Growing winter peas in grains

[Mike Deyo]

I've had a goal of growing winter peas (edible, soup peas) on winter grains. You could get a double crop from one area, the peas have the potential of fixing nitrogen, maybe the peas would cross brace the grains stems and help prevent lodging. The winter peas that were available when I started, like Austrian Winter, were far too vigorous, and would overgrow even my 6 foot rye and cause lodging. I've done crosses to develop winter peas that were dwarf growing, or earlier flowering, or extra tendril, or fasciated.

Dwarf growing are good, but don't do well if the grain is too tall and shady for them. The extra tendril ones have some of the leaflets changed into extra tendrils, and do a good job of helping to hold up the stems. Fasciated are more determinate, with the flowers mostly in a cluster at the end of the pea vine. Early flowering is good for all the different types, as once they start setting peas the vine growth slows down a bit.

Last summer I had one plant from a cross, that combined fasciated with the extra tendril gene. I planted ~15 seeds from it last year, and they all are fasciated extra tendril. That's the first photo.

The second photo shows some fasciated peas in my tetraploid winter rye. I see that they are still segregating for flower color.

The third photo shows some dwarf winter peas in my winter wheat. They are not as dwarf as some varieties of peas, they top out at 24-30 inches.

[Diane Whitehead]

Do the peas grow all winter? When do you sow them?

Another possible winter plant for you are Fava, or broad beans. They grow in the winter and are very sturdy.

[Mike Deyo]

Yes, the peas are winter hardy here. They are planted at the same time as the winter grains, early October here. The winter peas, growing under the influence of short days and cold temperatures, form a rosette of short stems, no more than a few inches long, that trail on the ground. The plant's energy goes into making a strong tap root, that can resist being pulled up when the ground freezes. We had -6F with a few inches of snow this winter, and temperatures in the low teens with no snow cover, and the ground frozen solid for at least a month this winter.

Then when days lengthen, and temperatures warm in the spring, they start growing like regular peas, climbing if there is something for the tendrils to hold onto, and flowering. Because they were started in the fall, they mature earlier than normal spring planted peas.

I have grown favas. They are unfortunately not winter hardy here. When spring planted, they grow well, but we have a short window between spring and really hot weather which they don't like. I like favas as a fall cover crop, which can be planted late August or early September, and grows until they are winter killed in November or December. They work well mixed with daikon radishes, which also winter kill.

[Tim DH]

Hi Mike,
    I like the idea of the pea tendrils stabilizing the grain stalks. I assume you harvest the peas and the grain 'dry'. Do you run into problems with one being ready and the other not?

Tim DH

[Adrian]

I think that the most big problem will be to selecting wheat and peas seeds after the harvest. In swiss the association wheat / lentils is frequent but the climate is more sweet.

[Steph S]

Nice work.  I tried spring planted peas with spring grains and had similar problems. The dwarf peas languished among tall grain and didn't produce much nor climb effectively, without that vigorous tendril you have going.
I got a good crop of dwarf pea Margaret McKee combined with a short sturdy barley (black hulless, awned), but I think the barley suffered as the peas got the upper hand and were just that bit taller.

Besides finding a good match for height, I think there might be some kind of row spacing configuration plan that would help.  Peas around the edges or close to the edge, for example, might climb and hold the taller grain while still getting enough sun to produce, perhaps.

[Mike Deyo]

I assume you harvest the peas and the grain 'dry'. Do you run into problems with one being ready and the other not?

Tim DH

Yes, I harvest dry. And yes, the peas are usually later. One reason I'm selecting for earlier blooming in the peas.

I think that the most big problem will be to selecting wheat and peas seeds after the harvest.

Harvesting is a question mark. If the peas are shorter than the grain, I should be able to cut off the grain tops to harvest the grain, and then cut the lower stems with the peas attached to harvest the peas. I agree Adrian, that it's difficult to do selection in an intercropping situation. So far I have been selecting the wheat for strong stems when grown alone, and growing the peas alone and selecting for traits that make it less aggressive. I'm starting to grow small plots of different lines of peas, to hopefully get some that are productive grown in grain, but not too tall and aggressive.

Besides finding a good match for height, I think there might be some kind of row spacing configuration plan that would help.  Peas around the edges or close to the edge, for example, might climb and hold the taller grain while still getting enough sun to produce, perhaps.

I think the opposite works better, peas not on the the edge, but planted throughout the interior space of the patch. Pea vines in the center of the patch will grow randomly in different directions, providing cross bracing. Pea vines at the edge will grow towards the sun, away from the wheat, and might tend to pull the wheat over. On the other hand, I want pea plants close enough to the edge that they just reach the edge.  It's easy to experiment with that.

Another idea I had is growing a physical mix of extra tendril (afila), and regular leaf peas, in the grain. The afila plants do a better job of holding grain stems, but probably have less seed yield due to reduced leaf area. Maybe having 1/3 afila plants, and 2/3 regular leaf plants, would have nearly as much yield as 100% regular leaf, but have more tendrils due to the afila plants. I picture the pea vines acting as flexible shock absorbers, allowing some motion of the grain stems in wind, but keeping them from bending so far that they fall over.

[Mike Deyo]

There was an unexpected test last night. The same line of storms that caused a tornado in St.Louis, MO yesterday, gave us a severe thunderstorm with 60 mph wind gusts and ~2 inches of rain in a half hour. Luckily no hail. My winter hulless barley was covered with bird netting, which supported it and it was almost not affected.

The first wheat photo is looking south. I had some strings surrounding the patch to discourage deer from walking on the patch in the winter. It probably kept the plants from being flattened. The plants in the foreground are all F-1s. They are taller, hopefully they will straighten up some on their own. The second photo is the same patch, looking north. The plants in the foreground here have dwarf peas growing in them. The patch closest to the camera has a wheat line I have selected that is shorter and with the best stems. It seems to be affected less.

The first rye photo is also facing south. There are fasciated, regular leaf, regular height peas growing in them. It doesn't seem that they helped very much. It almost looks like the mass of pea leaves at the top caught the wind and caused more lodging. Maybe a reason to prefer afila plants, which might catch less wind. Again I hope the plants straighten up some on their own.

It was a pretty extreme test. If I hadn't had the strings surrounding the patches I think they would have been flattened.

[Steph S]

Considering the extreme weather, they look pretty good Mike.

[Mike Deyo]

I agree, I was dreading what I would see the morning after.

[AndrewB]

When requesting JIC lines discussed in Google Scholar's scientific papers, I remember noticing many were fasciated types. These lines were reported to have higher amounts of nitrogen-fixing nodes and/or longer, deeper roots.

So if my memory is correct, then fasciated peas may be better nitrogen fixers.

[Mike Deyo]

fasciated peas may be better nitrogen fixers.

That would be great! When growing with grains, nitrogen would be taken up by the grains, maybe the peas that do the best under those conditions would be partly due to superior nitrogen fixation.