Peas

[peter.peterclarke]

Anybody having trouble germinating peas in modules in doors?

[Rhys]

Mine germinated fine indoors in late March and were planted out on 1st April. They are seeming a bit reluctant to grow vertically currently, despite having netting to hang on to. Lying down and sleeping on the soil seems their habit at present……

[Hawfinch]

My first batch of a variety called Sprinter never germinated, so I threw them all out. I have now planted out Douce de Provence after having sown them indoors, and my Kelvedon are also coming along fine now.

[John]

My degree of success with peas in gutters indoors had been very variable, with less than 50% germination in one case. I have now followed a suggestion (can’t remember the source) of rolling a line of peas in a moist piece of kitchen roll, popping the roll into an unsealed plastic bag and leaving it in a warm place, such as an airing cupboard, for a few days. In one case sprouting was 50% over a couple of days so I put these in modules and did the rest over the next week by which time a few seads, but only a few, had turned to mush. Another pack of seeds gave almost 100% sprouting after a few days. It’s a bit more work in the short term but I think it’s well worth it. I suspect that at least part of my poor showing in gutters was compost which was too wet, but it is much easier to control moisture with this method.

Another advantage is knowing within a few days if you have viable seed or not. I wonder if you could try this with any seed to test viability?

John

[peter.peterclarke]

John, sounds like you have had a similar problem. I followed your suggestion about the soaking and I now have modules full of growing peas and as you say it enables you to quickly eliminate the seed as the source of the problem. So many thanks for that.

[Rosie]

I’ve had a terrible year with Peas! Normally guttering works well for me but most of them didn’t germinate. Even sowing dirct hasn’t been great this year, I think the slugs are getting them:)

[Author]

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