Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi everyone,

First time here, and first time with my own garden growing fruit and veg this year.

I have some peas in a large planter that have developed powdery mildew. Looks like it's pretty much spread over the entire crop in this planter.

I've had a reasonable crop from these peas, and I have other pea plants (from the same packet of seeds) planted elsewhere in the garden.

Should I invest in some fungicide and try and save the peas - or do I give them up for a lost cause now?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Ben

I wouldn't want to eat anything that has fungicide on it this late in the growing season, indeed I don't like to spray anything at all. You have others, I would dispose of them to stop the chance of it spreading.

Pull them up and put them on the compost heap, they'll not produce any more edible pods. If they are grown in a container rather than the open ground, the cause of the powdery mildew is likely to be lack of water so, hopefully, if your other pea plants are in the ground, they will not suffer from it.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Bit gutted as these were the first things I planted, but I think any treatment will be a lost cause as you say.

They're not going to grow any more pods now, so worth pulling up.

I don't think it will have been lack of water. They're in a large 2mx2m x1m height container, and have had serious amounts of rain in the last few weeks. (regularly watered in those very occasional dry spells).

I planted them with carrots, (only harvested one so far, as was a bit small)

Maybe not enough nutrients in the soil?

I don't know where in the country you are, but peas around here (Yorkshire Dales) have not been brilliant this year, quite different from last year when the crop was huge. We had a very long dry spell early on and not even regular watering could save them (as well as the pheasant problem I have moaned about in other places!).

Is it white powdery mildew or is it the black spotty one? I've had white powdery mildew on mine before & saved the peas already in the pods that were ready, which were perfect & untouched. I also got the black spotty one (yeah I'm not very technical) one wet year & that penetrated into the peas themselves.

Whatever one you will not save the plant itself so it is only taking what is ready if the right sort of mildew & noticed at the right time.

Interesting Monika, our Greenshaft were very poor this year and I thought it was me! Strangely the Sweet Peas are keeping going really well and I am about to get the steps out to gather a big bunch as they are well out of reach above the framework.

I sowed my Greenshaft peas later than usual and have had a wonderful crop before the mildew set in. The three remaining varieties have all been badly affected now with the mangetout and Robinson worse than the Radeo which is still producing well on the unaffected growth at the top - they are about 7 ft high now.

I'd salvage any peas you can pick and then compost the plants. I rinse the pods before shelling the peas so no spores are on them if they are going in the freezer or for drying for seed for next year.

I think peas suffer not just from lack of water at the roots, which can usually be provided, but also from a dry atmosphere, hence the miserable harvest this year when it was so dry for a long stretch at a critical time for the plants. Growing peas in our garden, I can always use the sprinkler but on the allotment they are on their own.