Pea pickin people

Hi,
Maybe someone can help me with this question since no one seems to know on the vine forums. I grow Vigna caracalla, which is a pea. Actually they do eat it where it is indigenous, also use for cattle fodder. How long does one leave the pods on pea plants to assure viability of the seeds? Should I just leave them until the first frost? This plant does not bloom until September & the pods are getting fat but they are still green. Any help would be appreciated. I posted a picture of the plant so ya'll could see what I am talking about.

Thanks,
Loretta

Here is a shot of the pods about a week ago.

The pods don't look mature yet to me. As with most legumes,I'd figure that they need to have a distinct outline of the seed and the pods should change color/texture as they ripen.

Welcome to DG! I'm about 3 hours north of you in west Ky.We haven't had frost yet here,so you should leave them on the plant for as long as possible...you should be even later than me for frost.Looks like they need another week or two at least.

They need to be fully dried and will turn brown and papery.
Larkie

Yes,Larkie's right...it's best to leave them on till the pods are dried,but if a hard freeze threatens,then you should pull the ones that look the most mature...vines and all.Hang them in an out of the way place where they won't freeze and they will continue to mature.

They have to be almost mature for this to work,because they will quit growing when you pull them.There will be some viability loss because you will have a larger percentage of inmature seeds,but you will at least get a harvest.

Thanks, they have almost doubled in size & you can see the pea's outline. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the frost holds off. It is in the mid 80's today.

Loretta

Loretta,

If they're like most peas a few light frosts won't hurt them, and peas are incredibly hardy. It'll take a hard freeze to kill them.

So leave them on the vines as long as possible.

As they fill out the pods will first change color and turn papery. You can harvest them then, if necessary, and put them in baskets or some such to continue drying.

I harvested the seeds and out of this huge vine it looks like I got 9 viable seeds. Since they are pollinated by ants usually, they must have been the only insects not present in my garden this summer. lol.

Loretta

Legumes don't usually rely on insects for pollination.They are 'perfect flowers'each containing male and female parts.Generally all you need is a light breeze to tranfer pollen from the stigma to the anthers.Just enough motion to rustle the leaves is all that is necessary.

I'm not familiar with the specific plant you are asking about,but cowpeas are vignas and they don't rely on insects.

If you had incomplete pollination,there must have been another reason.

From your shot of the pods,you had 3 in the picture,and all of those were pollinated.Were those the only pods you got on the plant?