Snow Pea lifecycle

I have planted snow peas for the first time. I got a bit of late start (early April in zone 6B) but the plants are tall and producing lots of blossoms and a number of developing pods. So I have some questions regarding what to expect from this point.

Will the plants stop producing at some point? If so, is it fairly abrupt?

Should the plants be pulled out at some point, or will they continue to produce at some level through the hotter part of the summer?

Should I plant for a fall crop, and if so when should the seeds go in the ground?

Many peas and beans are available as either a bush or vine types of plant.
IME the vine type seems to produce more, as long as you keep them well harvested.

Mine usually struggle along through the heat, but eventually the whole plant just sort of gives up, shrivels and dies. It might be the heat, or it could be that I missed a few pods here and there.

It certainly is worth growing as a fall crop. Timing will depend on how fast it usually cools off in your garden. The seeds can be sprouted while it is still a little bit too warm, but since they sprout so fast, it is better if the cooler weather is just a couple of weeks away. You might grow them in containers in a cooler, somewhat shaded area (shaded from the hottest of afternoon sun) to keep them a bit cooler, or provide some shade cloth over them.
Do not cut off air circulation, The tend to get powdery mildew with poor air circulation.

You might try a southern pea such as brown Crowder or Dixie butterpeas. The later are available speckled or white. With snow/snap peas, I get about four weeks production barring a sudden heat wave. After cutting the snow peas at ground level, I leave the plants on the fence, lightly cultivate and plant southern peas in place. No fertilizer or other prep needed. They are drought tolerant, so good for summer dry spells and will produce up until frost. You can also try Wando peas. They are a fast growing, bush green pea that can be planted at the end of the summer but need cool weather to produce well. Unlike southern peas, those will need attention to watering. Your last option is a fast maturing bush bean as they are earlier producing than pole types. Look up the days to harvest times on these plants and count back to see when to remove the snow peas. See if you have four or more harvestable weeks in your growing season.

Here in the St. Louis area, the late summer and fall weather is pretty unpredictable. The particular variety I have is definitely a climbing type. The vines are working their way up some bird netting and are three to four feet high at this time. The seed package says 72 days to harvest.

If the plants are cut off at ground level, does that kill them or will they start regrowing?

At this time, I don't think I will be planting any other pea varieties.

All varieties of snow peas slow as temps rise, then stop producing when temperatures reach daytime 75 degrees. You may get one short flush on young plants if you are hitting 75. I used to wait 'til they gave up the ghost but seeing as how they are done well before the end of growing season, and there are no great ways to preserve them, I move on to something else. Cutting kills the vines. If you are not interested in fast producing bush green beans you can wait a bit and plant fall greens or brassicas. They will enjoy the nitrogen fixed in the soil by the peas. Again, to maximize the nitrogen benefit cut the vines and cultivate the soil with the remains of the plant.

The other pea varieties Maypop is referring to are warm weather types, unlike the type you are currently growing.

I understood the points. At this time, I'm only interested in growing snow peas (besides my normal tomato and hot pepper crops that is). I will try a second planting in August, depending on the weather.

Thanks for inputs. I will save the other information for another year.

The snow peas are producing well at this point. It's amazing how much one of the pods can grow in a single day. I'm harvesting some each day and there are still quite a few blooms that hopefully will result in pods down the line. My brother reports that you can let some pods mature more and get some tasty "petit pois" from them if too many pods are coming at once.

We have been "enjoying" warm weather the past week or so, above 80 a number of days and > 90 yesterday. A couple of the plants show some yellowing of foliage near the ground. Not sure if that's related to the weather.

Asian farmers overplant and use thinnings up to one foot long in broths. They're quite expensive at the market. I also do this. Young plants are tender and taste like the peas.

The plants have been prolific, more than I expected. I planted six seeds, but accidentally killed one of the sprouts. The remaining five have been producing pods by the dozens each day. The weather here has been consistently in the 80s with a few days in the 90s but the plants haven't yet given up yet. The past several have been cloudy and rainy, so that probably helped some.

The ones that get the most sun are starting to yellow and their blossom production is just about done. The ones with a bit of shade still are pretty green, and while their blossom count is down, I expect quite a few more before it's all said and done.

As a scientist and engineer, I'm keenly interested in experiments. To that end, I took some of the other seeds from the packet and made a few alternate plantings. Three were planted along the back fence where it gets partial sun. Three more in a shady corner that never sees sun. They have all sprouted. I will be monitoring to see how they react to the hotter summer weather. At worst, they fail to produce anything or the rabbits will enjoy them. I will report as things progress.



This message was edited Jun 17, 2015 12:16 AM

Latest update. The production had just about stopped. The we had some cooler and rainy weather for about a week, and that seemed to rejuvenate the plants. Even though the lower parts are pretty yellow, the plants put out new growth at the ends and more blossoms. While production is not what it was, I probably pulled in a dozen or more pods last week, with some still in development. Not too bad for almost July.

The experiment, on the other hand, is going as well. After some early promising growth, the shoots became spindly and are lying on the ground. Some I think were "trimmed" by the rabbits. I'm not sure if the temperatures, excessive rain, or lack of much soil preparation (or some combination) is behind that. No matter. I can try again.

Every grower's conditions are unique. Becoming an expert relies on the experiment.

The shoots from the semi-wild conditions in the back yard seem to have, er, passed away now. I will retry soon.

A couple of the other plants have put forth an amazing amount of new growth and production is now back up to 10-15 day. Based on the number of tiny pods and blossoms, I expect that more will come in for days yet.

The two plants that get the most direct sunlight are fading rapidly and when their last few pods get picked that will probably be it for them.

We have yet to get a classic St. Louis heatwave, which has certainly helped their lifespan.

I removed two of the vines that had stopped producing. Here are a couple of shots I took today to show of one of the remaining with the new growth and the dying old growth. Still get a few each day, but this weekend will be pretty warm and that might finish them off.

You must really like snow peas. I'd prefer to replace plants long before the death knell is ringing with crops more productive such as beans. Maybe the snow pea experiment will best advise you as to when to move on to something else next year? Your growing zone allows for a lot of options.

I do like snowpeas, and they are fairly expensive in the supermarket. Realistically, the production rate I have now is pretty decent for me, not to mention the amounts from the boom period. Some of those have been frozen and others are in the refrigerator with paper towels in layers where they are keeping quite well.

All in all, a successful foray. I will be looking for a second planting in August. I might return to the shade attempts in the back soon.