eenie meenie miney….

Problem:  yellowing at the bottom of pea plants. what gives?

here’s what i’ve found:

1. Peas need a large amount of nitrogen for growth. Buy bean & pea inoculate anywhere you buy the pea seeds. The inoculate helps bacteria in the soil create nitrogen the peas use for growth.  During the growing season keep the peas moist but make sure you don’t over water them. The peas main nutrients are phosphorus and small amounts of nitrogen.

If your soil is naturally nutritious don’t add anything else, but if not add in some fertilizer with the water every two or three weeks. Once way to tell whether your plant is getting enough nutrients is to judge from its color. If the color is pale green you will need to give the peas some more nitrogen. Especially this variety of pea will require a higher amount of nitrogen then other kinds. Try to keep the weeks at bay by hoeing, and picking the weeds by hand if necessary.

2. Peas, incl. snowpeas, are ‘cool weather’ veg. Try planting some more at the end of summer for a fall crop.

3. Maybe the older, lower leaves are being sacrified by the plant or outcompeted for water because of the water demands of the rest of the plant. If the plants are otherwise in good health, maybe this explains it. They may need more water than when they were smaller. Direct watering on snap pea blossoms will stop the pea blossoms from fruiting to pea pods. Water pea plants at the base especially when they start to bloom.

In my searches, I haven’t found one simple reason (of course!)  but i’m pretty sure i’ve saved you from having to search thru like 20 websites with this post, considering that’s what i’ve been doing for the last 45m.  Snap peas can be planted in the fall as well as early spring, so i think i might give them a try this fall.

If you’ve had this problem, and know a solution, help us out!

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