HELP! "Amish Snap" pea question

Hi, all.

So I'm growing the 'Amish Snap' variety of pea this year for the first time and I've found consistently that plants have been growing taller in my SFG than they are expected to per the packet, so if the plants are listed as growing 4-6 feet, I may need to prepare for 6+ feet.  

Time is of the essence, since my tendrils are flapping in the wind & I've got to get them some support, pronto!

Can anyone verify fer-shure?   

Thanks in advance!

I've checked several sites.  They say "tall" or 5-6 feet.

That's the thing: if it says 5-6, should I plan for 6-8 feet?  Last year, my soup (dry) beans that weren't supposed to be taller than 2-3 feet were more like 4-5, and my pole beans were easily 10 feet or more.  Once I get the trellis in, it's staying, so I want to make sure I take into account extra "growage" from being in the extra-potent MM, if others have had the same experience with this variety.  I'm looking at some 6' posts right now, but maybe I'll have to use the 8' tomato trellis instead...

I'd say go higher just to be safe.  Who knows... maybe next year you'll have something else there that needs the height...

If your vines go over the top, you can let them bend back down or go across the trellising too...

A 6 foot trellis should be fine, any higher and you'll need to break out the tall step ladder.

What kind of trellis do you have?

If metal pipe, how about swapping out the elbow joints connecting top to side bars with a T-bar type joint? Cap the open top when not in use, but if you want to extend your height, uncap and drop in a couple short lengths of pipe and connect between them a new top bar with your old elbow joints. Dangle some twine from it however long you like, or tie a few lengths between the two top bars. Should be a very strong addition it takes only a minute or so to set up or take down, and at most a few minutes to string.

Marc, Actually, that is a good idea. An extension that will not affect the lower existing trellis. Capping would not even be necessary.

Thanks, sanderson.

I'm going to do the equivalent on the 10-foot PVC pipes I put as a trellis frame into a self-watering 5-gallon bucket I've got a tomato in. I doubt I'll need 10 feet of PVC trellis per bucket, but am very likely to need at least five feet if the tomato grows well. And 10 feet would be kind of weak and bendy, but a long length of PVC reinforced with a cross bar at five feet would be vastly stronger and stiffer.

Thanks for your suggestions, all.  

I have bamboo poles, I think they're 7 feet long, with some nylon netting that's probably 6' long.  I thought about it and decided that if they grow over the top, so be it.  I'll try to take a picture tonight when I get home. 

DH & I set them up this morning because I've got so much grabbage that I didn't want to wait any longer. 

Now it's a matter of convincing the tendrils to grab the netting, and not each other....

My problem is that when I see them reaching for the morning sun, I put twine and poles to the east for them to climb. That of course makes them immediately turn to the afternoon sun in the west, just to spite me. I don't know what kind of point they're trying to make. I should just pull a Mike Tyson and eat their children.

Marc Iverson wrote:Thanks, sanderson.  

I'm going to do the equivalent on the 10-foot PVC pipes I put as a trellis frame into a self-watering 5-gallon bucket I've got a tomato in.  I doubt I'll need 10 feet of PVC trellis per bucket, but am very likely to need at least five feet if the tomato grows well.  And 10 feet would be kind of weak and bendy, but a long length of PVC reinforced with a cross bar at five feet would be vastly stronger and stiffer.

3 ways trellis tomatoes in buckets.

10 ft emt poles and crossbar with light ropes.


10 ft pvc poles with wooden cross ties for grabbing.



And the vines climbed to the very tops and tried to go higher.

climbing a cattle panel.  I finally bent the vines down and tied them to the top of the arch.



Kay

Kay, what are the white objects in each bucket? I enlarged the photos and it looks like you tied the light ropes to the handles of the buckets??

GoodNESS, Kay...!  Some of those are almost as tall as your house!

Sanderson, I think you're right.  And a very clever idea it is too!  (As long as you don't have to move them anywhere...)

sanderson wrote:Kay, what are the white objects in each bucket?  I enlarged the photos and it looks like you tied the light ropes to the handles of the buckets??

Yes, that is light weight rope tied to the bucket handles. 

These would work for peas or beans with a plastic circle with holes at the edge, fastened at the top of the rope or pole to drop multiple lines of twine to the bucket.  

Here is a picture of the poles before putting into the buckets and weighing them down with 2 bricks.  This version is totally portable to chase the sun in early summer and move to a bit of shade in the late summer.  But very high winds will blow them over.  He moved them in between the emt version when a tropical blow was expected and let them blow against the cross bars, but mostly he lets them lean against the eaves in a storm.  Only had one actually hit the ground.   Like I said, totally portable.



My son constructed these at his house. PVC - the new erector or leggo set.     The cattle panel is at my house.

He prunes the vines to a single leader, but if you drop two ropes per bucket you could get a double vine.

My son is 6' and he is on a step stool picking sungold cherry tomatoes.



Kay

Very cool looking, Kay, and I love how tall those tomatoes are!!!

I can't see the wooden cross ties you mention. Do you have another picture or could you describe those? I find it hard to visualize wooden cross ties on a PVC trellis.

Marc Iverson wrote:Very cool looking, Kay, and I love how tall those tomatoes are!!!

I can't see the wooden cross ties you mention.  Do you have another picture or could you describe those?  I find it hard to visualize wooden cross ties on a PVC trellis.

Holes drilled into the PVC and wooden dowels pushed through.  PVC was too slippery for the vine to be tied to.

Kay

I see. Thanks.