Pea germination

[greenboots]

I am having a little bit of difficulty with germination of my one of peas and I was wondering if anybody had some advice on ways to possible improve things.

I am growing two types of tall peas, Ne Plus Ultra and Lord Leicester, this year and I bought each type from a different seed merchant. I am sowing the peas straight into rootrainers and leaving the trays in a growhouse (firmly anchored) as I do not trust the local bird population to leave me anything.

I seem to be having problems with the Ne Plus Ultra. The first succesion I sowed of Ne Plus Ultra had only a 40% germination rate compared to 100% for the Lord Leicester. Given that the peas were sown in identical methods and are on the same shelf of the growhouse I would have expected not to have such a discrepency in rate of germination even allowing for different varieties. Is there anything I can do to improve the rate of germination of the Ne Plus Ultra? I'd rather make sure I have tried everything before I assume that I have a bad batch of seed.

[Thelma Sanders]

Ne plus ultra is a

Round-seeded Late Maincrop variety

according to Pennard
Seeds, Eclectic Victorian Vegetable Seed from Pennard Plants

so perhaps it needs a bit more warmth to germinate, than we're getting right now ?

[Potstubsdustbins]

You could try chitting them as discussed on another thread, I certainly now chit all mine.

Basically you leave the seed over night in water, drain and rinse and then drain again. Then rinse and drain every day until they look like tadpoles with a small root growing out of them. Then plant them up.

[Sheilakins]

I chitted some sugar snap peas & some mange tout and they have/are coming a long great, I just soaked them overnight, then placed them on damp kitchen roll, in a Tupperware tub & placed them in the airing cupboard ....two days later they were shooting, so potted them & placed back in the airing cupboard in a cover propagator, for a couple of days, they're now growing on in my conservatory...hoping to plant them out over the weekend, under cover outside

[greenboots]

Thelma, good point about Ne Plus Ultra being late maincrop and maybe the pea needing a touch more warmth. The packet I have says March for sowing and I thought maybe mid-March would be warm enough but perhaps not.

Thank you Potstubsdustbins and Sheliakins for your suggestions and descriptions of chitting. I'll shall try chitting the next lot of peas to go in rootrainers.

Hopefully I'll get a better results for this batch.

[Inastate]

I use quite an aggressive chitting method.

I soak the peas for about 30 mins - 1 hour in water, until the outer skin is softened. Then I break the outer coating with a nail clipper and put them in water for another 15 minutes or so and carefully remove the rest of the protective outer coating.

This way they start coming up by the next day.

[TrialAndError]

I pre-germinated my Alderman peas a few days ago. They sprouted in 36 hours in a cool room in the house - 18 degrees. Overall 75% germination rate.

[Scoot]

Well, I have got my seed this morning but I want to germinate them indoors and then just plant straight into the garden where they are going to go (this will work won't it?)

Thing is I have nothing to cover them with and we'll still be getting frosts here until about the start of May so is it wise to wait a little bit?

[Scoot]

Well, I've started 1 pea seed just to make sure the seeds are ok. I left it in water over night and on a wet paper towel for the last 2 days. It now has a little shoot coming out of it.

Today I am going to plant it. Do I jus drop it in a hole about an inch deep with the shoot/root at the bottom? OR has the shoot/root actually got to FACE down. Like actually face down so the point of the root is pointing towards the bottom of the pot?

[Scoot]

Anyone lol?

[Nicos]

just drop it in...it'll find it's own way round...the magic of the effects of gravity n all apparently!!

[Scoot]

That's what I've done but I just thought I'd ask in case their was a certain way or a better way to plant them once the root had pushed through.

[Bren In Pots]

I always just drop mine in the hole and they sort themselves out, I think if i mess with them too much I'll only go and break of the root.

[Scoot]

I always just drop mine in the hole and they sort themselves out, I think if i mess with them too much I'll only go and break of the root.

Do you not bother to pre-germinate in water first?

[Jonny.D]

I followed the advice on this thread and 7 out of 9 germinated

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ain_84053.html