Peas and their Five Common Pests and Diseases
About Pea Thrips, Mice, Powdery Mildew, Pea Moth, Pea & Bean Weevil
Dec 9, 2008
Kitchen gardeners who have directly sown their choice of peas, Pisum sativum, into the ground will have taken care over their choice of site location to ensure a soil pH of 6.5, selected a day when the soil temperature for a direct sow of peas seed was between 10 to 18 degrees Celsius and deciding upon a method of sowing, perhaps in two rows either side of peasticks or canes to provide growing support.
Immediately on sowing the peas, mangetout, sugarsnap, petit pois or garden peas, react to the microclimate of their position in the kitchen garden. As the growth of the peas plants respond to what’s on offer, there are five main pests and diseases that could threaten the plants producing fine tasting produce. Here’s a guide to the threats of pea thrips, mice, mildew, pea moth and pea/bean weevil when growing plants to produce peas in early summer.
Pea Thrips and Growing Peas
Kakothrips pisivorus or pea thrips are a serious pest to watch for in the kitchen garden. Pea thrips can thrive on poorly watered pea plants in the summer sun. Known as thunderflies, pea thrips can distort and scar pods brown and reduce the number of peas in the pods.
Mice and Growing Peas
Field mice, wood mice and house mice are considered as suspects of nibbling damage to peas, beans and sweetcorn in the garden reports The Royal Horticultural Society Vegetable and Fruit Gardening The Definitive Guide To Successful Growing edited by Michael Pollock (Dorling Kindersley, 2008).
Mildew and Growing Peas
Mangetout, sugarsnap and garden peas leaves do not tolerate days of heavy rain. Mildew is likely to appear on peas when the atmosphere is saturated with water and if the soil around the peas is very dry. Sowing peas with a generous amount of space between seeds should help air ventilation around the pea plants as they grow and reduce the chance of powdery mildew appearing. If powdery mildew does form on the leaves and goes on to kill small areas of the leaf tissue of productive plants this should not taint the taste of the freshly harvested peas.
Pea Moth Aand Growing Peas
Cydia nigricana or pea moth will eat the pods of the podded peas including mangetout as the produce starts to become a mature size. As the pea moth lays eggs in early summer when the pea plants are in flower, buying and sowing earlies varieties of peas should reduce this risk.
Pea/Bean Weevil and Growing Peas
Peas with their nitrogen-fixing root nodules are attractive to pea and bean weevil larval stage. Pea weevils will hide from view when peas plant leaves are disturbed. Like pea moths, the adult pea or bean weevil, Sitona lineatus, enjoys eating a kitchen gardener’s produce and does this from the inside out. Once an attack has been spotted gardeners should remove any produce from nearby peas plants to avoid a serious infestation.
Local gardening clubs and national horticultural societies can offer further advice on gardening strategies to prevent and control peas against threats from pests and disease.
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