question on supporting peas
- Thread starter jmh
- Start date
CopperTopMom
Contributing Member
If I remember rightly from my reading in one of our gardening books, you can take a bunch of small branches (we have bamboo which would work well) and stick them into the ground in the row when you plant. Place them fairly close together and criss crossing randomly. The peas should climb this quite well and it has the advantage of being cheap ( a big plus with us). I haven't tried this myself as we don't eat peas and when I did plant them I planted the low growing kind that didn't need staking.
Coppertopmom
Coppertopmom
Tweakette
Irrelevant
I use chicken wire with tomato stakes threaded through the holes and pushed into the ground for peas. I never had good luck with the pea brush (the sticks) - my peas used to overrun it and the whole mess would collapse.
I grow snow and snap peas that are about 3 feet tall, so the chicken wire works well for that. The variety "Sugar Snap" gets to about 6 feet so you'd need something different for that.
For pole beans I use 3 6-foot poles set up like a teepee, with 3 strings in between the legs secured by pegs into the ground (I use sticks). 2 - 3 bean plants per pole or string works good.
I've never had problems with the beans find the supports, but the peas seem stupid sometimes and just don't get it. It's worse if the direction of the sun makes them grow away from the chicken wire. I just manually stuff their dumb little selves up into the wire if they aren't getting it on their own.
Tweak
I grow snow and snap peas that are about 3 feet tall, so the chicken wire works well for that. The variety "Sugar Snap" gets to about 6 feet so you'd need something different for that.
For pole beans I use 3 6-foot poles set up like a teepee, with 3 strings in between the legs secured by pegs into the ground (I use sticks). 2 - 3 bean plants per pole or string works good.
I've never had problems with the beans find the supports, but the peas seem stupid sometimes and just don't get it. It's worse if the direction of the sun makes them grow away from the chicken wire. I just manually stuff their dumb little selves up into the wire if they aren't getting it on their own.
Tweak
delta lady
Inactive
use vertical supports...
look at this photo...
http://www.pansophist.com/epbts3.htm
it's a picture of plants being grown at Epcot in The Land pavillion...
being grown vertically....trust me....it's over 20 feet high..been there many times.
look at this photo...
http://www.pansophist.com/epbts3.htm
it's a picture of plants being grown at Epcot in The Land pavillion...
being grown vertically....trust me....it's over 20 feet high..been there many times.
delta lady
Inactive
you could also try that t-pee thing they have off in the right of the photo....
missed Tweaks response...you go girl...
missed Tweaks response...you go girl...
And when you get really lazy..
I use 2x4 welded wire fencing. Buy a 50' roll x 4', some 6' "T" posts, about $30 for two 25' rows, and plant all my beans, peas & cucumbers on them. My galvanized fencing is mostly 6 yrs old, so it lasts awhile. All my rows are 25', and two rows of each pea/bean/cuke is plenty. If I could buy 6' fencing, I think I could increase the yield. I hate all that bending over
We have already put up over 50 qts of beans/peas.
I use 2x4 welded wire fencing. Buy a 50' roll x 4', some 6' "T" posts, about $30 for two 25' rows, and plant all my beans, peas & cucumbers on them. My galvanized fencing is mostly 6 yrs old, so it lasts awhile. All my rows are 25', and two rows of each pea/bean/cuke is plenty. If I could buy 6' fencing, I think I could increase the yield. I hate all that bending over
We have already put up over 50 qts of beans/peas.
TerriHaute
Hoosier Gardener
I've tried lots of different things for pea support over the years. The chicken-wire with tomato stakes works pretty well for most types of peas. If you are growing one of the taller varieties, like sugar snap peas, though, the chicken wire is not tall enough. Since I only grow sugar snap peas, my husband built me some pea fence out of 1" by 1" strips of cedar, fashioned into five foot square trellis-like sections. They are kept in place by lashing them to 1/2" rebar rods pounded into the ground, which we have found work well for lots of garden needs. (such as securing tomato cages). The sections of pea fence are put into place first and then I plant a row of peas on both sides of the fence. As the peas grow, they grab onto the fence and the pea plants on the other side of the fence. For the ones that can't seem find the support, I run a string, tied to the fence, about a foot off the ground and prop the plants into place. They soon start clinging to the fence.
Terri in Indiana
Terri in Indiana
I make circular tubes out of cement reinforcement wire. Mine are about 2.5' in diameter. I make a depression the size of the tube and use the dirt to make a hill outside to plant the beans on. I "screw" the wire into the dirt with the depression inside to catch water. Fill the interior to the second wire with mulch of whatever sort I happen to have. This year it is straw. The beans get planted on the hill around the outside of the wire and grow up the trellis to the top and form a mat at the top. I just reach in and pick the beans that hang down. My beans don't set fruit till they are at least knee high so I don't have to stand on my head to pick.
When/if I need to water the beans, I just water in the hole in the center of the wire. I can fill it to the top with water about once a week and get plenty of beans even if it is dry.
I use a half tall, twice as wide trellis for tomatoes and make compost in the middle covered with straw or wood chips. The tomatoes like the shade for their roots as well as the weak fertilizer of the rotting vegetation every time it rains or I water. A full length trellis is good for cucumbers. Compost is a bit more difficult to get into the taller ones, so I just put vegetable trimmings and weeds in them covered with straw. I never let the compost get taller than the second wire so I can tie the tomatoes to the wire uninhibited.
Mushroom
When/if I need to water the beans, I just water in the hole in the center of the wire. I can fill it to the top with water about once a week and get plenty of beans even if it is dry.
I use a half tall, twice as wide trellis for tomatoes and make compost in the middle covered with straw or wood chips. The tomatoes like the shade for their roots as well as the weak fertilizer of the rotting vegetation every time it rains or I water. A full length trellis is good for cucumbers. Compost is a bit more difficult to get into the taller ones, so I just put vegetable trimmings and weeds in them covered with straw. I never let the compost get taller than the second wire so I can tie the tomatoes to the wire uninhibited.
Mushroom