Premium Peas Seeds

1. Crop Overview

• Common names: Pea, garden pea, matar, vatana, mangetout
• Scientific name: Pisum sativum L.
• Crop type: Cool-season annual legume; frost-tolerant when young; self-pollinated; climbs by tendrils
• End-use types (same species):
  • Garden pea / shelling pea / matar — seed eaten; pod is fibrous and discarded; harvested when seeds are well-filled but still tender and sweet
  • Snap pea / sugar snap — whole pod and seed eaten; crunchy edible pod with fully developed seeds
  • Snow pea / sugar pod / mangetout — flat edible pod harvested before seeds bulge; eaten whole
  • Dry / field pea — left to mature for dry grain / split pea / pulse use
• Growth habit: dwarf (30–60 cm, no support), semi-dwarf (60–100 cm, light support helpful) or tall climbing (1.5–2.0 m, must be supported)
• Nutritional value: Rich in protein, fibre, vitamins A, C and K, folate and minerals (especially iron and magnesium)
• Pollination: Strictly self-pollinated; cross-pollination is rare

2. Climatic Requirements

• Temperature: Optimum 13–18 °C; tolerates light frost when young (down to −2 °C briefly); growth slows above 24 °C; pod set fails above 27 °C.
• Heat is the limiting factor — once daytime temperature crosses about 27 °C, flowers drop, peas inside go starchy, and pods become tough.
• Daylength: Quantitative long-day plant — flowering accelerates as days lengthen, but most modern varieties are well-adapted to the chosen season.
• Rainfall: 400–600 mm over the cropping season; sensitive to waterlogging.
• Altitude: Sea level to 3500 m. In the tropics, hill stations crop year-round; in the plains, only the cool rabi (winter) window works.
• Sunshine: Needs full sun — partial shade reduces flowering and pod set.

3. Soil & Field Preparation

• Soil: Well-drained sandy loam to clay loam rich in organic matter; pH 6.0–7.5 (slightly more tolerant of alkaline soils than beans).
• Avoid heavy clay (poor drainage and root rot), saline soils and strongly acidic (<5.5) soils — the Rhizobium symbiosis is weak outside the optimum pH band.
• Plough 2–3 times to a fine tilth and level the field.
• Incorporate 10–15 t/ha well-decomposed FYM or compost at the last ploughing.
• Form ridges or raised beds 15–20 cm high in irrigated systems; ensure free drainage at all times.
• Do not grow peas continuously in the same field — rotate with cereals every 3–4 years to break root-rot and nematode cycles.

4. Sowing & Crop Establishment

• Peas are direct-sown; no nursery is needed.
• Sowing depth: 3–5 cm. Deeper sowing in light dry soil, shallower in heavy or moist soil.
• Method: Dibbling, seed-drill or precision planter; plant 1–2 seeds per hill at the correct spacing.
• Soil moisture: Adequate moisture at sowing is essential — a pre-sowing irrigation 3–4 days before planting gives the best stand.
• Germination: 6–10 days at soil temperature 15–20 °C; slower and patchier below 10 °C.
• For staggered supply, sow in batches at 10–15 day intervals so that the harvest window extends over months — especially useful for fresh-market growers.

5. Seed Rate & Seed Treatment

Seed rate

• Dwarf garden pea: 80–100 kg/ha
• Tall / climbing garden pea: 30–40 kg/ha (wider spacing)
• Snap pea / snow pea: 60–80 kg/ha
• Dry / field pea: 75–100 kg/ha

Seed treatment

• Treat seed with Trichoderma viride @ 4 g/kg or Thiram / Captan @ 2–3 g/kg to control seed rot, damping-off and the root-rot complex.
• Rhizobium inoculation: Inoculate with Rhizobium leguminosarum @ 5–10 g/kg seed just before sowing. This builds nitrogen-fixing nodules and reduces N fertilizer need.
• Add PSB (phosphate-solubilizing bacteria) @ 5 g/kg seed for better phosphorus availability.
• Treat with fungicide first, dry the seed, then inoculate with Rhizobium. Never mix the two in the same step.
• In fields where peas haven't been grown for several years, inoculation is especially important — native rhizobia may be absent.

6. Spacing & Plant Population

• Thin to one plant per hill 10–12 days after emergence.
• Fill gaps within the first week to maintain stand uniformity.

7. Trellising & Support

Peas climb by tendrils, not by twining, so they need a fine, branched or netted support — not the stout poles used for beans. Light support is enough for semi-dwarf types; tall types must have a proper trellis.

• Dwarf types: need no support; plants stand by themselves and lean on each other in dense rows.
• Semi-dwarf types: push twigs / brushwood 50–60 cm tall into the row, or run two strings along the row at 30 and 60 cm height.
• Tall / climbing types: install a pea-netting trellis or wire-and-string trellis 1.5–2.0 m tall, supported by stakes every 3–4 m. Pea netting (10–15 cm mesh) is the standard for commercial growers — cheap, light, reusable.
• Install the support before the crop reaches 15 cm so tendrils latch on early; help the first few tendrils onto the net if needed.
• For greenhouse and net-house cropping, run vertical strings from an overhead wire down to the base of each plant; clip plants up as they grow.

8. Nutrient Management (per hectare)

Indicative dose — adjust to soil test report and local recommendation. Peas fix their own nitrogen, so the N dose is deliberately low:

9. Irrigation

• Peas are sensitive to both drought and waterlogging. Maintain even soil moisture, especially at flowering and pod-fill.
• Critical stages: flowering (30–45 DAS) and pod-fill (50–65 DAS). Stress here directly cuts yield and seed weight.
• In the rabi / winter crop: 3–4 irrigations are typically sufficient — at branching, flowering, pod formation and pod-fill.
• Avoid overhead irrigation during flowering — wet flowers drop and wet foliage encourages powdery mildew (counter-intuitively, dry warm air also encourages it) and Ascochyta blight.
• Drip irrigation with mulch on raised beds is ideal — gives even moisture, saves water, and reduces leaf wetness disease.
• Stop irrigation 7–10 days before the last harvest of garden pea / dry pea to help the crop dry down; snap and snow pea types are picked over a long period and need continued moisture.

10. Weed & Intercultural Care

• Keep the field weed-free for the first 30–40 days — this is the most critical period for weed competition in a slow-growing cool-season crop.
• One or two shallow hand-weedings (at 20 and 35–40 DAS) plus inter-row hoeing are usually sufficient.
• Earthing-up at 25–30 days strengthens the base and improves root growth — especially important for dwarf bush types carrying pods.
• Pre-emergence herbicide (e.g. pendimethalin 1.0 kg a.i./ha) can be used as per local recommendation in large-scale plantings.
• Avoid deep cultivation — pea roots and surface nodules damage easily.

11. Plant Protection — Pests

12. Plant Protection — Diseases

13. Physiological Disorders

• Flower and young-pod drop: the most common pea complaint — caused by daytime temperature above 27 °C, moisture stress, or strong dry wind at flowering. Schedule flowering into the coolest window of the season.
• Hollow heart: a cavity inside the seed, especially in large-seeded shelling and dry peas — linked to boron deficiency, very rapid pod-fill, and water stress. Apply boron basally and keep moisture even.
• Marsh spot: a brown discoloured spot inside the seed — the classic manganese deficiency disorder of peas, especially on alkaline soils. Spray 0.2% MnSO4 at flowering and at pod-fill.
• Pod splitting: sudden moisture after a dry spell, common in late-irrigated peas — keep watering steady.
• Yellow / starchy seed: over-mature picking, or harvest in too much heat — pick at the right stage and harvest early in the morning.
• Poor nodulation: a pale, yellow crop in spite of good agronomy — caused by no Rhizobium inoculation, low molybdenum, very acidic soil, or carry-over herbicide. Inoculate with Rhizobium and correct soil pH.

14. Harvesting & Post-Harvest

Picking stage (different for each end-use)

• Garden pea (shelling): pods well-filled, bright green, the seeds inside tender and sweet; pods should be plump but not waxy or yellowing. First pick at 55–75 days.
• Snap pea (sugar snap): pods plump, crisp and bright green, with fully formed seeds inside; eat or pick before pods start to lose colour.
• Snow pea (mangetout): flat pods, fully elongated but still tender, picked before the seeds inside bulge; over-mature snow peas turn stringy.
• Dry / field pea: leave on the plant until pods and seeds turn brown and rattle, then harvest the whole crop in one cut.

Picking interval

• Every 2–3 days for fresh market / export; every 4–5 days for local market.
• Pick in the cool morning to preserve sweetness; sugars convert to starch within hours of picking, especially in warm weather.
• Grade by length, colour and shape; pack in ventilated crates or perforated cartons.

Yield

• Garden pea (green pod): 8–12 t/ha (up to 15 t/ha with the best hybrids and management)
• Snap pea / snow pea: 5–10 t/ha
• Dry / field pea: 1.5–2.5 t/ha grain

Storage

• Fresh green peas keep 5–7 days at 0–4 °C and 95% RH; cool quickly after harvest because the sugar-to-starch loss is rapid at room temperature.
• For processing (freezing, canning), peas should reach the factory within hours of picking for best quality.
• Dry peas: store at 9% moisture or below in clean, airtight bins; protect from pea weevil.

15. Country-Wise Climate & Sowing Guide

Peas need a cool window of 13–18 °C with frost-tolerant young growth and pod set before daytime temperatures cross 27 °C. Schedule sowing so flowering falls in the coolest part of your season. Windows below are indicative — adjust to local altitude and micro-climate.

16. Frequently Asked Questions