Peas rotting in pot (again)

[Potstubsdustbins]

The last of them went in yesterday, 96 seedlings out of 105 seeds. I expect to loose a few more but I only require 88 plants.

[TrysHard]

My peas are finally showing signs only about 50% at the Mo but I only plant a tray at a time and do succession sowing 2-3 Weeks apart might make it a month this time as the later sowing always catches up a fair bit.

[Jonny.D]

7 out of 9 came up , 2 rotted



Had some mold / fungus on the side of a couple of the tubes




Can anyone tell me when should they be planted out?

Thanks,


JD

[BertieFox]

This is the time of year when this happens a lot, as it is still too cool for easy germination and pots get very wet and don't dry out. It has happened to me very often.

Nowadays, I mix my pea seed with damp vermiculite in a seed tray, having sown very thickly, and put the tray somewhere warm. As soon as the peas start sprouting I pop them on into pots and compost where they grow away quickly.

You could do the same with a couple of layers of damp kitchen paper in a warm kitchen windowsill, though I find it easier to get the sprouting seeds out of vermiculite without damaging any shoot.

[Marb67]

Taking no chances this year with kelvedon Wonder and Sweet peas (also onions and leeks) . Got some new deep pots that can be split open for zero root disturbance. Heated matt (24/7) with propagators at the end of the kitchen.

[Nicos]

Fingers crossed you have better luck this year marb!

[Marb67]

Well 3 days and nothing has come up yet

[mothhawk]

Peas are big, dry seeds. unless you soaked them overnight, they need to rehydrate before they start to grow, so you are looking at 6 to 9 days at least before the shoots emerge.

[Marb67]

They are heated so hopefully soon as it'll cost me the longer it takes. The soil is damp but not too wet as peas hydrate very fast and in the past have rotted everytime, which suggests they can hydrate a bit too much.

[ameno]

They are heated so hopefully soon as it'll cost me the longer it takes. The soil is damp but not too wet as peas hydrate very fast and in the past have rotted everytime, which suggests they can hydrate a bit too much.

Heated propagators usually use less than 20w. If that kind of electricity consumption is an issue for your budget then, with respect, I think you have bigger problems than whether or not some peas germinate.

Also, peas can't be overhydrated. You can germinated them sitting in water (children literally do this with peas or beans as an experiment in primary school). If yours rotted before then the problem was either dead seeds or bacterial contamination of the seeds.

[Marb67]

Well, ALL the Wilko brand of kelvedon rotted but the Unwins kelvedon didn't, but not all of those have come up. The Early Onwards are much more successful. All had same moisture so why would they rot ?

The Wilko brand were given an RHS garden award and the pack is the newest of all 3 brands. So much for RHS cobblers.

[ameno]

The Wilko brand were given an RHS garden award and the pack is the newest of all 3 brands. So much for RHS cobblers.

That's not how that works.

For starters, the RHS awards go to varieties, not brands. It's Kelvedon Wonder which has the award, not Wilko.
And second, it's based on how well the variety itself performs. Seed quality has no bearing on it whatsoever, because seed quality can vary so heavily from supplier to supplier.

I've told you multiple times now that pea and bean seeds are very prone to bad batches, usually due to fungal or bacterial contamination, and that this can easily mean that you only get a handful of plants from an entire packet. Just get a refund for the bad packet and buy another one elsewhere.

[Marb67]

I can't because there are no Wilko stores anymore. They were bought in their last sale.

[Nicos]

Do you try the float test before sowing marb?
Peas do well soaked anyway before planting out, so if any float , you discard those. I would think those would be the ones most likely to rot first? …so by discarding those initially , maybe you’d lower the risk of them all rotting?

I never do well sowing peas directly into pots/ the soil without soaking anyway . Maybe worth trying next time?

The ones you have got which have germinated are looking good. Have you had a gentle furtle to see if those which haven’t come up have rotted or are just slow?