jbgruver - 2/25/2024 12:33

Thanks for sharing the UNL winter pea research results. I didn't know that they were doing winter pea research.

Some of the details shared below the table are surprising.

For example, why was there so much volunteer wheat if the peas were planted into corn residue?

Also, the seeding rate 350,000 live seeds/acre seems excessive.

What do you target as a seeding rate for peas?

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We dormant seeded peas in early December primarily because soil conditions were unusually dry and suitable for planting at that time and our old Buffalo planter had not yet been put away for the winter.

Over the last decade, we have had decent but variable over wintering of fall planted winter peas. Until last fall, almost all our winter peas planted in the fall had been drilled which I think contributed to variable winter survival. Deep planting (3"+) and companion planting both seem to improve winter survival of peas. I don't anticipate dormant seeding peas as a regular practice (the soil is normally too wet in Dec) but I wanted to see if it would work.

Last fall, we used our old Buffalo planter to plant Keystone and Austrian winter peas a little over 3" deep in late September and early December.
In late October, we used a drill to plant some strips of Keystone and Austrian winter Peas. If we can find the time, we will plant some more strips of Keystone and Austrian winter peas this week.

If we had a reliable well priced market and confidence that fall planted peas would overwinter, I would try to plant some peas for grain harvest every fall.

Joel
WIU Agriculture