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Southwestern PA | Good morning. I have been using Austrian winter peas in my cover crop blend, and I did one field a few years back with just the peas. I was late to burndown and planting in the spring on that field. To my surprise, the peas looked like a pretty good stand, but had some weeds and they were thin. I only put out 30 pounds per acre. I had someone asking me for an alternative to the roasted beans I sell and the peas came to mind.
What does it take to grow them as a crop? What’s the ideal planting date and what are you using for a herbicide program? What’s your planting population for drilled peas? What type of yield should be expected?
More than anything, I guess I would like to do a small strip, maybe 5-6 acres just to play around with land that had a failed corn crop. I’d like to see how they thresh out in the combine. And if they yield ok, maybe I’ll add that in my rotation for an alternate high protein source for livestock. That may be wishful thinking but if I’m going to have a hobby, it might as well be growing a crop I’m not familiar with. We’ve had guys in this area dabble in unconventional crops like buckwheat and dry land rice. I think the Hefty Brothers tried cotton in South Dakota once for fun too!
Thanks in advance for sharing what you know! | |
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Does anyone grown Austrian winter peas for the grain?
