Sweet Pea Problems

[veggiechicken]

Harry Wheatcroft famously said "He who would grow good roses, must have roses in his heart" and I think that is the secret.

Roses in your Heart, eh? An appropriate sentiment for Valentine's Day
Now, what about the Sweet Peas...........

[NatalieCooke]

I potted mine on 29th Jan in large newspaper pots. My father in law said they like deep pots.
Planted 48 seeds, last night when I counted there was 24 seedlings. They are sitting on a table in front of the radiator in a space bedroom. Temperature is about 16 degrees.
This is the first year I've bothered to soak them I'd be interested to see if it helps.

If you lived closer you could have had some of mine.

[Valleyman]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

After rebuilding a fence this weekend, I'll be making a second attempt at the sweat pea conundrum following some of the advice given here.

[poppypower]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

After rebuilding a fence this weekend, I'll be making a second attempt at the sweat pea conundrum following some of the advice given here.

Glad you asked the question as I was about to give up having tried with no joy - will try once more - had the same issue a few year back and gave up that time - think soaking not good as RHS say not - will try the compost in bag method and keep fingers crossed I think

[Martin H]

In January I tried chipping a piece off the seed coat of my sweet peas with a penknife. I've never done this before and it was harder work than I expected. Those seed coats are tough! But having done that I got 30 out of 32 seeds to germinate. This is better than I've ever achieved with soaking or with just sowing direct.

Of course I might just have got everything else right, like the amount of moisture in the compost...

[Kristen]

In January I tried chipping a piece off the seed coat of my sweet peas with a penknife. I've never done this before and it was harder work than I expected.

I've tried a variety of methods for chipping the coat of hard seeds (never bothered with Sweetpeas, although I reckon its a good idea I don't, personally, find they need it). Whereas with Cannas I find they do (they were used as an alternative to Shot, so are ...ermmm ... "Pretty hard"!!)

Anyways, the easiest way I found was to grasp a seed with some snub nosed pliers, and then rub the protruding part of the seed (i.e. parallel with the flat length of the pliers, not at the nose end) on a file. Just a couple of rubs wears through the seed coat to expose the inner, white, part.

[Alison]

I've tried a variety of methods for chipping the coat of hard seeds (never bothered with Sweetpeas, although I reckon its a good idea I don't, personally, find they need it). Whereas with Cannas I find they do (they were used as an alternative to Shot, so are ...ermmm ... "Pretty hard"!!)

Anyways, the easiest way I found was to grasp a seed with some snub nosed pliers, and then rub the protruding part of the seed (i.e. parallel with the flat length of the pliers, not at the nose end) on a file. Just a couple of rubs wears through the seed coat to expose the inner, white, part.

The only time I've done this I rolled the whole seed on sand paper and that seemed to work quite well. Not had to do it for sweet peas though as I find they're OK just shoved in compost.

[TrysHard]

This year I am sowing some in the autumn and see if I get a better display that way.

I seem to get a slow but 60-70% germination but never a really good show - I will plant a bit more dense this year and see if that improves things.

[Valleyman]

Well.. as an update, sweat peas are officially my nemesis.

I managed to get a fair few of the perennial sweat peas to germinate in the end. But now I've decided I don't really want them any more, as I have filled the spaces with other things. I'm sure I'll find somewhere.

As for the annuals, I discovered a big pot of them in B&Q that looked half dead reduced to 50p. I asked the person who worked there if I could put a bit of water on them for the journey home, hid them at the back of the stand, went to the supermarket next door and came back to find them almost fully recovered. Silly B&Q.

So either way I have my sweat peas.

[Kristen]

This year I am sowing some in the autumn and see if I get a better display that way.

I seem to get a slow but 60-70% germination but never a really good show - I will plant a bit more dense this year and see if that improves things.

I've tried late Autumn seed sowing, but I found them a bit tiresome too look after over winter so I now sow Sweetpeas right at the beginning of the year and I reckon they are, by this time, much the same as the ones I used to grow over-winter. I get to sow a few other things at the turn of the year, such as Onions, so I'm more organised to look after them than when it was Just Sweetpeas in the greenhouse over winter.

If you are experimenting next Winter you might like to try some-and-some and see what suits you best?

[Martin H]

My October ones have got so big and unruly I may not be able to do much with them. My January ones should be the perfect size for planting out in a couple of weeks time.