Shortening Pea Vines

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by vitog, Jul 8, 2022.

  1. vitog

    vitog Contributor 10 Years

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    This year, presumably due to the cool, wet spring weather, my so-called short pea vines grew much taller than expected. For example, Cascadia, a short sugar snap pea, is supposed to grow to a height of 2 ft but actually grew to more than 7 ft. This has created many difficulties for supporting the vines and then picking the pods after the vines have fallen over. It would be useful to force the vines to produce peas at a lower height and limit the overall height. I was wondering if pinching the growing tips while the vines are still short would be useful. The hope is that this would induce flowering at a lower level, which should also limit the final height of the vines. I've never tried it before, but I'm ready to try just about anything to get shorter vines. I already select the shortest varieties because these peavines are in my row of "short" early peas, and I have another row of tall peas with appropriate supports. Has anyone tried this or has any other suggestions? Thanks.
     
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Sounds like the seeds were mislabeled. Since it is claimed merely being rough when picking the pods will traumatize the vines then removal of the shoot tips - which I never see mentioned in discussions of growing garden pea plants - does not seem likely to produce a successful result.
     
    Last edited: Jul 9, 2022
  3. vitog

    vitog Contributor 10 Years

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    I've grown Cascadia peas for years, and the seeds were from last year. The vines have always been taller than advertised, but this year they were exceptionally so. Ron, you're probably right that pinching the tips won't be helpful; but I'll try it on a few full-size sugar snap vines that I started recently for a late crop, to see what the effect is.
     

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