Are cleistogamous pea seeds expensive? What are the planting methods?

As a commonly eaten vegetable, peas are divided into two types by color: green and yellow. Dry yellow peas have a whitish skin, and their shape varies with the variety; most are spherical, and there are also oval, flat-round, concave-round, and wrinkled shapes. How do peas disperse their seeds? Are pea​seeds expensive? What planting methods are there? Let's learn about them together below.

1. How do peas disperse their seeds?

Peas are monoecious, and in the natural state they are cleistogamous plants, able to produce seeds without relying on insects for assistance. The seeds develop and mature in the pod, and when the pod splits open the seeds fall to the ground. In the natural state, peas are all pure lines, making them ideal material for genetic research.

Peas let the pods dry in the sun so that the pods quickly burst open, letting the baby peas leave their mother and go into the vast fields to survive freely.

2. The price of pea seeds

The market price of pea seeds has always been very stable; the price per jin of seeds is around 35 yuan to 40 yuan, which is still very low and within a range everyone can accept. The price is mainly affected by four aspects: first, the increase or decrease in the yield of pea seeds in that year; second, the quantity purchased, with wholesale being cheaper than retail; third, prices are higher during the peak planting season; fourth, pea seeds from different batches, with different specifications, and from different places of origin also have different prices.

3. Pea seed planting methods

1. Prepare materials: a container 15 cm deep, pot-bottom stones, growing medium (containing base fertilizer), scissors, a transplanting trowel, compound fertilizer, supports (for planting vining peas, the support length needs to be 1 m; for peas with vines, the support length needs to be 2 m), and string.

2. Add growing medium to the container, use your finger to poke planting holes in the growing medium——about as deep as the first joint of a finger, place 3 seeds in each hole, then loosely cover the seeds with potting soil and water.

3. After about 15-30 days, the seeds take root and sprout; once the roots are established, they can be transplanted into prepared soil mixed with coarse sand.

4. When transplanting, use your hand to push the whole seedling out from the bottom of the pot, being careful not to damage the seedling's roots, then place the whole plant together with the soil into the soil.

5. Add growing medium to the pot until it is almost level with the pot rim, press around the plant with your hands to stabilize it. Then water thoroughly.

6. After 30-45 days, when the seedlings have grown to about 20 cm, set up supports for them to climb, pull the stems onto the supports, and gently secure them with string.

7. After about 45 days. Counting from when the peas bloom, they can be harvested in 2-3 weeks: green peas are harvested after the beans have grown large, while sweet peas are harvested when the pods are seen to be plump and round.