Peas

[Banana Bar]

I have never grown peas but am constantly reminded by my father and combine driver about how bad they are to combine, middle of wheat harvest, pigeons, weeds etc etc etc!
But what are they really like to grow? How does margin stack up with other breaks, is harvet really that bad, has anyone used a stripper header on peas, what sort of yield could I expect, what are they worth?
Looking at spring 2014 not this year.

Thanks

BB

 

[nick...]

did you not grow vining peas for the diss pea group back in the 70s.i drove a viner for them the last year they ran.as for dried peas we have grown em in the past and the way to keep em upright (which is the biggest problem ) is to broadcast 4 stone an acre of spring barley on to the ground then drill you peas into the ground.the whole lot will grow up together and the peas will climb up the barley.they will stay drier and not get stained on the ground and make combining a complete doddle.very easy to seperate the barley and peas in a dresser and you have an excellant straw to bale for animal feed.
nick.............

 

[Brian]

I grew peas for the last two years. First year they stood up lovely and were a breeze to combine, last year they were flat to the floor and a f ing nightmare. The main problem when they went flat was soil in the combine, wrecked the clean grain elevator, two clean grain elevator belts and most of the paddles replaced. Pigeons are a real pain too, first year we got 800 shot on 60ha the two weekends after drilling and that stopped them. Last year due to weather we only shot about 300 and they were a constant pain until we had harvested. I'm not growing this year as the block that was due is surrounded by woods and is stony in places so we have opted for oats. I wouldn't be put off as margin is good, ww after is good with less slug pressure and good chance to nail blackgrass but I woudn't grow a massive area either. Sakura was the variety.

 

[fatman]

we grew maples pigeons loved them combine did the plouging when it cut them

 

[Clive]

Stripper header magic in peas - see ours above

 

[JNG]

That looks good Clive, but two questions, those peas look to be standing well how does it go with peas stuck to the ground, also was it difficult post harvest with a large amount of haulm left standing, it can be terrible stuff to drag. Im sure your JD dril would run through it well but any tined equipment could be difficult?

 

[Clive]

That looks good Clive, but two questions, those peas look to be standing well how does it go with peas stuck to the ground, also was it difficult post harvest with a large amount of haulm left standing, it can be terrible stuff to drag. Im sure your JD dril would run through it well but any tined equipment could be difficult?

They were standing well in that field but it was magic at picking up flat ones - that's whe it really came into its own

That video is taken late at night and it was quite damp, a normal header would have been stopped hours before that video was shot

Only downside is when conditions are perfect and dry slightly increased header losses

JD would have no problem drilling into it but we didn't have it back then, that field was soloed and then drilled with a rapid without issue in the year that was done

 

[JNG]

Thats very interesting, we have over the years tried various things for pea harvesting including a sund pea header, we now find lateral fload a huge help on new combine. never would have thought that a stripper header would work with them, food for thought because with starting DD I have been starting to think about stripper headers, seems pointless to put all the straw through the combine if its going to be left in the field anyway. We have a valuable human consumption pea contract and over here we can achieve good pea yields, but harvesting issues in our climate in Ireland is not always easy as you can imagine. Thanks.

 

[Oat]

Am thinking of growing a small area of combining peas this year to replace a failed WOSR crop.

What sort of seedrates do people go for and can they be drilled anytime now. From the quick research I have done seedrates seem to be 80-100 s/2 and can be drilled feb-april with higher seedrates earlier on.

Any other general advice appreciated, ie. do you roll, unlike beans

 

[JNG]

Am thinking of growing a small area of combining peas this year to replace a failed WOSR crop.

What sort of seedrates do people go for and can they be drilled anytime now. From the quick research I have done seedrates seem to be 80-100 s/2 and can be drilled feb-april with higher seedrates earlier on.

Any other general advice appreciated, ie. do you roll, unlike beans

We use 150 -175 kg/ha seed depending on seed size and germination rate (I have heard this year that alot of pea germinations are well down). Conditions are more important than date, rolling for me is important because if they go down pre harvest, the combine table is barely off the ground and is likely to eats stones and dirt. Also not sure about the UK but our only Herbicide options are pre emerge, Nirvanna and/or Lingo, so a cloddy seedbed not suitable for coverage. Rolling was been done post emerge here before but again for herbicide reasons and crop damage Im not a fan of that. If your on light soil we have found peas responsive to manganese foliar, no yield data for that but physical appearance has been known to improve especially in dry season, (whats the chances?). Then pray for fine harvesting conditions!!! They can be a great paying crop and will yield and quality given have a chance, but then there is also the extreme reverse of that?

 

[Oat]

Thanks for the advice, I have found some more details regarding seedrate and think I probably need to do about 70 s/m2 (110 is for Zero 4 small blues).

What sort of depth and row spacing would people advise?. I have a tine drill which is currently set at 25cm row spacing which I used for winter beans, would this do? or is a more conventional drill at about 12-13cm row spacing and suffolk coulters better. From crops I have seen I know the plants tend to spread out quite a bit and intertwine.

 

[JNG]

Thanks for the advice, I have found some more details regarding seedrate and think I probably need to do about 70 s/m2 (110 is for Zero 4 small blues).

What sort of depth and row spacing would people advise?. I have a tine drill which is currently set at 25cm row spacing which I used for winter beans, would this do? or is a more conventional drill at about 12-13cm row spacing and suffolk coulters better. From crops I have seen I know the plants tend to spread out quite a bit and intertwine.

It blue peas we grow here, varieties Venture and Scubba (be a bit different to the small blues), seed depth usually go about inch and a half to 2 inch, deeper when earlier sown ,past that now. Dont know much about row spacing, was using Vaddy for years and no problems, cant actually remember what the exact spacing was, last season used a Claydon Hybrid, with fairly worn 7inch shoes, grew very well till the weather shelled half the crop pre harvest. Dont think there would be much issue with wide spacing as tendrils will spread well out, dont know the limits tho, no idea about 25cm

On seed rate, a neighbour of mine keeps it low, on the theory that they stand better???

 

[Great In Grass]

I have uploaded our husbandry guideline for Zero4 peas and another general booklet.

 

[yorkie]

Thanks for the advice, I have found some more details regarding seedrate and think I probably need to do about 70 s/m2 (110 is for Zero 4 small blues).

What sort of depth and row spacing would people advise?. I have a tine drill which is currently set at 25cm row spacing which I used for winter beans, would this do? or is a more conventional drill at about 12-13cm row spacing and suffolk coulters better. From crops I have seen I know the plants tend to spread out quite a bit and intertwine.

so that none on top for pigions

 

[Honest john]

Depth 3-4" is better than 2" IMO Pigeons can eat a lot if not deep.

 

[moldengineer]

Just a quick question about the stripper header. Does it pull the whole plant up including roots? If it does then is there a soil in the combine issue?

I only say this because 3 years ago we had flat peas and by using the reel to pick the peas up we managed to get a lot of soil into the combine, last year we bought some spring loaded lifters from Spaldings and used them to lift the crop using the reel to feed in after the knife had cut them. Had previously used normal cnh lifters.

If a stripper header is the answer then does anyone know where I might find a good used one?

 

[yorkie]

Just a quick question about the stripper header. Does it pull the whole plant up including roots? If it does then is there a soil in the combine issue?

I only say this because 3 years ago we had flat peas and by using the reel to pick the peas up we managed to get a lot of soil into the combine, last year we bought some spring loaded lifters from Spaldings and used them to lift the crop using the reel to feed in after the knife had cut them. Had previously used normal cnh lifters.

If a stripper header is the answer then does anyone know where I might find a good used one?

never use lifters good forward speed and reel just a bit faster and lift like a carpet and hope for best

 

[franklin]

 

[franklin]

or this:

 

[dontknowanything]

We grow blue peas (prophet). All the problems have been mentioned already, they can be a pain. but last year they were the best crop on the farm - almost 5t/ha, and £415/t.

 

[Oat]

what sort of row spacings would people recommend. The tine drill is currently set to 25cm, but have the option to go down to 15cm