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Sugar Snap Peas

W

wordwiz

Does anyone know what the lowest temperature, in the absence of frost, Sugar Snap peas can survive? I've searched Google but the cites mostly state they can survive a frost, need 45-degree soil to germinate, grow best in temps from 55-65, etc.

My situation - I sowed about 120 seeds in a 200-cell nursery flat to see if the cells were too small. They probably are if I don't transplant them sooner than three weeks. It's only been 12 days and they are already 6" tall and growing fast. My GH is mostly unheated and we have predicted lows this week of 7-9 degrees, meaning inside it will probably be 10-12. I'm not sure they will survive until Friday and I would hate to lose about half of the plants.

Any experience?

TIA,

Mike
 
Those temps sound too cold to me. Maybe you could partition off part of your greenhouse and heat just part of it. If it is only one tray, I'd carry them in the house.
Last fall my sugar snaps in the garden survived temps down in the mid 20's but they were full sized plants and in no danger of the ground freezing.
 
Tonly,

The ground will not freeze, at least not as deep as the roots will be. It's not bringing the tray in of a night - it's already inside! I need to transplant the peas.

If I have to, I have a 10,000 and 20,000 BTU kerosene heater I can use to keep the temps at least above freezing. A lot will depend on how the plants in the tray survive. If I can squeeze six more days out of it, I should be fine.

Mike
 
Ok, I see. If you can keep them above freezing, I bet they will do just fine. I've always direct seeded mine and had to wait for the soil to warm up. By transplanting you should have a good head start.
 
I have no useful information but I grew them last season. They sure grow fast don't they? I had the same space issue.
 
OK,

I guess I will keep them in the nursery flat until Thursday afternoon (if I can) and if the forecast is for much below 25, add some heat. SSPs go for about $3/lb., the plants ought to give up about 20 pounds so if I need to buy 5 gallons of kerosene, it should be worth it. Heck - it's worth it just to see if they can survive transplantation and if so, how long it takes to get ripe pods. I'll have to build a screen door, that can be covered with a blanket or similar of a night if the predicted temps are too low. we've only been above average temps about five days since November so we are due for some warm days and night!

Mike
 
Mike, I planted some last year in the middle of march. Just tossed the seeds in the ground. Many many night below freezing and some snow and they still sprouted and grew. Thats about all I can give ya.
 
I'm hoping the soil thaws enough - two nights of single digit temps and highs in the 20s - without any sunlight refroze any that had melted. But it's been in the 90s inside for a few hours and so far, I've been able to break a lot of it up. If I get it all done, I'll transplant my peas. This is what they look like in their 200-cell flat:

peas.jpg


Mike
 
Well, they got sent back to the watering tub and then the grow box. The soil didn't quite all thaw out. Most of it, but not enough to transplant them. You are right, they are almost at the end of their time. I had them in the GH and they wilted significantly, but not because they need hardened off. The temps were only a few degrees warmer than they have grown up in, and the light level probably a bit less. I have to water, heavily, every other day, a sure sign they are close to rootbound.

It's suppose to get to 13 tonight and I have been averaging about an additional 6-7 degrees. I did turn a 450-watt heater on so maybe it won't drop much below freezing. Just the ground itself provided some heat - those block of frozen soil - the 3" or so on the ground were thawed this morning.

It's suppose to take 30-40 days from germination for Snap Peas to mature and I've got ten days start on that. I might be able to have a St. Pat's Day harvest!

Mike
 
Have you considered potting them up into something like an aluminum turkey roasting pan? Size is something like 12 x 20 x 3.5 Fill it with some light medium mix like pine fines, peat and perlite to keep it light. Punch holes in it for drainage, then put another one without holes or a cheap cat litter box under it to catch the runoff.

This might get you down the road to March. You could probably transplant the whole batch enmasse from the pan onto their final resting place, thus reducing the double transplant stress.

Whatever you do, thanks for reminding me to start some peas indoors this year. That's a pea forest you got there. Awesome... :cool:
 
Silliman,

They will go in the GH tomorrow - would have done it today but my office manager was sick so I had to take her place, plus take my wife to the doctor. It was above freezing outside today, plus sunny. I don't know how warm it was in the GH - my batteries died in the remote thermometer, but I suspect over 100 and it is suppose to be warmer tomorrow. But in another forum, a person posted a very neat way of growing not only peas but lots of plants: rain gutters. And in soil, not water. I can see these being handy in a GH in cooler weather.

Rain Gutter Growing

Mike
 
musky,

Not sure about the link you provided - did you mean a page at their site?

I transplanted about 66 plants today into the GH. The potting mix thawed out completely but six inches deep into it the temps were 45 degrees. I'm sure it will warm up though. At least it still had a lot of moisture in it.

The original goal was just to see how well the peas germinated and grew in the 200-cell trays. Once they did, I couldn't hardly toss them into a compost bin!

Mike
 
wordwiz said:
musky,

Not sure about the link you provided - did you mean a page at their site?

I transplanted about 66 plants today into the GH. The potting mix thawed out completely but six inches deep into it the temps were 45 degrees. I'm sure it will warm up though. At least it still had a lot of moisture in it.

The original goal was just to see how well the peas germinated and grew in the 200-cell trays. Once they did, I couldn't hardly toss them into a compost bin!

Mike
Click to expand...

The talk of growing in rain gutters just sparked my memory about that site because they do a lot of that. I was also close to building a greenhouse a while back and that site had some really good ideas for cold climate greenhouses. I guess I didn't really look too closely at it again before posting the link. I just saw that there were still pictures of gutters being used. It appears that they have since published a book, so not as much info on the site anymore. I guess if there was, there would be no reason to buy the book...lol
 
wordwiz said:
Silliman,

They will go in the GH tomorrow - would have done it today but my office manager was sick so I had to take her place, plus take my wife to the doctor. It was above freezing outside today, plus sunny. I don't know how warm it was in the GH - my batteries died in the remote thermometer, but I suspect over 100 and it is suppose to be warmer tomorrow. But in another forum, a person posted a very neat way of growing not only peas but lots of plants: rain gutters. And in soil, not water. I can see these being handy in a GH in cooler weather.

Rain Gutter Growing

Mike
Click to expand...


I thought about growng sugar peas in gutters that where raised so the vines just hung down, plus it'd make it eaier to pick the pods.
 
chilihunter,

They better be a good distance off the ground - SSPs can grow six-feet vines. I'm planning on using pea/bean netting. Suppose to support those as well as cucumbers. Peas in the spring, beans and cucumbers in the summer, more peas in the fall.

I sowed some more seeds today, albeit in 128 instead of 200-cell trays. Want to see how they do and since I had the trays and potting mix, and the seeds were only $4 (Sugar Snap and Giant Fordhook Chard) it is a cheap experiment.

Mike
 
wordwiz said:
chilihunter,

They better be a good distance off the ground - SSPs can grow six-feet vines. I'm planning on using pea/bean netting. Suppose to support those as well as cucumbers
Mike
Click to expand...

if I did it I was planning on raising the gutter up so it was 5' high, so still high enough to make it easier to pick the peas (vs squating to pick) & still not too high to water/weed.
I dont know if they need to be supported if they're hanging down, maybe I'm wrong.
 
Mike, I'm curious how these are doing for you. I have always direct seeded sugar snaps but this thread got me inspired to try starting some to transplant. Have you grown them like this before?
 
Tonly,

I've never tried sugar snap at all, let alone indoors. But so far, they seem to be doing good. None of the 64 plants look dead or yellowing and today is the fourth day. But not all of them are standing up straight, which may be normal.

I'm trying 128-cell trays now. Should provide a bigger root-ball compared to the 200-cell so I should be able to grow them a month before transplanting. In effect, that would give me 5-6 week jump on others, important for farmers markets. Plus, I'm not wasting seeds or space. I got 65 percent, and most sowing instructions say to plant two seeds per spot.

I figure sowing/transplanting time will be slightly longer this way than simply direct sowing them, but not much longer and my stand should be a lot higher.

Mike
 
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