Pea plant problems. Say that three times fast!
I received a great question from one of my readers that I wanted to post.
Question from Val:
That is great information. Do you have any suggestions for how to handle pea plants that start to go brown before they produce??
My answer:
Hi Val,
Great question. One of the most common diseases to pea plants is root rot. It is caused by a fungus in the soil and attacks the roots of the plant eventually causing the leaves to turn yellow/brown. Another common problem, more so in the Pacific Northwest/Western Canada area, is wilt disease. This is also caused by a fungus in the soil.
Unfortunately, there probably isn’t too much that you can do to save them at this point. If you would like to know what is causing the problem, you can pull up one or two plants and check the roots carefully. If they are mushy and sick-looking then you know it was root rot. They will be easier to pull out than plants that are healthy or that have wilt disease. Plants with wilt disease will still have healthier-looking roots.
The only way to control either of these disease is to plant your peas on a 5-year rotation. This means that you should not plant peas in any area of the garden where peas have grown before for 5 years. On year six, you can start the rotation over again. The fungus that is in the soil should be gone by then. Also make sure that your soil is well drained and that you plant your seeds early in the spring. It would be helpful to know which disease killed the plants as you may be able to find seeds that are more resistant to that particular disease.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
We have planted the seeds and the peas have grown as normal to about 24″ high but they have not flowered even thought the plants are strong and healthy. can you advise
Hi Roderick,
Sorry I didn’t reply. I must have missed the comment somehow. I hope your pea plants have flowered by now. Let me know.
Shelly
Planted peas in the spring, strong healthy plants which have produced pods which have grown fine although not as many as last year and all looked great until we harvested the peas and the pods were empty, well , they had tiny little peas just about bid enough to see. Have I done something wrong, are the pea seeds useless, can you help please? Is there time now to put in some more peas or is it too late? Many thanks.
Hi Gwen,
Are you sure you didn’t just pick them too early? That is the only thing I can think of. The pods look fat but if you squeeze them, you will find they are still pretty much empty. When you squeeze them and can feel the peas inside, then they are ready. I hope you didn’t pick them all at once before opening them
Make sure you are watering them enough so they can produce the peas and only pick a couple of pods at a time to open and check (and eat) before picking them all.
I am not sure where you are but you can try planting some more if you have nothing left. The pea plants don’t like it when it gets really hot, they are more of a spring plant, but our summer here in Western Canada is about a month late along with most of the plants. It wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. If they work, you will know for next year!
HTH
Shelly
Hi, please suggest me how to outcome with the problem. There is a good growth of flowers of my peas. but now, I have saw that few plants and the leafs of the plants are getting dry and brown. Please suggest me the appropriate medicine. Regds.
My pea plants are really healthy looking but the pods are bending, what is causing this ?