Peas going pale and dying

[Marb67]

I have actually a very good result planting peas out this year, they are podding but not ripe yet BUT unfortunately they are starting to go pale and seemingly dying off. How can this be as they are getting enough water and the soil is fine ?

[ameno]

It's root rot. Peas are very prone to it. I always lose some 10-15% of my plants to it.
Not much you can really do to prevent it as the bacteria which cause it are everywhere. Just be sure to grow peas (and broadbeans, which can also get it) in a different spot each year, and be very careful not to damage the stems near soil level, as this allows it in more easily (be especially careful when planting out and when weeding).
For now, just leave the dead plant where it is. Trying to remove it will do more harm than good as it will likely damage the surrounding plants in the process.

If it becomes a common problem for you then you might want to sow extra plants to make up for losses (I usually do 50-60 plants in a 6 foot row), and only grow short varieties of pea, which are quicker cropping and more likely to give you a decent crop before succumbing (whenever I have tried to grow tall varieties I lose over half of the plants to it eventually).

[Marb67]

I thought I had got away with it with one plant which I removed very carefully but just overnight a few more, much more than your 10-15%, have turned pale and sickly. Absolutely gutted and really don't know why I bother at all. For a small garden it seems to be cursed with every pest and desease known to man...I'll just wait for my Tom's to get blight and that will put the top hat on it

[Marb67]

Aaaaand even more going downhill

[rary]

Marb, the possible cause could be lack of water, peas and beans require lots of moisture holding material at their roots, a good way of ensuring you have this is digging a trench at the end of autumn and filling it with kitchen vegetable waste over the winter, also adding crumpled newspaper which also holds water, an old way of catching water was to dig a trench a bit deeper than you would normally a d put tin cans in the bottom to catch water and topping off with the veg waste, do not use any cans which have coating inside or out and don't use plastic

[Marb67]

Believe me they have had plenty of water. I also buried compost from the bin before I planted out in a trench and also mulched the soil with chopped grass. So no idea why they have gone this way.

[rary]

Not sure composted material would hold as much water as uncomposted kitchen waste, but do know that my peas and beans were less stressed when I used that method, where I garden there are more wet days than dry, I rarely need to water the garden, I have experienced the leaves of peas going yellow, but never when I have trenched as described

[Nicos]

I don’t really know much about pea problems but I spotted this about sweet peas ( so I guess they may have similar problems?)…

”Leaves starting to go yellow on the bottom of the plant is usually caused by over-watering, or by watering from a cold hosepipe. It can also be caused by the compost being used being too rich and burning the roots of the plants. This is very common in containers with too many plants.”

from this….
https://www.eaglesweetpeas.co.uk/cul...0many%20plants.

Its just another possibility….?

[ameno]

If it's only happening to random plants then it's definitely root rot (also known as foot rot), as I said above.
If you pull an affected plant up you'll see the base of the stem is dark brown or black, as too are what's left of the roots (it won't have many left).

[rary]

Is it possible amino, that with the conditions that Nicos has described causing sweet peas to turn yellow, the same conditions cause root rot in peas, as I have said I have had no problem when I fill a trench with uncomposted kitchen vegetable waste, I don't know the reason why this is so, but I do know it works and has worked for me for many years, so I will continue with it and also pass on the suggestion to other gardeners to try if they wish

[Nicos]

Maybe it also comes down to the type of soil/ compost’s ability to retain water - and of course local weather rain/ temperatures and of course local pests/ diseases?

[Marb67]

Basically everything I do goes pear shaped. I really don't know why I bother. Its even worse now. I'll sow some more but don't hold much hope. I seem to be stuck with this tiny garden for life, no chance of affording to move somewhere with more space, no chance of an allotment locally even though people blatantly neglect their plots and don't even turn up. What a depressing outlook

Even worse now.

[rary]

Basically everything I do goes pear shaped. I really don't know why I bother. Its even worse now. I'll sow some more but don't hold much hope. I seem to be stuck with this tiny garden for life, no chance of affording to move somewhere with more space, no chance of an allotment locally even though people blatantly neglect their plots and don't even turn up. What a depressing outlook

Even worse now.

Marb, rather than feeling dejected about gardening, take it on as a challenge, if your garden area is small try the square foot method of gardening, but you must stick to the recommended plant numbers, one of the greatest mistakes that most if not all gardeners make is sowing and growing too many plants, you could also grow in containers, which don't need to be large, just use the space you have, with containers that fit the space

[Marb67]

Marb, rather than feeling dejected about gardening, take it on as a challenge, if your garden area is small try the square foot method of gardening, but you must stick to the recommended plant numbers, one of the greatest mistakes that most if not all gardeners make is sowing and growing too many plants, you could also grow in containers, which don't need to be large, just use the space you have, with containers that fit the space

I have tried in containers but in the main, with similar results. Even the sweet peas are now turning pale and I set them deep in the ground (recommended depth) with plenty of compost underneath them to feed off. The flowers have been good though but shouldn't be going downhill this fast.

[rary]

Try mixing soil with washed course sand (concrete sand from builders merchants) add blood, fish and bone, about a tablespoon full to 10 lts. of the mix, make sure its well mixed in, plant up the pot if it's any plant, other than peas or beans sprinkle some chicken pellets over the top and loosely dig it in, you don't need a lot of pellets. The compost that is sold nowadays is not always reliable as a lot of it comes from council household waste, which can't be guaranteed to be free of weedkiller, growing peas or beans I would try adding some of the mix then chopped up kitchen waste then topped with a further two or three inches of mix, I wouldn't depend on compost being sufficient