Pea seed saving

chanceosunshine

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This could be a really dumb question, but I need an answer. Are the seeds of peas good once they've dried ON the plant? Is that the proper way to save them or should they be saved before they've gotten to that point?
 

flowerbug

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This could be a really dumb question, but I need an answer. Are the seeds of peas good once they've dried ON the plant? Is that the proper way to save them or should they be saved before they've gotten to that point?

once they are fully formed in the pods they are viable so they can be picked and dried inside as long as you make sure to rotate them one in a while so they don't start molding. i normally have flats or box tops that i use and those are better than plastic trays or other things that don't breathe as much.

how i know the peas or beans are fully formed varies by variety but for peas it is usually when they start getting hard and the pod starts to get yellow or starts drying and shrinking.
 

chanceosunshine

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Thank you!

I think I left my peas on too long. I was just too busy to grab them. Do you think they’ll still be viable?
50CC90F8-FD9B-4D22-AB82-96C8049DCE6F.jpeg
 

flowerbug

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Thank you!

I think I left my peas on too long. I was just too busy to grab them. Do you think they’ll still be viable?

yes, some of the seeds look fine to me. :)

i would not plant any that have marks on them where they might have been infected or damaged, but it looks like you have some that aren't blemished.

we have that problem here too at times where the pods may look horrible but some of the seeds inside are not spoiled.
 

flowerbug

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We always let them dry on the plant when I was a kid. Then Mom would send me out to pick and shell them for next year. They grew fine.

i have a few different reasons that that doesn't work well here. one is that some of the peas i grow make cup shaped pods which hold water and then the pods will spoil. the other reason is that chipmunks can raid and eat almost all of them. this year it turned out that it was ok and i got a seed harvest, but last year the lil boogers almost got every seed in my entire stand.

this year i brought some pods in as soon as they were mature enough so i was sure to get some seeds.
 

Hinotori

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i have a few different reasons that that doesn't work well here. one is that some of the peas i grow make cup shaped pods which hold water and then the pods will spoil. the other reason is that chipmunks can raid and eat almost all of them. this year it turned out that it was ok and i got a seed harvest, but last year the lil boogers almost got every seed in my entire stand.

this year i brought some pods in as soon as they were mature enough so i was sure to get some seeds.


I grew up in an area with 9 inches of rain a year.

Now I live in an area where the peas wouldn't dry fully. I can understand the predicament.

So it depends on climate
 
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