Suggestions for companion / "scaffolding" crops to support combinable peas (and other pulses that show potential but go flat before harvest)?

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
Over the years some of you have grown companion / (scaffolding) crops with combinable peas to to help prevent the pea vines going flat before they are fit to harvest. I know this thread title has been discussed in the past but it would be really interesting to read the experiences of those of you who have tried various companion crops in recent years to keep peas standing. I am sure we can all learn from your success or failure companion crops. The separating out of the companion crops seed from the peas once in store must be quite a problem . The drying of wet peas that are mixed with other grains must be also another problem that has to be dealt with.
But as flat peas are such a nightmare to harvest ,any thing that can help the harvesting of peas is worth looking at in these times of change when a diverse rotation is becoming more essential to help reduce blackgrass etc.
 

ih1455xl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
northampton
Have grown peas / oats for 2 years after fodder beet oats smothered the peas last year so still playing with seed rate but I think more peas the better we store it then roller mill and fed to calves think @Fuzzy has done it
 

Flat 10

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fen Edge
Over the years some of you have grown companion / (scaffolding) crops with combinable peas to to help prevent the pea vines going flat before they are fit to harvest. I know this thread title has been discussed in the past but it would be really interesting to read the experiences of those of you who have tried various companion crops in recent years to keep peas standing. I am sure we can all learn from your success or failure companion crops. The separating out of the companion crops seed from the peas once in store must be quite a problem . The drying of wet peas that are mixed with other grains must be also another problem that has to be dealt with.
But as flat peas are such a nightmare to harvest ,any thing that can help the harvesting of peas is worth looking at in these times of change when a diverse rotation is becoming more essential to help reduce blackgrass etc.
There were several threads on this years ago. Spring osr and peas were favourite I believe. Clive certainly did it a few times. Search peola.
 

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
There were several threads on this years ago. Spring osr and peas were favourite I believe. Clive certainly did it a few times. Search peola.
Thanks for your post. I didn’t know if some progressive, out of the box thinking farmers have tried something different and I have missed their Thread Titles in connection with the thread I have started.
 

Simon Chiles

DD Moderator
I’ve used mustard to hold up seed crops of vetch. Some of the vetch varieties grew 2m tall however without the mustard they’d have been completely flat. I chose mustard for two reasons:- one, it was cheap and two, because I wasn’t concerned about the mustard seed I didn’t have to compromise on the ideal harvesting date for different crops. Despite the latter reason I always ended up with tonnes of mustard seed which we used for cover crops ( not ideal ) and cheap sheep grazing which was a better option.
Personally, if I was going to grow peas for harvesting, I’d use mustard to hold them up for the above reasons.
 

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
I used spring osr/ peas last year on a 1ha trial plot,

8ha being drilled this year.
CSFB destroyed the spring osr grown with the peas on a farm not far from me two yrs ago,I certainly hope that doesn’t happen with you as it is a great idea and works well providing the CFSB don’t destroy the idea.
 

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
I’ve used mustard to hold up seed crops of vetch. Some of the vetch varieties grew 2m tall however without the mustard they’d have been completely flat. I chose mustard for two reasons:- one, it was cheap and two, because I wasn’t concerned about the mustard seed I didn’t have to compromise on the ideal harvesting date for different crops. Despite the latter reason I always ended up with tonnes of mustard seed which we used for cover crops ( not ideal ) and cheap sheep grazing which was a better option.
Personally, if I was going to grow peas for harvesting, I’d use mustard to hold them up for the above reasons.
I see that quite a lot of research work has been done in Scandinavian countries as well as Switzerland.
Surely in the 21st century companion cropping with peas to help avoid combining problems must be the way forward. It is just getting to know which companion crop is the most consistent for providing pea vine support as well as being the easiest to separate or which doesn’t create a problem for years to come if the companion crops sheds it seed out of the back of the combine while combining the pea companion crop mix.
In my ignorance do CFSB harm/ destroy mustard cotyledons etc , as much as OSR?
 

Simon Chiles

DD Moderator
I see that quite a lot of research work has been done in Scandinavian countries as well as Switzerland.
Surely in the 21st century companion cropping with peas to help avoid combining problems must be the way forward. It is just getting to know which companion crop is the most consistent for providing pea vine support as well as being the easiest to separate or which doesn’t create a problem for years to come if the companion crops sheds it seed out of the back of the combine while combining the pea companion crop mix.
In my ignorance do CFSB harm/ destroy mustard cotyledons etc , as much as OSR?

Never had a problem with CSFB with mustard but have had a case of DBM once ( only one field out of 4 that year ), however the mustard stems were tall enough to hold up the vetch even though it’s leaves had been stripped.
 

czechmate

Member
Mixed Farmer
Triticale is popular here mixed with peas.
I would do some myself... except for herbicide use. Ironically, i did have quite a good looking crop a few years ago, i had used mcpb, which is I think the only herbicide for both and all was well, I then killed the peas with modus :banghead:
 

Fuzzy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire
Over the years some of you have grown companion / (scaffolding) crops with combinable peas to to help prevent the pea vines going flat before they are fit to harvest. I know this thread title has been discussed in the past but it would be really interesting to read the experiences of those of you who have tried various companion crops in recent years to keep peas standing. I am sure we can all learn from your success or failure companion crops. The separating out of the companion crops seed from the peas once in store must be quite a problem . The drying of wet peas that are mixed with other grains must be also another problem that has to be dealt with.
But as flat peas are such a nightmare to harvest ,any thing that can help the harvesting of peas is worth looking at in these times of change when a diverse rotation is becoming more essential to help reduce black etc.
I have grown companion of Peas and Oats. It was very successful, i think if you want a mainly pea crop keep the oat seed rate around 50--70kg ha. A simple dresser will separate the crops very easily with a slotted sieve.

This time I have 100acres of Winter Beans and WOSR growing together, which should make for an interesting year !!
 

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
I have grown companion of Peas and Oats. It was very successful, i think if you want a mainly pea crop keep the oat seed rate around 50--70kg ha. A simple dresser will separate the crops very easily with a slotted sieve.

This time I have 100acres of Winter Beans and WOSR growing together, which should make for an interesting year !!
Many thanks for sharing your experience of growing peas and oats together. Have you grown the mix for many years or was it one year only ?
 

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