Pea Leaves/Foliage (Pousse pois mange tout)

[Diane Whitehead]

Peace Seedlings just released two other new peas: Ruby Crescent and Opal Crescent. I now have seeds, but not sure if i have the room to trial them. Hopefully Opal Crescent is an improvement over the old Opal Creek. I imagine it is.

I ordered all the peas on their website, and those aren't on it.  How did you manage to get them?

[AndrewB]

And they aren't mutually exclusive. 😁

I realize that anthocyanin tastes bitter to some people (the look on a fellow gardener's face when she tasted a purple pod I gave her was VERY educational) so it should probably be avoided.
(Purples and greens were segregating in that planting. I couldn't taste any difference between the purples and greens, but that is MY genetics skewing a taste evaluation. 😁)

I wonder what effect "cov" would have?

My 23andme genetics test says i am a non-bitter taster. I'm also pretty sure that is confirmed to be true as those Phenylthiourea (PTC) Test Paper strips they did way back in my genetics / biology classes didn't bother me when most people said they tasted awful. I should buy some PTC paper from Amazon to test myself again to be sure. Not that I can't taste ANY bitter foods, but I wonder how different my perception is to the next person. I've started having my wife and daughter taste things for me as they both seem to have different reactions than I do sometimes. This was first made clear to me with a yellow-fleshed watermelon. In addition to the bitterness genes I am also one of the rare types that hate the taste of cilantro, so it might be fair to say that I really taste things differently. Perhaps that is why i'm such a picky eater.

Anyway my point was that maybe we should breeding for good taste by polling large groups of people. If it tastes good to me but bad to someone else then that's not so good. If it tastes good to someone else but not to me that is also not so good. If it tastes good to all of us then bingo!

As for the purple pods... yeah there may be other sweetness or bitterness genes that need weeding out to find a good tasting purple or another approach is to just breed super sweet peas and know that there will be some tempering of bitter flavor. New super wrinkled seed phenotypes might be a novel way to approach this. Purple pods don't taste bitter to me per se, but for some people they might, and in general even I usually prefer the yellows and greens. So something to think about for sure.

[AndrewB]

I ordered all the peas on their website, and those aren't on it.  How did you manage to get them?

I ordered the Ruby Beauty and Purple Beauty and I think Amethyst Beauty last year and they sent me a printed catalog in the mail this winter. I think they are such new varieties they must not have updated their online blog / list yet.

[AndrewB]

I was trying to help Gregg look in the Australian GRIN system for some out crossing peas.

Noticed these lines that sounded interesting (have not looked in USDA GRIN database yet).

http://52.64.82.164/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=88611 'Shang Ts Ay'

http://52.64.82.164/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=122017 HAI YEN

http://52.64.82.164/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=122018 'PS 444'

http://52.64.82.164/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=121702 L 611

http://52.64.82.164/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=88610 G0000046

http://52.64.82.164/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=121664 MALAYSIAN-EDIBLE PODDED

http://52.64.82.164/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=121665 'BLOM`S SUGAR PEA EDIBLE PODDED'

http://52.64.82.164/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=121661 JOANET EDIBLE PODDED

http://52.64.82.164/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=121662 GOLDEN PRINCE-EDIBLE PODDED

[AndrewB]

These are the lines in the USDA ARS GRIN database that sound interesting to me with mentioning of edible pods. They should also have good edible foliage as well. One has a unique pencil-thin pod shape which looks very interesting. Haven't looked for ones from china yet, but one is from Malaysia. Anything developed by Dr. Marx should be pretty good or interesting. https://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/articles/breeder_Marx.htm

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1198714
Details for: PI 261671, Pisum sativum L., DEGRACE

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1199481
Details for: PI 263027, Pisum sativum L., MANGETOUT CORNE DE BELEIR

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1206545
Details for: PI 275825, Pisum sativum L., G 11254

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1283202
Details for: PI 378157, Pisum sativum L., RED FLOWER NO. 1

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1101804
Details for: PI 635167, Pisum sativum L., 'PURPLE BLOSSOM SUGAR PEAS'

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1472776
Details for: PI 577805, Pisum sativum L., 'SP110-1-2-7-2'

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1070177
Details for: W6 15105, Pisum sativum L. subsp. sativum, Marx 013

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1070471
Details for: W6 15186, Pisum sativum L. subsp. sativum, Marx 115

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1070575
Details for: W6 15207, Pisum sativum L. subsp. sativum, Marx 167

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1070739
Details for: W6 15244, Pisum sativum L. subsp. sativum, Marx 213

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1188695
Details for: PI 244093, Pisum sativum L., APOLLO

[Diane Whitehead]

 I bought seeds of Purple Blossom Sugar in 2019 but didn't manage to save any.

They were from a grower who only sells a few of her extra seeds.  I've just checked and she has some for sale now, so I'll order some quickly.

Here is her description:

Purple Blossom Sugar –  Origin: SSEx Heirtage Farm seed exchange
Grows about 4-5 ft tall. Purple-red flowers. (4-5″ x 3/4″) large curved EDIBLE pods. Most pods carry 5-7 seeds. Seeds are sage green/grey, large, slightly wrinkled with purple spots and splashing. Mid-season producer.   

Oh, here is something odd that she has:   

One with  "FURRY/HAIRY" pods!  but it is sold out.  Maybe she'll have some more next year.

[B. Copping]

Oh, here is something odd that she has:   

One with  "FURRY/HAIRY" pods!  but it is sold out.  Maybe she'll have some more next year.

I have seen that show up on the inside of the pods.
That may be what is being referred to.

[UnicornEmily]

Ruby Beauty is the first commercially introduced red-podded pea. It looks nice but does not taste that good. I'm still working on my red-podded pea because i think i can make a better one! Hoping this is the year!!

Didn't Joseph Lofthouse have a picture of a red-podded pea that he bred in his book?  You might ask him if he has seeds of it.

[AndrewB]

Didn't Joseph Lofthouse have a picture of a red-podded pea that he bred in his book?  You might ask him if he has seeds of it.

Haha, thanks Emily, yes Joseph did have one in his book. He no longer grows it because of heavy pea weevils in his area. Also he is only focused on tomatoes right now and everything else has been curated to EFN the experimental farm network. The red podded pea is not one of them, but the one I'm working on is descended from his line as he originally shared seeds of it with me around 2010.

My line I stabilized it for homozygous red color and it also stabilized into a half-snap pod. I've grown it out at least 10 generations from the original F5 Joseph lofthouse shared with me. I have recently backcrossed it to my nicest tasting purple podded variety and am on the F2 / F3 trying to reselect for red pods with homozygous stabilized color with hopefully better flavor.

Both my line and Ruby Beauty both suffer from poor taste and flavor. Ruby Beauty also does not seem stabilized for pod color as good as my line has been. Fingers crossed I can make progress on my line soon!

[UnicornEmily]

Oh, that's cool!  I should've figured you were already working with the germplasm he selected. 

Fingers crossed for you!  A red-podded pea that tastes yummy would be very cool.  Especially if it tastes yummy in a different and neat way from green-podded peas.

[UnicornEmily]

Hey, I wonder if they red comes from lycopene, the carotenoid that makes watermelons and tomatoes red.  Joseph said lycopene tastes bitter to him.  If so, that might red-podded peas taste bitter to some people, and not to others.  Have you had other people taste them?  That might be a good way to find out if the flavor that doesn't taste good is the red, or if it's something you can breed out and still keep the color.