Unless you ’re growing ornamental sweet pea , the whole level of have peas ( Pisum sativum ) in your garden is to enjoy the edible pods .

If your vine are n’t producing seedcase , you ’re wasting your meter , right ?

There are a number of intellect that a relatively healthy - looking plant will fail to grow those big , embonpoint pod . Sometimes you may fix the cause and control the problem , and sometimes you ca n’t .

A horizontal close up of pea plants with no pods.

In this guide we ’re going to help you figure out what the cause is so you could act consequently .

If you ’re golden and speedy , you could limit the job and still be able to bask the fruits of your labor .

Here are the top reasons why pea fail to develop pod :

A vertical shot of pea plants growing in a garden with pods hanging off of the plant. Green and white text span the center and bottom of the frame.

Why Peas Aren’t Producing Pods

1 . Heat

2 . Lack of Nutrition

3 . Pollination Issues

A horizontal photo of a gardener working in a greenhouse on a hot day.

4 . Too Much Nitrogen

5 . Viruses

Pests and disease can cause the works to lay off grow or even perish . But most diseases will cause the entire plant life to suffer .

A horizontal macro close up of a flower starting to open on a stalk isolated on a dark background.

It ’s not just pod you demand to vex about in these type , as the entire plant will be in bad form .

Tolearn about how to get peasand the pests and disease that might plague your plant , travel to our guide .

In this guide , we ’re get going to cover the plants that otherwise calculate fine but are n’t forming pods . If yourplant is producing empty pods , take about the grounds for that here .

A horizontal photo of pea plants growing up a trellis in a garden.

Some like it hot , as the locution goes . Peas do not . Once the temperature commence climbing above 65 ° F , the plant ’s increase will slow up or even stop .

You ca n’t control the conditions , but if you are able , wrap up the plants with subtlety cloth in the afternoon during the hot part of the day .

As long as it isn’ttoohot , this should be enough to make a remainder and restart growth . If it ’s over 85 ° F or so , there ’s not much you’re able to do . Your works are likely toast .

A horizontal photo of pea plants tangled in a garden bed with no pods and white spots on the leaves.

When it ’s too red-hot and there ’s no embossment on the view , you might just require to pull your plants and bug out again when the atmospheric condition cool off .

That ’s whyP. sativumis primarily a springtime and fall crop . If you have a short menstruum in the spring and hang that is cool enough , pop your seeded player indoorsfour to six weeks in advance of plant out .

A plant that does n’t flower or is slow - growing and leggy is often malnourished . Whether your soil is use up or you did n’t add plant food , either way , your pea need nutrients to farm well .

A horizontal photo of pea shoots growing in a garden.

Before assume this is the issue , do a soil test . It ’s always a smart practice to test your stain before set in the spring or fall , no matter what you ’re grow .

You never cognise what ’s survive on withthe dirt in your backyarduntil you check it out , and knowing what nutrient your soil has in surplusage and what it lacks will help all of your crop , not just your peas .

Like all legume , P. sativumfix nitrogen in the filth , so they rarely need nitrogen plant food , but that does n’t mean they ’ll never require it , and the plants certainly need K and phosphorus , along with all the other micronutrients like iron , zinc , and copper .

If you did n’t test your soil in advance of planting , it might not be too previous to do a soil test and visualize out what your dirt take . Then , amend accordingly , and your plant should develop blossoms followed by pods , assuming you have enough time left in the growing season .

Otherwise , chalk it up to a learning experience and hear again the next time temperature are appropriate .

If your industrial plant look healthy and happy , with profuse , leafy vines , and spate of blossom , but no seedpod are forming , it might be a pollenation job . Looks like a causa for Gregor Mendel .

pea plant are self - pollinate ( known as autogamy ) , which mean they check both the virile and female parts in each efflorescence and they can pollinate themselves .

gamy temperatures and overweening or not enough humidity can reduce the amount of ego - pollination that occurs .

Though they do n’t require pollinators to facilitate pollination , they help . If you ’re induce a lot of rain or pollinators are scarce in your orbit , that could be a factor as well .

twist avail increase pollenation , so if you ’re experience very still conditions , that could cut pollenation .

Insufficient water can also lessen pollenation .

If your plant is no longer flowering , there ’s not much you’re able to do to fix the situation . If flower are still developing , check that the industrial plant have enough H2O and regard track them during the afternoon if it ’s exceptionally hot .

you could also hand - pollinate the flowers yourself . To do this , you ’ll require to habituate a twosome of sharp scissors and cut open up the petal that ’s protecting the stamen and stigma if they ’re inclose .

employ a small stick or toothpick and collect some of the pollen from the stamen . Wipe this onto the stigma of the same or another blossom .

Remember , pea plant and other legumes specify nitrogen in the soil under ideal circumstances .

In a nutshell , nitrogen fixation is when a plant takes N petrol from the standard pressure and converts it into the available ammonia form in the soil .

pea and other legume do this by make symbiotically with rhizobacteria Rhizobiaceae , α - Proteobacteria , which lives in the root nodules of the plant .

Learn more about legume inoculum to boost nitrogen fixation .

If you add nitrogen to the grunge when the plant life is already make that bechance , it can result in too much atomic number 7 in the ground . This is called nitrogen toxicity .

Nitrogen toxicity make unreasonable leaf yield , dark green foliage , slow increment , and reduced anthesis . No flowers mean no pea plant pods .

I ’m going to say it one more time : screen your filth ! Do n’t even think about tote up plant food until you do .

There are three viruses that infect pea : Pea Enation Mosaic Virus ( PEMV ) , Pea Streak Virus ( PeSV ) , and Pea Seed - Borne Mosaic Virus ( PSbMV ) . These are spread by pests like aphid .

All three of these viruses have strange ontogenesis , foliation discoloration , and distortion .

PEMV and PSbMV cause distorted , stunted or absent pea plant cod .

Sadly , there ’s nothing you may do once the industrial plant are infect . It ’s in force to pull them and dispose of them in the trash . The viruses ca n’t be eliminated and they can spread to other nearby plants .

speak of gap , the virus is carried by aphids and on infected seed , so keeping aphids out of the garden is crucial .

Once they arrive and set out to fertilize , it ’s too late , so you need to forestall them in the first place . There are lots of ways to do this , from cakehole cropping to sack .

Learn more about control aphid .

Your other bar strategy is to grow resistant cultivar like ‘ Almoto ’ , ‘ Aspen , ’ ‘ Aurora , ’ ‘ quotation , ’ ‘ Corvallis , ’ ‘ Freezer 50 , ’ ‘ Green Sugar , ’ ‘ Knight , ’ ‘ Mohawk , ’ ‘ Oregon Sugar Pod , ’ ‘ perfect Freezer 60 , ’ ‘ Prospector , ’ and ‘ Trident . ’

Plump Pea Pods Are Possible

Gardening is always an adventure . Sometimes your seedlings run out to thrive , sometimes a 100 - yr - onetime tree gives up the ghost , and sometimes your pea vines decide not to grow pods .

These kinds of events force us to become garden detectives , horn in into the ground , prodding stanch , and examine leaves with a magnifying chicken feed . Unless you ’re the Sherlock Holmes of growing vegetables , it can often be a guessing secret plan .

Then , continue on your pea plant - growing journeyby digging into these pathfinder next :

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Kristine Lofgren