Why are my peas yellow?

Can anyone help me?  I'm in 8b.

My peas look pretty terrible.  Several squares of them have only grown to about 6" tall in two months, and the ones that grew more are very yellow for the bottom half of them.  I have barely watered them recently as we have been getting a good amount of rain.  These are being grown in an open bottom box but the top 9" (which shrunk to 6") is MM w/ 5 types of compost.

Any obvious reasons for the yellowing?

syphlix, I was hoping someone else would answer because I have had that happen to my sugar peas. The lower leaves turning yellow isn't a worry. For myself, I am wondering if I planted bush instead of tall vining. How about you? The snow peas grow tall and vining (even if some of the lower leaves are yellow) producing flowers and pods. They are still doing fine even after the temps dropped into the 20's.

Yeah, all peas are prone to this yellowing of lower foliage. I'm not really sure why, maybe it was a dry period for that part of the vine.? Sometime the older foliage on the plants are just done. Who knows... The tops of your plants look good. Are they flowering yet?

Peas are very shallow rooted, so a top dressing compost and some mulch may help them. All garden peas are a vining type , as far as I know.

I planted 4 varieties, but the ones along the trellis are definitely vine types.  I'm also amazed at the difference in heights between them all.

Yes it's troubling.  More than half of the leaves are yellow!  I also wonder if they are a bit leggy.  I've never grown peas before so I'm not sure how spread they are supposed to be.  The location isn't great - I only get a couple hours of direct sunlight a day now though it gets indirect all day.

Yes the tops of them are flowering.  Maybe 1-2 flowers per vine?  How many flowers do you usually get?

syphlix wrote:Yes the tops of them are flowering.  Maybe 1-2 flowers per vine?  How many flowers do you usually get?

As long as you keep the vines alive and the weather doesn't get too hot, the plant should put out a bloom every few days.

Awesome!  How long from bloom to edible pea?

Do you think my plants look leggy?  Does it even matter?  I guess if there are flowers who cares how tall it is

syphlix wrote:Awesome!  How long from bloom to edible pea?

Do you think my plants look leggy?  Does it even matter?  I guess if there are flowers who cares how tall it is

Your peas look fine.  I've grown bush peas that look like short vine peas so maybe the ones on the left of your trellis are a different variety than the ones on the right?  

As far as bloom to edible, it depends on the weather.  My peas planted mid summer refuse to pod up until the cool of fall has arrived, which apparently in these parts is a different time every year.   

What's in front of the peas?  They look yummy!
CC

Ah.  Ok much to learn.

The ones right in front of the peas are brussells sprouts - those seem to be doing well!

Seeing the Brussels sprouts look to be doing fine I think your peas are at the end of their life , as pea plants die like that from the bottom foliage up as the season progresses .
One thing I would check out though is the planting compatibility .. something deep in my head  seems to prompt me of this ..it might be that the peas and Brussels are not quite as compatible as you'd hoped .

Normally when I have peas I pick them as soon as they are big enough for what ever purpose I want them for .. this keeps the vine producing flowers  & thus peas . Here in the UK when my peas are as tall as yours they would have had thirty to forty flowers or formed pods on them at various times per vine .

If you let the vines produce peas and hang back in the picking hoping for them to get really big late on in the season  I think it's fair to say that you'll be lucky to get 15 to 20 peas per plant .

 The reasoning is this... lots of plants only produce enough seeds to try and ensure their own replacement plus  a few more seeds for spares.  So once the pea plant has a dozen or so seeded  pods it's attained its purpose in life and goes into shut down .

You have to cheat nature .....keep picking them to keep them producing

Hrm. I have yet to see a single pea actually. They just started putting flowers out two weeks ago. I'm not sure what the lifespan is but the seeds were planted about 3 months ago.

I'll check up on compatibility. I wonder why some plants wouldn't get along is it something with their root systems?

As I mentioned before, garden pea plants have a shallow root system, and they need regular watering as well as a Mel's Mix made with quality composts. I believe that your plants are fine even if some of the old  foliage has dried on the vine. 

I plant my peas thicker than you did, because I know some of the plants are just going to not make it and I experienced similar things as you with some of my plants.

2011


2012


2013


In the last pic you can clearly see that there is a top dressing of compost to keep the roots cool, moist and fed. 

Pea plants can be fickle. I grow only the sugar anns and I sow about 18 seeds per square. Typically some of the plants dies before maturity but I tend to get a respectable harvest.

Whoa

Now that's what you call a pea farm.  They look much thicker and healthier than mine.

I put 8 plants per square but in spring when I try again I'll plant more per square and i'll try to put them where they'll get more sun

syphlix wrote:Whoa

Now that's what you call a pea farm.  They look much thicker and healthier than mine.

I put 8 plants per square but in spring when I try again I'll plant more per square and i'll try to put them where they'll get more sun

YUP! More SUN! They love the sun. AND good quality homemade compost (Or a multi source blend) will feed those babies what they need. My spring peas always do better than any late summer/ autumn plantings. And you can plant them early in the spring when it is still rather cold out.

If you have the space, I bet a second sowing would work for you now.
http://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-dates/TX/Austin

Camp says " If your quick you should catch the season" .

You could try " Plantoids Rocket Express peas    "  to get them germinated with hair roots and ready to plant them out.
 
Wrap individual peas in  2 x2 inch squares of absorbent paper kitchen towel and lay them on a plate of water in a warm dark place.
They will usually have germinated with a small shoot just about to emerge out the seed & be ready to plant out in the tissue  in four to six days ..don't let the plate dry out or become too flooded just enough water to 1/2 a pea deep .

 When I sow or plant out potted peas make a double line but stagger the plantings , making sure no tissue is showing above the ground to prevent it wicking moisture away from the peas

 IE.

o    o    o    o    o    o    o   o   o     line one
   o    o    o    o    o    o    o   o      line two


That way you get the recommended spacing's and get two rows for a greater crop if the bees do your pollenating as bees tend to try and stick to the same nectar source / same flower type  ..... .so one bee will pollinate as many pea flowers as it can before it flies off fully laden with nectar or pollen .