Kitchen Garden Forum

I have planted peas (Kelvedon Wonder) in module trays in the greenhouse. The plants are about 1inch tall. I wish to plant them out when they are about 4 inches tall. Tap roots have appeared through the bottom of the modues and are growing horizontaly as the trays are on a shelf in the greenhouse. will this be any detriment to the plants as i wish to wait until they have grown more before planting out and obviously the tap roots will be longer by that time.
Advice please Brenjon

I would like to know the answer to this too, my peas are about 3 inches and the mangetout @ 2 - all in half pipes, soils about 3 inches deep.

Thank you

David

Peas don't have tap roots as such, so they do not face the problems that carrots and parsnips have, where any disturbance can cause forking.

I grow in modules as well, and the only problem that I have seen is that the plants can become pot-bound, in which case I simply tease the roots out in the normal way.

However I have found peas quite hardy, and I think that you will find that you can plant them out safely with some protection quite soon.

I've grown mine in drain pipes - a la Mr T - as I do every year and they don't seem to mind when they're transplanted.

I am trying the gutter method this year for the first time to beat the mice on the plot.

In fact they are just germinating now in the greenhouse so will be moving them outside at the weekend to start hardening them off a for a week or so.

Any tips on how to remove them from the gutter easliy?

I assume it is pull out a small trench with a hoe, water the peas in the gutter very well and slide them out into the trench...........

Thanks

Jerry

Sliding them out is not as easy as it looks as they can get all squashed up at the bottom end unless you have one person to hold the gutter at an angle and another to slide them down. I section them and then slide, it seems to work better. I've also tipped them sideways and taken the whole lot out in one go which was OK as the root system took up most of the potting compost.

Thanks for that.

I have used 4 foot sections of gutter but I will employ another pair of hands to help. My 8 year old sowed the peas so he can help me I am sure. He was very proud of his crop last year as he wanted to grow peas in his section of my second allotment.

Jerry

Hi Jerry,
Over the years I have tried several ways of extracting the Peas from the guttering and this has been by far the beast method.Obviously fetch out a trench to the gutter profile.Make a very stout profiled divider to the inside profile of the gutter and you do not push them out you lay the gutter into your trench then insert your divider absolutely rigid at about 1ft place the end of the gutter where you want the peas to start the slide them out by moving the gutter back along the trench. Give the gutter a good tapping before comencing.
I apologise for going round the house with the description but had to imagine myself doing the job.
I always was a long winded bugger.

Thanks Johnboy, I think I have it!

Jerry

I have been saying that the single root that comes through the bottom of the module is a tap root. As one posting pointed out that this is not a taproot I should not have a problem. I presume that this root that is growing horizontaly will grow down into he soil vertically when planted out and that would be the answer that I was looking for.
Regards Brenjon

Don't leave peas in a module for too long as they quickly become pot bound. If they suffer any sort of set back when grown like this it seems to make them start flowering prematurely and the crop will be reduced.

john

Hi Brenjon,
Of course there are modules and modules but I consider modules too small for the job and as has been pointed out by John that they will very easily become pot bound and this really limits the length of time you can keep them in the module. I used to use guttering but have now gone back to planting in 7cm square pots which are now easier for me to handle. I now do domino 5 patterns and 4 diamond patterns which, when planted out alternately, produce a domino 5 effect down the row. By planting in 7cm pots there is more room for root growth withhout them becoming rootbound so this gives me more time to choose the time that I want.
The whole idea is to grow at you convenience without there being any check in the growth of your Peas.
This means that the optimum time for planting is a lot longer because they do not get pot bound and there is therefore no check in the growth of the plant. The whole idea is to grow the peas in such a way as they will never know that they started life off in a pot. As with all plants you should try to never allow any serious check in their growth.

I have always used Propapacks for my peas (x40 tray, 2 seeds per module)which means that the roots come out of the bottom, a bit of a tangle sometimes but it doesn't seem to matter. However please try my method of giving the plants a nitrogenous boost on planting as the nitrogen fixing bacteria will take time to become effective.
Unfortunately Propapacks are no longer available but I am well stocked. I am thinking about the possiility of copying the idea with expanding foam filler which is still available and a mould should be possible. Another idea could be short lengths of PVC pipe, length according to requirements, a sort of recycleable 'loo roll'.

I must agree that my mobules are quite small(about130 to a tray.)I presume when you do them in 7cm pot you plant out the contents of the pots undisturbed and not splitting each plant individually. My method in the modoles is less time consuming but yours obviously is the better method as far as the growth of the plant is concerned.
As they say no pain bo gain,
Thanks again Brenjon

Johnboy, I have mine in guttering - if they get too big for that do you think it would be OK, good for the plant if I moved them to pots as you suggest?

Thanks

David