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Vegetable Gardening

Water requirements for sugar snap peas

15 years ago

What is the proper watering practices for sugar snap peas?

I had previously read that I should avoid over-watering the peas when they are flowereing, but I think I took that to an extreme. We've had a few days of hot dry weather and I only watered every 3rd day. Now, the vines are looking pale and I am seeing many fewer flowers. On the other hand, the pods I harvested during this time were much sweeter than those I harvested when things were wetter. I am not sure if the peas are just at the end of their normal life-cycle, or if I hastened the termination of flowering by not giving enough water. Or, if I should to continue to water less to get sweeter (though less plentiful) peas.

Any thoughts on this are appreciated.

Guy

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell CE--Peas

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Comments (3)

Belgianpup
15 years ago
The amount of water your peas need depends on your soil. Sandy soil like mine, I need to water fairly frequently. Clay soil probably needs less.

But the important thing is mulching them. This helps to control the evaporation rate from sunlight hitting the unprotected soil. With a decent covering of mulch (3 or 4") after the peas are up, more moisture is retained, and you don't need to overwater. Just pull the mulch back a bit to check for dampness, and proceed as necessary.

Sue
justaguy2
15 years ago
What is the proper watering practices for sugar snap peas?

Normal. Nothing special really. I think I watered mine twice this year, but I live in an area that got 12+ inches of rain in a month. They did just fine. We've had a few days of hot dry weather and I only watered every 3rd day. Now, the vines are looking pale and I am seeing many fewer flowers.

Sugar snaps and snow peas are more or less the same thing. They are cool season peas that suffer and often die in the heat. What you are seeing is probably not related to water, but temperature. In SE Wisconsin I cut down my peas a couple weeks ago. For you to be a zone warmer and just now be experiencing crop failure from the heat is impressive.

Chances are they won't recover and you can just cut them off at soil level (Their roots have nitrogen nodules that will break down and feed the next crop) and replant. The new seeds will grow well in the warmth and they will mature in the cooling temps of fall and therefore resist the heat borne ailments. In fact, if you like. leave the few remaining pods on the plant while the plant itself dies off. Then take the developed seeds from those pods and plant those.
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I'm going to guess they were in the pot too long and you planted them too late. When a plant starts flowering and making seed pods, it's at the tail end of its growing cycle. I'm in NH and we've been eating sugar snaps for a couple of weeks. I have a 10' row of Sugar Ann which doesn't get very tall. I remember thinking the mature date was right on, something like 56 days (planted early April). I had covered the bed with black plastic to warm it up and then covered the bed with Agribon-19 garden fabric. A few weeks later I planted a tall variety that's about 5-6' tall right now and just beginning to blossom. The plants still look good despite this spell of hot weather. My DIL planted sugar snap starts. They look healthy but puny and I thought she put them in very late. This is her first vegetable garden and she just picked up some plants at a big box store. It is much easier to start sugar snaps from seed so I would suggest that for next year or maybe trying for a fall crop. I also planted two very short rows of pea pods quite late (sorry not at home where my records are) to try to space out production.
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WAYYY too hot for sugar snaps. I'm even surprised they lasted this long in your area. I had to pull mine out a week ago and I live in central Canada. Some plants like peas and spinach just have no tolerance for heat, no matter how much you water them or shade them. IF you wait a few weeks you can plant something else in their place for a fall crop.
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i tried Sugar Sprint this year which is smaller and not as delicious as Super Sugar Snap but is only about 2 or 3 feet tall and stringless. i like to let SSS get really fat before harvest, is it just me or do they seem to get sweeter that way? The pods must be strung at any age but it is so much easier to string a fresh pea. queenofthemountain, did you get to taste any of the Sugar Snaps to compare to Super Sugar Snap? i have heard others say the taste is better? But also what your experience confirms, no resistance to PM. i was suprised to discover that snap peas come in yellow and purple. i know Sylvia grew some Golden Sweet snow peas recently and i just received some Opal Creek and Sugar Magnolia seeds. Anyone else trying any of the colored podded peas?
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Right, I see the picture now. I was on a train before so maybe that's why the pix weren't getting through. I would not cut the tops off. Peas are short lived anyway and don't produce a huge crop per plant. I grow a fifteen foot row for two people to have peas four or five times. They are annuals and the flowering period is relatively short. My best guess is that yours are perhaps overcrowded, possibly leading to etiolation. And maybe overfed? But to be honest they look pretty healthy. You can only be patient. There's nothing you can do to make them produce more. Remember you can use the shoots and tendrils in salads and stir fries, even if you don't get many peas.
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solanaceae
15 years ago
Peas need water more when it is flowering and fruiting especially when its hot. Pods are mostly composed of water thus water demands go up. Sugar snap peas typically are sweeter the more they mature. Perhaps few pods direct more energy to maturation. Not sure... The advice I have seen is to water frequently during heat.

These are snow peas in late May. They are in a raised bed which may dry out more than in ground but I water daily when its hot. If I do not its dry nearly all the way down the bed. They have been providing about a pint worth of pods every 3 days even till now. The water frequency seems to work out. I used news paper for a light colored mulch and keep it moist to keep the soil temp down.

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