has leafed out, diminishing the light available to the peas.
The peas have grown tall. Some have gone up beyond their strings and are climbing some of the fig's vertical branches. They are taller than me, and I have to use a ladder to try to pollinate the flowers, which I find tiring.
So, if I decide to do this another year, if I keep lopping off the tops of the plants, will they flower lower down so I can stand on the ground and look them in the eye?
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Post by templeton on Apr 29, 2012 17:14:09 GMT -5
Diane,
I'm envious of your diversity.
I've been advised elsewhere to just let them flop over, - they will keep growing. I'm also looking at one plant that was accidentally beheaded at waist height - will let you know how it goes compared to its sibs.
And beware of hybrid vigour in you F1 growouts- mine are now topping out over two and a half metres and look like they will easily get over 3 metres. These are the most vigourous pea plants I''ve ever grown.
T
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on May 15, 2012 11:22:02 GMT -5
I've got a dozen or so snap peas and a few snows growing in pots so I can cross them. They're about a metre high. No flowers yet, and whenever I peek inside some new growth, there's just tendrils and baby leaves waiting to emerge. What triggers flowering? I found this today while browsing on pea breeding: naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/IND43893561/PDF |
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Post by diane on May 27, 2012 23:31:26 GMT -5
I've read that fresh peas can be germinated - they don't need to dry out first. At what point can they grow? When the pod gets leathery, when the peas are too mature to be good eating, or  |
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Post by raymondo on May 28, 2012 0:21:44 GMT -5
I would say that by the the time that the pod becomes leathery, the seeds would be ripe enough to germinate. I've sown peas as soon as they seemed fully developed and had good germination.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on May 28, 2012 0:35:43 GMT -5
According to Rebsie's blog, peas can grow fine without being dried, but she recommends using a dehydrator and speeding up the drying process if you want to plant them immediately, because apparently you get a higher percentage of germination if you do allow them to dry at least a little.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on May 30, 2012 15:41:49 GMT -5
I attempted my first cross of the season today. ♀ Purple Passion x ♂ Tom Thumb. Purple Passion looks like it's flowering at the 9th or 10th node, and while it's not a dwarf i don't expect it to grow as tall as many of the others.
...i also just noticed that Umbellata (green seeds) and Umbellata (brown seeds) both are tendril-less peas! I assume they are both tall growers... how are they supposed to grow into tall fasciated plants without tendrils?
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Post by templeton on May 30, 2012 22:56:08 GMT -5
Did my first autumn cross yesterday - Cascadia X Yellow Podded - just noticed they were both flowering, so thought i would give it a go.
T
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Post by raymondo on May 31, 2012 2:31:51 GMT -5
I really like Cascadia. Should produce a good yellow snow and/or snap T.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on May 31, 2012 3:02:23 GMT -5
I just created a document for rating my peas today. Thought I'd share it with anyone interested. I decided it will use a 10 scale rating system for various traits such as growth/adaption, seed size, various tastes, and any other pleasing characteristics like purple seeds, novelty, etc. These are all traits that probably would be rated differently by different people and in different climates, but i think it will be useful to me, so i can keep track of everything and then i can use the data later for various things. docs.google.com/document/d/1g3PzirJ3AgK95Y_QZiDFBBVGIBwFIAlqj2HhGlf_5Lg/edit |
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Post by raymondo on May 31, 2012 6:10:24 GMT -5
Keen, I think such a record could be a very useful thing. I keep grow notes but they're more descriptive and so not really comparable, the one with the other. Your data could be assembled into a table for easy reference and comparison.
Could you describe the peas you used to cross?
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on May 31, 2012 9:54:16 GMT -5
Keen, I think such a record could be a very useful thing. I keep grow notes but they're more descriptive and so not really comparable, the one with the other. Your data could be assembled into a table for easy reference and comparison. Well, I created the table to record data on my general pea trials, but your right, i think it could be helpful for evaluating F1 hybrids and other F generations to evaluate how well a cross went. Great idea Ray! In regards to the general pea trial info, i will post that information in the other thread. The only peas i have knowingly crossed (and labeled) this year is the cross between Purple Passion and Tom Thumb. I'm not exactly sure what kind of information you are interested in regards to the parentage. Tom Thumb was the first to flower in my garden, it is an extremely dwarf pea at only a height of 2.5", but it received a 7 on my health/growth scale. Purple Passion is so far the third pea to flower in my garden, and is the only one to flower that is not a super dwarf, while it's stems are somewhat small and spindly i rated it a 6 for health / growth. Tom Thumb is a white flowered variety, while purple passion has light purple flowers. |
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Post by templeton on May 31, 2012 17:43:53 GMT -5
I keep written notes and some tabulated data. Since I've got two growing seasons a year, the growth characteristics in each season are going to be different.
There are a number of other characters I want to keep - weeks to first flower, pod size, height, disease resistance, pod fibre, pod colour. I thought about spreadsheeting it but decided paper records were better, and more portable - I can take my notebook out to the garden.
I've also recorded seed texture - wrinkly-ness is linked to sweetness, seed colour - as an indicator of anthocyanin, seeds per pod, pod size, and flowers per node.
T
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on May 31, 2012 20:06:25 GMT -5
I keep written notes and some tabulated data. Since I've got two growing seasons a year, the growth characteristics in each season are going to be different. There are a number of other characters I want to keep - weeks to first flower, pod size, height, disease resistance, pod fibre, pod colour. I thought about spreadsheeting it but decided paper records were better, and more portable - I can take my notebook out to the garden. I've also recorded seed texture - wrinkly-ness is linked to sweetness, seed colour - as an indicator of anthocyanin, seeds per pod, pod size, and flowers per node. Yeah, that's what my regular gardening notebook is for. This new rating system is in addition to those notes. |
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Post by templeton on Jun 1, 2012 0:57:37 GMT -5
Oops, K, I didn't pay attention - a rating system, not a note taking system. Sorry!
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