Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | We raised and worked with peas for many years but have not recently. The rate seems consistent with my memory - it takes a lot of seed.
We were using grain drills provided by the processor at that time and calibrating them was always a challenge. With a grain drill the planting rate was highly dependent on seed size and ground speed. My Dad was a firm believer in driving slow when planting in general and especially peas. Peas being considerably larger than other small grain will tend to ride up between the disks higher than oats or wheat. The result is that they are released later and not planted as deep.
So by going slower, the seed had a chance to exit the disks sooner and the result was they were planted deeper. Having even emergence is important with any crop but especially processor peas since they are only harvested once. Unlike your garden where you can pick and choose and come back another day for the later ones.
When I was young (a long time ago) Dad planted the peas with a modified horse drawn drill. This was a Minneapolis Moline Monitor style on steel wheels. The disks were behind the axle. Dad cut the pole off and replaced it with a wood beam. The bean was attached to a 3 point drawbar on a Ford tractor. The drill used levers to put the disks in the ground and engage the drive. Dad would drop the 3 point, put the drill as deep as possible and raise the 3 point. This pushed the disks deeper into the ground. He would then drive slowly to plant the field.
Then Dad would return home and pray for a nice gentle 1" of rain to get them all started at the same time. After Dad passed on, I planted the peas for my brother on a fairly large field. I was using the processor's tandem drill hookup and driving slow as I knew Dad would advise. It looked like rain but I continued to drive slowly as Dad would have demanded. My brother and nephew were in the field with a packer and a drag. They quickly caught up to me and actually had to wait for me to finish. I got the field planted, they got it rolled. As I drove by my brother's home place, I had to turn on the wipers. We got a nice soaking rain. Those were the best peas we ever raised which was due to several factors but certainly important was the even emergence.
Peas are very much Hit & Miss. My nephew raised great peas two years in a row. I advised him to quit which he did and never looked back.
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air seeder for peas
