# Does anyone transplant peas from indoor seedlings?



## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

I just finished a gardening book by Coleman that mentioned he pots up peas in 3 inch peat pots indoors, and after they sprout to some size, he transplants those out into the garden rather than sewing peas directly in the garden. 
I've tried many different transplants, but never peas. 

Has anyone had success doing this?


----------



## RoseGarden (Jun 5, 2005)

Hi, me again  I've sprouted English, snow and snap peas indoors and then planted out, but not in peat pots. I put seeds between layers of damp paper towels inside a ziplock baggie and waited for them to sprout, and would plant them just as soon as the root emerged from the seed. Have to be handled very very carefully but it worked well. I'm too lazy to do it all the time, and grow too many peas to fool with doing it that way, I just plant at the optimium times.

What is the authors reason for planting pea transplants? Is it to avoid overly wet or cold soils?


----------



## DETMURDS (Feb 13, 2007)

moonwolf said:


> I just finished a gardening book by Coleman that mentioned he pots up peas in 3 inch peat pots indoors, and after they sprout to some size, he transplants those out into the garden rather than sewing peas directly in the garden.
> I've tried many different transplants, but never peas.
> 
> Has anyone had success doing this?


Well, I just did a day ago,...they are Asian Peas, and so far all systems are GO! Looking good here.


----------



## anniew (Dec 12, 2002)

I have not tried it as the amount of labor involved is beyond the benefits, IMHO. 
Although I follow a lot of Coleman's suggestions, I look at the applicability for my own operation. He sometimes does things which work, but since his operation is subsidized by grants and income from writing, it may not be practical for a marketer. If you want early stuff for your own use, then it may be a good idea.
Ann


----------



## DoubleD (Jan 28, 2007)

I have not done peas, but I have done pole and bush beans and sweet corn in peat pots. It allows you to ensure you have a full planting with no gaps from missed germinations etc. and also ensures you get them in the ground as soon as possible and further along in their growth. If you are using an intensive bed gardening system - having the young plants started "off line" from the beds allows you to keep rotating things through the planting area with no skips or delays and with full bed utilization. If you are trying to live off of the garden in large part - maximizing the bed utilization is critical.


----------



## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

i put 12 seeds in each 4 inch pot with soiless mix. When the first leaves just start opening i turn the pot in my hand and the sprouts come out of the soiless mix leaving bare sprouts.
I gently plant them out. You have to be carefull. i broke just a few last year.
You don't need peat pots though. I started 280 seeds, no way I'm buying that many peat pots. I did this just last year and got the best harvest of peas ever, and I am getting ready to plant a bunch out today.


----------



## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

DoubleD said:


> I have not done peas, but I have done pole and bush beans and sweet corn in peat pots. It allows you to ensure you have a full planting with no gaps from missed germinations etc. and also ensures you get them in the ground as soon as possible and further along in their growth.


I've done sweet corn in peat pots to grow a few inches high, but always never to let the tap root poke out the bottom before transplanting. Had good success, and it's a uniform planting. Takes a bit longer than seeding outdoors, but for this zone it works out great if the soil is a bit cooler than anticipated for seeds. I've not ever tried bush beans to transplant though. 
I think I'll give the snow peas a transplant 'start'. Our ground is still too early to work, so in about a month they would go out in the garden. I won't start the seeds in pots for at least 2 weeks.


----------



## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

According to my record I started peas in pots on 03 22 07 and they germinated on 04 03 07. They will be put in the ground on 04 08 07.. The first leaves are just starting to open on a few of them. It's a pretty fast proccess really.

This was done in the front window of my green house, no added heat or lights. But I am leaving them on a table out in the sun for the day to make sure they can handle direct sun.


----------



## slfisher (Oct 8, 2002)

I used to do the thing of putting them in damp paper towels, and this year I just said screw it and poked them in with my finger, and I got the best germination ever.


----------



## Jenn (Nov 9, 2004)

The English do this. Cold damp and slugs take a huge toll on tiny seedlings but rarely harm those plants further along. I expect this is true where Coleman gardens.


----------



## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

Jenn said:


> The English do this. Cold damp and slugs take a huge toll on tiny seedlings but rarely harm those plants further along. I expect this is true where Coleman gardens.


I beleieve elliot gave his experience for transplanting peas and beans as mentioned was in the upper eastern states and for northern climates. It wasn't so much for slugs or dampness as it was for the mid june last frost dates. At least that's the type of cold climate gardening of interest for a place like zone 3. Springs can be pestilent damp, but spring in this zone is frozen 'non growing' ground until around mid may for peas by seed.


----------



## naturewoman (Nov 12, 2002)

I'm starting seedlings in a greenhouse with no special lights and no heat. I planted my sugar snap peas in 4" pots on 3/10, and they are just now about two inches high and should be ready to transplant in another week or so...hopefully big enough to survive the slugs and sow bugs. 

My bush beans, planted on the same day, are just now coming up...not leafed out yet. Everything here is taking so long to sprout, it's driving me crazy. And we've had some unusually warm weather, but also some freezes at night.

Tomatoes, also planted on the same day are about 1/2" high, and only half the pots even sprouted. And my zuccs and squash are all doing nada. I will have to reseed them directly in the ground, I guess. Bell peppers did not sprout either. 

This is my first year using the greenhouse, which I thought would give me a good headstart, since I have a very short growing season, but apparently there is not enough daylight in this steep narrow valley to even sprout the seeds. So next year, I guess I'll hang grow lights in the greenhouse and see if that doesn't help.


----------



## anniew (Dec 12, 2002)

naturewoman,
In general, most seeds don't need the sunlight to sprout. It is a factor of moisture and temperature and viable seed. A few require dark, however.
I'd say using the greenhouse was not the problem, but one of the other two factors.
Ann


----------



## cssc (Jun 19, 2006)

I soak my peas overnight. This year I wanted to be early, so I put plastic on the ground where I wanted to plant them. The next day the ground was warm enough to spade. I was worried about them because it got so cold -14-they weren't up so I dug a little bit- they've got 4" root on them & are just waiting for the warm weather this week to spring out of the ground! To paraphrase Carla E, Peas know when to come up.
Last year I was way late planting beans. I think it was June 5 already. I presprouted & planted them (totally against the "rules" of bean planting!), & all but 2 made it. So much for the evils of soaking bean seeds!


----------



## naturewoman (Nov 12, 2002)

Thanks Annie. I'm new to this so I don't really know what the problem is. I haven't veggie gardened since I've lived here, except to try to grow a few things in pots (I had wonderful gardens in California, but this is a whole different climate), and they don't handle the summer heat well...so this year I'm doing raised bed gardens up by the house (ground is too rocky to garden in), and squash and corn and berries and stuff down in the meadow where I actually have some sun and soil. 

So, my greenhouse has been dissapointing, not knowing what the problem is. Maybe it's a heater it needs, instead of lights. This is Oregon, where every winter, everything outside turns green with mold and moss. My seeding pots on the bottom shelves (cooler at the bottom) have moss growing on them already...just because nothing dries out here until summer. And the trays that sprouted were on the top shelves. So, maybe it's too much moisture, and not enough hours of heat in the day time...


----------



## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

My green house is a lean to with glass only on the very front. In the back I have benches with shop lights over them. A few days before i plant them I start putting them out side on a table to harden off. 
I have a table in the house where I sprout most of my seeds, Behind the wood furnace if they are extra early ones. When they are come up I move them under shop lights, Then after a while they are moved to the front of my green house on sunny days. Some things will still get leggy so on cloudy days they will go back under the lights.
Got my peas in the ground. They didn't germinate as well as I had hoped so I'll have to soak more and direct seed them.


----------

