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Saving pea seeds?

barry islandbarry island Posts: 1,847
in Fruit & veg
 I wonder if anyone could help, last year due to the hot dry weather most of my peas went past their best before I could harvest them but I left them to dry out on the plant and saved them for this years seed, now I was sure that these peas were Hurst Greenshaft variety which aren't F1, the plants have grown well and look healthy but aren't flowering yet, could it be that I had sown an F1 variety last year and forgotten, would saved seed from an F1 variety grow at all, would they be sterile or would they produce peas of a random variety? Thanks for your help.

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  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    A "Normal" F1 variety will set fertile seed just like any "heirloom (I hate that word)" but the offspring may be very different from the parent, they will not produce blind offspring (non flowering plants). You should get peas from your plants whether they had F1 parents or not. Perhaps you have a bit too much nitrogen in the soil so they are growing a lot of leaves? My peas are not flowering yet but I expect them to start soon.

    I say "Normal" F1 because there are male sterile crosses of some crops Cytoplasmic male sterility is used for easier crossing. However this cannot be your problem as the seeds would not have set and I do not think that peas are one that is crossed this way.

  • barry islandbarry island Posts: 1,847
    Thank you Skandi I was sure that they were Hurst greenshaft so maybe they will flower soon, I did add chicken pellets maybe they have too much nitrogen?
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