Content
Planting peas in the open ground in spring allows you to get a succulent harvest in the middle of summer. When sowing a crop, it is important to follow the basic rules and pay attention to the composition of the soil.
When to plant peas outdoors
The culture is cold-resistant and germinates at temperatures slightly above zero. You can sow peas in open ground immediately after the snow melts. In the middle lane, planting is usually carried out in early April, in Siberia - in early May.
When choosing a timeline, it is important to consider specific weather conditions. If severe frosts are still expected after the thaw, then it is better to wait with planting in the open field.
In the southern regions, you can sow peas in the garden from mid-March.
Is it possible to plant peas in the fall before winter
Theoretically, you can sow peas before winter, and not just in the spring. In this case, it will undergo hardening in natural conditions, and with the onset of heat it will rise at the earliest possible date.
At the same time, only special winter varieties designed for exposure to negative temperatures are suitable for autumn planting in open ground. Most varieties are planted at traditional times.
How to properly plant peas in open ground in spring
Planting peas outdoors is not particularly difficult. In the process, it is important to choose the right site for the crop and pre-process the grain.
Seed preparation
For proper planting of peas, it is necessary to prepare the seeds. First of all, you need to select the highest quality material. To do this, the seeds should be poured into salted water - high-quality grains will sink to the bottom, and the defective ones will remain floating on top.
It is also recommended to germinate the grains before planting in the open field. To do this, they are wrapped in a damp cloth and removed to a warm place for 3-6 days.
Where to plant peas
Most outdoor pea varieties prefer well-lit, fertile areas. The place may be humid, but it is impossible to allow the close occurrence of groundwater. When planted in such a place, the roots will begin to rot.
It is possible to successfully grow peas in the country in areas where pumpkin and nightshade crops used to be. Tomatoes and mustard are good neighbors, as well as cucumbers, turnips and carrots.
Soil and bed preparation
It is necessary to prepare a place for spring planting in the fall. The procedure looks like this:
- They dig up the land in the selected area.
- Contribute at 1 m2 soil 25 g of potassium chloride, 35 g of superphosphate and 5 kg of compost.
- Add 100 g of wood ash with strong soil acidification.
After that, the site must be dug up again and watered properly. With the onset of spring, open ground in a prepared place is loosened and raised beds of the required length are formed.
Pea planting scheme
Sowing peas in open ground in spring is carried out immediately after the establishment of heat. The algorithm is as follows:
- In the prepared beds, they make wide furrows up to 8 cm deep.
- A little ash with compost is poured into the trenches, and then a layer of earth is added, leaving about 3 cm for the seeds themselves.
- Soaked and sprouted pea grains are laid in furrows in the open field at a distance of 10 cm from each other and covered with soil.
- The earth is crushed and compacted, and then the beds are watered abundantly.
After planting, the site needs to be covered with plastic wrap for ten days. After the emergence of shoots, it is removed.
Leave at least 50 cm of free space between the beds with peas
How to care for peas outdoors
The agrotechnology of growing peas in the open field is simple, but requires attention from the gardener. The culture must be regularly moistened. In addition, supports should be installed for the plant, the pea stems are lodging, without a fence nearby or a special trellis, they will simply sink to the ground.
Watering
The peculiarity of growing peas is that for good development in the open field after planting, it needs frequent and abundant watering. In hot and dry weather, the plant is moistened twice a week. During the flowering period, it is recommended to apply 10 liters of water for each square meter of soil every three days.
Peas calmly perceive a short-term lack of moisture in the open field. But if the drought lasts too long, then the fruiting of the crop will noticeably decrease.
Top dressing
Peas show the maximum yield with timely fertilization. For the first time after planting, the plant in the open field is fed during the period of green mass gain. The soil is spilled with a solution of mullein or infusion of nettle, 3 liters per 1 m2.
For the second time, fertilizers are applied after flowering - 15 g of nitroammofoska are diluted in 10 liters of water. With the onset of autumn, during the autumn digging of beds, phosphorus-potassium minerals can be added to the soil.
Garter
Growing peas in the open field most often involves the construction of supports. The culture has lodging stems. If left to creep along the ground, the bush will not be able to receive enough light.
Trellis, special or home-made nets, arches for a greenhouse are used to tie a culture. You can plant peas in the immediate vicinity of the fence and fix its stems on pickets. The garter is carried out after the shoots reach 10-15 cm in length and can no longer maintain an upright position.
Topping
Pea stems, depending on the variety, when planted in the open field, can stretch up to 1-3 m in length. But to increase the yield, the shoots can be pinched at the tops after reaching 20-25 cm. In this case, the peas will give numerous lateral branches and, as a result, will bring more pods.
Pinching peas allows you to control their height and not build large supports
Loosening
Planting and caring for peas in the open field requires monitoring the condition of the soil. A week after the emergence of sprouts, it is recommended to huddle the culture. During cultivation, after each watering, the soil at the pea roots is shallowly loosened.
At the same time, it is necessary to remove weeds, which inevitably appear on the beds with legumes after planting in the open field. The proximity to self-seeding grasses harms peas, because they do not receive enough moisture and nutrients.
Pest and disease control
Peas are moderately resistant to disease and may suffer from certain fungi. Most often, when planting in open ground, it is struck by:
- fusarium - first the lower leaves turn yellow, and the stem darkens, and then the plant dries out entirely;
With fusarium, pea roots die off, so the disease is difficult to treat
- rust - reddish-brown pustules appear on the leaves of the culture, which practically turn black by the end of summer, the growth of the bush stops, and the plates gradually crumble;
Pea rust appears most often at the beginning of flowering outdoors.
- ascochitis - a fungal disease manifests itself in the appearance of dry dark spots with brown dots, peas begin to wilt and shed their leaves;
Young pea bushes in the open field with ascochitosis quickly die completely
- powdery mildew - you can recognize the fungus by the whitish-gray dry bloom on the leaves and stems, over time the spots turn brown, and the bush stops developing and begins to dry out.
Powdery mildew can affect, including pea pods
At the first signs of disease, pea plantings in the open field are treated with copper preparations, colloidal sulfur and Bordeaux liquid. Heavily damaged bushes are completely removed from the beds - it is no longer possible to save them, it is necessary to protect healthy specimens from infection.
In addition to fungi, some pests pose a danger to peas when planted in open ground. Especially often the culture is struck by:
- bean moth - green, reddish or black caterpillars of the pest gnaw through pods and eat peas;
Bean moth can halve the yield of peas and, moreover, makes its seeds unsuitable for sowing.
- pea moth - small brown caterpillars leave holes in the pods and feed on developing beans, you can also recognize the pest by the black cobweb on the seeds of the crop;
The fruit moth on peas in the open field appears most often in dry weather.
- weevil - a black beetle with a cross-shaped pattern on the abdomen hibernates in plant debris, and with the onset of summer begins to feed on ripening peas;
The caryopsis leaves small brown spots on the pea pods.
- Umbelliferae - small golden bugs feed on pea leaves and can seriously deform bushes, which will negatively affect fruiting.
Umbelliferae often appears on pea bushes in the vicinity of carrots
Pest control in the open field is carried out using the drugs Zepellin, Accord, Sirocco. Phosphamide and chlorophos also have a good effect. Spraying is necessary 3-4 times per season. The last processing is carried out no later than 20 days before harvest.
Growing pea seedlings
The most common practice is the cultivation of peas in the open field. But if desired, the seeds can be used for seedlings in order to transfer already formed seedlings to the garden with the onset of heat.
The algorithm for home growing peas looks like this:
- According to the traditional scheme, the seeds of the culture are sorted out, calibrated, and then germinated on a damp cloth for 3-7 days in the refrigerator.
- A shallow box is filled with garden soil with the addition of humus, peat and sand, the soil mixture is moistened and holes are made 2 cm deep with a free space of about 3 cm between them.
- One pea is laid in each hole, with its sprout down.
- Sprinkle the depressions with the rest of the soil and cover the box with foil.
For two weeks, pea plantings are regularly ventilated and moistened with a sprayer. After the first shoots appear, the shelter is removed and the seedlings are fed with a superphosphate solution. When the sprouts acquire two real leaves, they can be dived in a common box or planted in separate containers.
You can place seedlings in the open field three weeks after the emergence of sprouts.
Growing peas in a greenhouse
You can grow peas not only in the open field, but also in greenhouse conditions - the method is often used to get the earliest spring harvest. Also, a culture in a closed greenhouse can be sown at the end of summer, in which case fruiting will come shortly before the cold weather.
The algorithm for planting peas in a greenhouse as a whole does not differ from the usual scheme:
- The soil in the greenhouse is dug up in advance and fertilized with phosphorus-potassium minerals.
- Small furrows are made in the soil with a distance of 25 cm between the rows, you need to plant peas to a depth of only 3 cm.
- The soil is watered and waited until it settles, and then the seeds are sealed in increments of at least 5 cm.
- Sprinkle the planting material with earth and, after the sprouts appear, carry out the usual care of the crop.
Both soaked and dry pea seeds can be sown into the soil in the greenhouse. In the first case, the culture will germinate very quickly. In the second, seedlings will appear later, but the bushes will be stronger and more productive. If there are more than 25 cm between the rows of peas in the greenhouse, you can plant radishes or lettuces in between.
You can plant peas in a greenhouse at a temperature not lower than 12 ° С
Conclusion
Planting peas in spring in open ground is carried out according to simple rules in April or May, depending on the region. The crop is very hardy, but requires frequent watering, the installation of supports and regular loosening of the soil.
