Pea Support

[Frana]

Daft as is sounds, I have never grown peas on my plot before.

This year I am growing 'onward'. Can anyone give me advice on how high they will grow and what is the best support structure for them when I plant them out.

I am adept at the old runners and French beans but I know the peas won't need such a big frame. Also, what kind of protection will peas need as I have read about pea moth and other critters!

[Newton]

The tendrils will attach to anything that provides a thin support structure. Less than the width of a pencil. Chicken wire, plastic netting Hazel twigs use your imagination as the possibilities are limitless. Interesting to see what varied methods the other grapes use. About a metre high should suffice.

[Jamesy_uk]

The tendrils will attach to anything that provides a thin support structure. Less than the width of a pencil. Chicken wire, plastic netting Hazel twigs use your imagination as the possibilities are limitless. Interesting to see what varied methods the other grapes use. About a metre high should suffice.

Not sure if you have a poundland near you but i picked up some 1m x 5m netting for well... £1 there last week.

[ugley_matt]

I have a large Buddleia in the garden whos prunings i save every year for pea sticks. It's lovely and twiggy so you just stuck the ends in the ground and it makes its own little "fence" which the peas scamble all over. When they are finished the whole lot gets chipped up and put on the compost. If you have not got one yourself, check out the neighbours, i would think no-one would mind you taking their rubbish of their hands.

[Mikey]

I've used both twigs and chicken wire and both are equally affective. The only negative I have for chicken wire is it restricts access to collect the lovely peas. So through trial and error its twigs for me every time.

I have a number of bushes in the garden which I prune and use, don't ask me what they are called, if its not edible or a companion to edible crops I have little interest in it.

[Alison]

The height will depend on the type of peas you are growing. I much prefer tall ones (get a much bigger crop and less bending) and support them by putting 3No 8' long canes in the ground across a 4' row and using them to secure that plastic fencing stuff you can buy. The peas scramble up that nicely and the types I buy regularly grow over 6' tall. I do some dwarf ones but they're in the polytunnel for an early crop and don't need much support apart from a few sticks here and there. I tend to grow Poppet there which don't have many leaves so are quite lightweight until the peas swell so support themselves well.

[Gearoid]

I just keep my Spring shrub prunings and use those for support. I usually just grow the dwarf ones and I find that they only need a bit of help.

[Two_Sheds]

I did a thread on Pea Moth, I'll have a look for it if I remember. I think the crucial period for covering the pea flowers is late May to late July, off hand

I don't get enough twiggy sticks (sticky twigs?) to be worthwhile, so I use chicken wire or clematis netting held up by bamboo canes - at the end of the season it just rolls up for storage

[salilah]

I've tended to grow the taller ones (mangetout or sugar snap)
I have 2 bamboo hoops - one at each end of the row - which I cover with a thick plastic "netting" (not a pea net, it is solid) - one each side of the hoops so 2 sides for the peas to grow up. I then have 8 foot poles at each end supporting another layer of the thick netting (one only) for the taller ones. The thick net feels more solid than traditional pea netting, which I prefer, and it's also easier to clear at the end of the season...
Some of the peas reach the top of the 8 foot supports!
S