I'm in 9A and have had no success with winter/English/sugar snap peas; however, I think my major problems are poor soil and rabbits eating them as soon as they germinate. I'm in the process of amending my soil now and will fence pea beds before I try winter peas again. On the other hand, I've had excellent success with summer/cow peas. We really like the taste of Mississippi Purple and Zipper Cream peas plus they are excellent summer cover crops.

Thank you hejerry for the quick reply! I'm going to look into the summer/cow peas, mississippi purple and zipper cream peas!

Spring plantings may fail in many high-9 and 10 zones without some cool weather by the time they're flowering.

Oct/Nov plantings for harvest in Feb through late-March/early-April harvest works in many areas.

Thank you nc-crn!

I grow snow peas here in San Diego with November being the best time to plant. December and January can be done also but they just don't get enough light in the beginning, so by the time they kick in in March, I only get a few harvests before having to pull them because of the heat and powdery mildew in May and June. This season, I did in November and I'm getting my first pods right now--- woohoo!

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Tue, Jan 22, 13 at 22:11

Thanks woohooman!

No problem Fl-belle.

One more note-- apparently powdery mildew is a big problem with peas and I know FL is more humid than it is here, so here's a tad more info about controlling powdery mildew. What I take from the thread is that you have to treat for powdery mildew BEFORE you SEE symptoms -- so when the heat and humidity starts to increase is when you want to treat the plants.

Good Luck.

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: controlling Powdery Mildew

Thanks again woohooman, will definitely jot that down. What about potting? Do peas do better potted or planted?

I'm sure they do fine in pots with the right attention, but probably a pain -- trellising would have to be creative. For me, it's so much easier to plant a 10 foot row, thin to about 6", set up with trellis netting or chicken wire and train them a tad. Let them do their thing, feed now and then, and then harvest every few days when they start producing.

Kevin

This peas to six inches? I plant them in a four inch wide trench by just dropping them in and covering them. Many end up right beside each other, and all are within a couple inches of each other. Never had a problem - I get great production. I learned to crowd them from Jim Crockett, on the original Victory Garden show on public television back in the 1970s.

Jonfrum: I used to do that, but thinning to 6" allows for better air circulation which helps with the PM.

Kevin

I am harvesting peas now, I do succession planting of different pea varieties. They all do well for me.

Snap peas

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Silvia