The Latest Pea Cultivation Techniques and Methods Tutorial
Peas are a cool-loving, long-day crop. To grow them in all four seasons, you must select varieties that are insensitive to light, cold- and heat-tolerant, early-maturing, and strongly stress-resistant. After years of trials, from 8 varieties including the Zhongwan series, Pearl Green, and White Jade Pea, Zhongwan No. 4 and Zhongwan No. 6 were selected. These 2 varieties show the advantages of being insensitive to light, having a short growth period, a flexible sowing period, high yield, and excellent quality. Supplemented by the use of cultivation facilities such as plastic film greenhouses, large tunnels, and shade-net tunnels, four-season pea cultivation can be successfully achieved.
Sow at the Right Time
Since peas can be grown in all four seasons, vegetable growers can flexibly arrange the sowing time according to the crop rotation and season, and can also determine the appropriate sowing date based on the time when the pods need to reach the market. According to trial demonstrations and production practice, in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River region, the relationship between sowing time and harvest time is as follows: autumn cultivation in a shade-net tunnel: early August to the end of August, before October 1; autumn open-field cultivation: late August to mid-September, mid-October; winter cultivation in a film greenhouse or large tunnel: October to February of the following year, New Year's Day; winter open-field cultivation: November to January of the following year, around May 1; spring open-field cultivation: February to April, mid-May; summer open-field cultivation: early May to the end of May, late June; summer cultivation in a shade-net tunnel: mid-May to mid-June, early July.
Reasonable Close Planting
Zhongwan No. 4 and No. 6 are dwarf varieties with a plant height of 40--50cm, so appropriately close planting is suitable. For spring, summer, and autumn sowing, the row spacing is 35cm, the hill spacing is 10cm, with 3 seeds per hill, and the seed rate is about 10kg per 667 sq m. For winter sowing, the row spacing is 40cm, the hill spacing is 15cm, with 3 seeds per hill, and the seed rate is about 7kg per 667 sq m.
Scientific Fertilizer and Water Management
Choose fields with good soil fertility, convenient drainage and irrigation, and sufficient sunlight for planting. Apply 30--40kg of a three-element compound fertilizer of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium per 667 sq m as a base fertilizer, along with a certain amount of organic fertilizer. During the flowering and podding stage, apply 10kg of urea or 1000kg of human and livestock manure per 667 sq m to promote pod setting and seed filling. In the late growth stage, depending on the growth condition, a mixed solution of 0.5% urea liquid and 0.2% monopotassium phosphate can also be used for foliar feeding. Water promptly during drought, especially during the flowering and podding stage when plants are particularly sensitive to water, so water must be replenished in time. In addition, peas grown in summer should pay even more attention to the timely supply of water, so that it can both meet the plant's water needs for growth and development and effectively lower the surface temperature, promoting normal growth.
Timely Use of Protective Facilities
1. Frost protection measures: Zhongwan No. 4 and No. 6 have relatively strong freezing resistance at the seedling stage, but their freezing resistance drops sharply after flowering, and the pods need a certain temperature during the seed-filling stage. Therefore, for winter tunnel cultivation of peas, plastic film should be promptly covered to do a good job of cold protection and heat preservation. Before a short-term strong cold wave arrives, additional cold-protection materials should be temporarily added in an emergency manner, so that the tender green pods are spared from freezing damage.
2. Shading and cooling measures: In summer cultivation, because the temperature is high, growth is fast, the growth period is short, and the pods are small and few, a shade net should be added at the right time to effectively reduce direct sunlight, which can lower the air temperature and soil temperature, increase soil moisture, promote the growth of individual plants, and increase yield.
Use Chemical Control Techniques Skillfully According to Seedling Condition
After emergence, peas of the Zhongwan series flower when they grow to 7--8 nodes (with 7 pinnate compound leaves), entering the stage where vegetative growth and reproductive growth proceed together. At this time, if vegetative growth is too vigorous, flowers and pods are likely to drop. Peas grown in film greenhouses and large tunnels are even more prone to excessive vegetative growth, producing only vines without setting pods. Therefore, at 7--8 compound leaves, peas grown in greenhouses and large tunnels should have fertilizer and water appropriately controlled and the tunnel temperature lowered, so as to favor the transformation from vegetative growth to reproductive growth, ensure a reasonable distribution of photosynthetic products between vegetative growth and reproductive growth, and promote flowering and pod setting. For peas with a tendency to excessive vegetative growth, spray promptly with 15% paclobutrazol at a 1:1000 dilution for control.
Harvest at the Right Time
Due to differences in growing season and cultivation method, the number of days from flowering to picking green pods varies greatly. In summer cultivation, because the temperature is high, the pods grow quickly, and it is only 20d from flowering to harvest, while in winter cultivation, it takes more than 30 days from flowering to harvest. Therefore, we should flexibly determine the harvest date according to the use of the pods and the degree of seed filling in the pods. For those mainly used for eating green peas, harvest when the pods have fully bulged, the peas have reached 70% fullness, and the pods are just beginning to change color.