Feltham First vs Fortune

[andys]

Have any of you northern gardeners ever had any luck growing a good crop of Feltham First peas from a Jan/Feb indoor sowing ?

I tried it two years in a row, on both occassions the plants grew vigourously however the pods never filled.
Since then I have tried sowing Fortune and had two very good seasons in 2003 (eating tasty peas before FA cup final day ) & 2004 but have had two very poor crops in the last two years so I am at a loss to which variety to start the season with.
I will be sowing Kelvedon Wonder and Avola in early Feb in seed trays for planting out later in the month.

[oldherbaceous]

Good afternoon Andys, this sounds as if it might turn into a good topic.
I'm not a Northen gardener, but the hard bit of early peas is trying to get them growing vigourously at that time of the year, so you should have done the hard bit.

Could you be a bit more descriptive about your procedure up until things go wrong, and what the plants looked like when the pods refused to fill.

Also was it fortune that have failed in the last two years.

[andys]

Hi Old Herbaceous, thanks for the quick reply.
I always sow my early peas indoors in seed trays with about 30 peas to the tray using "grow bag" peat based compost.
Once the pea shoots are 2 / 3" long I plant them out into a 4" deep drill in my allotment in double rows with each plant 4" apart under the cover of a clear poly sheet. My Allotment soil is a silty clay loam and I add a little superphosphate and any compost/rabbit litter I can get hold of into the drill to keep the peas fed during the growing season

The poly sheet keeps the peas snug until late March/ Early April when I remove it. (it also keeps the spuggies at bay !)
I then fix some 2 foot tall chicken wire to a post at either end of the row and train the plants up the wire.

Once the plants are in flower I give the roots a light dressing of potash to boost the crop.

The plants are watered twice weekly if the soil appears to be dying out.

Yes Fortune has produced poor tasting peas in the last two years although the plants grew well and looked ok, I also had a poor crop of Alderman last August which had yellow pods and yellow/white seeds which was maybe due to the hot July we had - did anyone else suffer the same oucome ?.

Going back to the failed Feltham First crops from 2001 & 2002
Both grew well and reached 30" in height and produced a good show of pods in mid/late May, however the pods didnt fill although rows of Kelvedon Wonder and Early Onward growing only 6 feet away cropped well in Mid June from a Mid Feb sowing.

This is why I wondered if Feltham First really is suitable for growing up north due to the weaker light levels we have compared to the SW & SE in spring.

Hope you can help,

Regards

Andy S

[oldherbaceous]

Hello Andy, i would say that you seem to be doing all the right things, i take it the plants were still growing well when they got to the pod stage
One thing i did pick up on was that your Feltham First grew to 30 inches tall, normally they only get to about 18 inches high
Did you use the same packet of seed for both years
I was just wondering if they might have got the seed mixed with a mangetout, i know that is a bit of a long shot, but if they are getting to the pod stage i just can't think of any other reason why they are not filling.
With your Alderman, being a pea that grows to five feet or more, unless you can do a really good pea trench and give copious amounts of water they always seem to get stressed and you end up getting the symptoms you described.
One good little tip is to pull some soil up all round the peas then when you water it alows the water to soak the roots instead of running off.

I hope someone else will come up with some better answer.

I don't think it is anything to do with low light levels by the way, not at that stage of development anyway.

[John]

Hello Andy
Just a couple of thoughts!
You say that you are growing in trays and then planting out. It could be that this root disturbance at an early stage is causing the problems later on. You could try sowing in modules (the deeper sort) or, better still, root trainers with least two seeds to a module. You will then be able to plant them out directly with the minimum of root problems.
Also you might need to start them off indoors but immediately you have plants poking through the compost I would say that you should move them somewhere cooler and to grow them harder and more slowly. These early varieties are pretty tough and will continue to grow outside in a sheltered area (must have full light), a cloche or cold frame then plant out when big enough. As long as you can keep the frost off them they should be OK in their early stages.

So I don't think that it's either a northern or a variety thing.

John

[Tigger]

You could try growing them in guttering and then sliding them into place. Sounds easier than it is, but I did finally crack the technique last year.

[Johnboy]

Hi Andy,
I sow my in 7cm square pots 5 to a pot a cm in from each corner and one in the middle. Although I do not grow early's of any variety so I cannot exactly comment on them but I am sure that this method may assist you with root disturbance. To plant you simply fetch out a shallow trench to the depth of 7 cm and de-pot and plant and tuck them up with any loose soil. I used to use the guttering method like Tigger but I am not as mobile as I used to be and was having difficulty with the planting. Both methods work extremely well. Peas like plenty of compost or well rotted manure underneath them and I wonder if the use of man made fertilizers could be part of your problem also they need a strict watering regime the more even the better. They do not like drying out. Normally when a Pea fails to fill the pod it is a sign of lack of moisture.
JB.

[Wellie]

Not the same, I know, but I grew Mangetout last year very successfully, and the only reason I mention this is because I did it in the manner to which Tigger is referring, in short lengths of guttering.

When they were of a 'transferable' stage, I slid them out of the guttering (sideways, NOT lengthways, which proved MUCH easier...) and I was harvesting mid-June, daily, until the crop was exhausted.
If I were to change anything this season, I'd have the support 'rigid', not 'netting'.

[Chris]

Hi Andy

I have tried Feltham First both as an overwintering and early sown tunnel crop with poor results. Meteor has been much more successful here in the real North of Britain. I'll be sowing them in a couple of weeks in a propogator - 2 and 3 seeds per root trainer to get them off to a quick start and planting 2 or 3 4ft rows in the tunnel when the roots fill the container. I know that the round seeded varietes are not as sweet but if that's a problem a spoonful of sugar does the trick.

[Alison]

Wellie mentions the question of support: I like to try the really tall 6-ft peas, since they seem to crop for longer and are certainly easier to pick without bending! But whereas beans happily grow up bamboo wigwams, peas don't cling properly. So what does anyone recommend for climbing peas, that works properly and is reasonably easy to operate?
Alison.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Alison, the best thing to use are tall hazel branches, if you can find anyone doing some coppicing locally you might be able to buy some.
The alternative would be posts and wire netting or that plastic pea and bean netting you can buy, but i can't say i like that stuff a lot.