Peas (Easy Peasy) & Tomatoes 12/29/23

[lynnee]

12/30/33. Today I started two new-to-me varieties of tomatoes in a Bounty Elite. Paul Robeson, named after the star of "Showboat", is a bush tomato (slicer), and will be transferred to a Farm 12XL when it becomes a seedling. Yellow Sugar Baby (thanks, LoveSalads!) is a small tomato that will remain in the Bounty Elite.

www.rareseeds.com/tomato-paul-robeson

aerogardenaddicts.com/post/62825/thread

[lynnee]

1/9/24 Paul Robeson has one 1" sprout; Sugar Baby seeds are swollen, may or may not germinate.

Added two pods of Burpee Easy Peasy seeds. These peas grow to 3-5 ft., so should share a Farm with the Paul Robeson when they are big enough for a Farm. (I'm starting seeds in Bounties now, to save on electricity. Farms draw the most electricity.)

www.burpee.com/pea-easy-peasy-prod002731.html

Peas and tomatoes are good companions, apparently.

[lynnee]

Today I moved two Paul Robeson seedlings and two Easy Peasy sprouted seeds to a vacant Farm 12XL. This garden is in the best location in my garden room--it seems to be out of furnace drafts and cooler than the other AGs.

The peas are on the left. The ones sown on the top of the sponges seem to have germinated fastest. One pod has both a developing root and a green sprout.

The small tomato is one that came up late in the other tomato's pod. The Sugar Babies didn't develop. Next time I'll plant more than 2 Sugar Baby seeds in each pod to improve the odds.

[lynnee]

The peas and tomatoes are growing! I think that I should've planted only one pea per sponge. I tried two per pod, and both top seeds have sprouted. I don't know whether the seeds underneath are sprouting--but I do know that there's no room in one AG pod for two pea vines.

[lynnee]

The peas have blossoms now. Photos to come soon.

[lynnee]

At day 62, the "Easy Peasy" vines have blooms and peapods! They are holding their own against the vigorous Paul Robeson tomato on their right. The vines have a gazillion tendrils that grow in tangles, and that only occasionally grip something for support. You can see the tangles best at the bottom of the plant, near the grow deck. They are completely self-pollinating.

[scarfguy]

Great looking peas! lynnee

I didn't realize the pea plant has such a nice looking flower.

[lynnee]

The pods appeared very quickly. I noticed the first flowers about a week ago.

[swimmom500]

Lynn- did you soak the pea seeds before you planted them?

[lynnee]

Mar 1, 2024 23:09:06 GMT -5 swimmom500 said:

Lynn- did you soak the pea seeds before you planted them?

No, I just added two seeds to each of two pods. The seeds are quite large--pea-sized, in fact!

Next time I'll add only one seed, and replace the pod if the pea doesn't germinate.

This morning I removed the tomato from the Farm, so that I can pay better attention to the two pea vines. The second one is kind of spindly, which I couldn't see before.

I no longer have any qualms about terminating a plant that I'm dissatisfied with. I actually had two Paul Robeson tomatoes going, and the one in the Farm (photo above) was producing leaves and some blooms, but wasn't setting any fruit.

[swimmom500]

Would you put 1 in a bounty or 2? Originally was going to plant these outside but by the time they are ready to produce I think it will be too warm here.

[lynnee]

Mar 3, 2024 9:14:43 GMT -5 swimmom500 said:

Would you put 1 in a bounty or 2? Originally was going to plant these outside but by the time they are ready to produce I think it will be too warm here.

I think you could easily plant 4 pods in a Farm, and that a Bounty can easily handle 2 or more. The root system is not especially large.



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[lynnee]

Now that the voracious tomato is gone from the Farm, it's easier to see what the peas are doing. I think that I have four vines (arrows), three coming from the rear pod.

The vine at the front is half the height of the others. It may take off now that it isn't competing with the tomato.

I'm going to check the nutrient levels later today, and maybe adjust the pH, and everything else.

[lynnee]

Okay, I checked the nutrient and pH levels a few minutes ago. For peas, the ranges are:

pH 6.0-7.0
EC 0.8-1.8
CF 8.0-18.0
PPM 900-1100

My AG peas are high for EC and CF:
pH 6.51
EC 2.12
CF 21.2
PPM 1060

Now, how do I adjust the EC and CR levels? scarfguy? Anyone?

[scarfguy]

EC, CF, and PPM are all different scales for measuring the same thing. That is, nutrient concentration.

Your values are a little high but nothing to be concerned about. 

To lower the values quickly, add water.  (If you don't have the room, you can siphon some of the water out of the bowl to make room for some plain water.)

The EC concentration should naturally go down as the plant takes up the nutrients.  If your plant is healthy and eating, the EC will naturally go down.   My guess is that if you just wait until tomorrow and check the EC again, you will probably find that it is in range.

[lynnee]

Thanks, scarfguy! I really do want to grow some fresh peas--enough for a side dish now and then--so I'm going to treat these guys better from now on. No more delayed R&Rs.

[Shawn]

I grew these tasty little treats

[lynnee]

Today I terminated the last Paul Robeson tomato. It was producing blooms without setting any fruit, and was at maximum Bounty height. I think that I failed to give it enough nutrients of the kind it needed for developing fruit.

Anyway, one thing I've learned from my attempts at growing slicing tomatoes is that the full-size-tomato plants don't produce new branches or blooms on the lower portions of the stems. So there's no point trying to save a 24" nonfruiting plant unless it's going to be transplanted outdoors.

Anyway, peas are filling out in the existing Easy Peasy pods, although the plants are kind of stalled regarding new blooms and pods.

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[lynnee]

Today I harvested most of the peas. Definitely I let some of them stay too long, but they still tasted good (just a bit starchy). I'm going to leave these vines alone for a while yet, but when I clear the AG, I'll replant it with at least four vines, and take the project seriously.

Here's a nice video on harvesting peas:



Before the pea harvest:



The peas are small, but maybe they grow larger with more TLC (and carefully adjusted nutrients). Here's the harvest, with kitchen shears for scale:



Here are some of the peas (some got eaten already) in a standard Pyrex custard dish:

[pfunnyjoy]

The peas look like a fun grow! I wonder if there are any smaller varieties more suitable to a Bounty? I'm particularly fond of snow peas, but they tend to be expensive at the store, and not that nice, really. Fresh is so much better with peas!

Your plants look great, and I'd think you'll get the EC in line pretty quick just by watering.