Anyone out there grow sugar snap peas? What do you use to support the
vines? We have used string between 5 foot metal poles but the vines top
that and wind around each other then break off at the top in moderate
wind. Any suggestions?

We have had excellent yield in the spring and moderate in the fall in Ohio.

Another question: Our zucchini was doing great last summer until the
squash bugs hit. These are the brown ones which lay rust colored eggs
on the underside of the leaves, not the vine borer insects. Anyone have
any luck dealing with these brown bugs that destroyed the zucchini and
the cantaloupe?

Thanks, Jane

Jane wrote in
:

Anyone out there grow sugar snap peas? What do you use to support the
vines? We have used string between 5 foot metal poles but the vines
top that and wind around each other then break off at the top in
moderate wind. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Jane

I grow sugar snap peas and love them. If you do not pick them too early,
they develop a real sweetness. For support I use concrete reinforcing wire
(mesh). They are 8 feet long, 6 feet high with 6 inch squares.

I love sugar snap peas. I grow peas - both kinds - on tomato cages. My
portable wire cages are nearly 4 feet high, about the right size for
the peas I grow. I park the cages in the main garden in February and
plant peas in circles around their bases. In July, when the peas quit,
I strip the vines off and move the cages to the tomato bed just before
the tomatoes grow too big to be caged. The system works like a charm
and saves me from all the work I used to do with building and tearing
down a pea trellis each year.

On 25 Jan 2006 11:04:24 -0800, "Kathy" wrote:

I love sugar snap peas. I grow peas - both kinds - on tomato cages. My
portable wire cages are nearly 4 feet high, about the right size for
the peas I grow. I park the cages in the main garden in February and
plant peas in circles around their bases. In July, when the peas quit,
I strip the vines off and move the cages to the tomato bed just before
the tomatoes grow too big to be caged. The system works like a charm
and saves me from all the work I used to do with building and tearing
down a pea trellis each year.

I hadn't thought of using the wire cages for peas. What a good idea.
Thanks.
Sue

Jane wrote:
Anyone out there grow sugar snap peas? What do you use to support the
vines? We have used string between 5 foot metal poles but the vines top
that and wind around each other then break off at the top in moderate
wind. Any suggestions?

We have had excellent yield in the spring and moderate in the fall in Ohio.

like the other poster, I use rebar. The rebar is in sections 20 ft
long, fashioned like a tunnel (it doubles as under cover gardening in
the cold season). It is a bit of a nuisance to pick the peas early in
the season, if the vines are too low, it is best to pick from outside
the tunnel. But eventually they reach the top of the tunnel and beyond,
and you can comfortably pick standing inside (a 20ft section is just
above 6 feet at its highest). If you plant them and then beans in
succession you will have a continuous part-shade site for your cabbages
to spend the summer in.

I think some ppl get better yield than us. All we do for sugar snaps
is drive metal fence posts, leaving 4' above ground, maybe 10' apart;
and then string twine between them, maybe ever 1' or so vertically.

I really love the idea of the rebar tunnel, though. Maybe someday.

George

Jane wrote in
:

Anyone out there grow sugar snap peas? What do you use to support the
vines? We have used string between 5 foot metal poles but the vines
top that and wind around each other then break off at the top in
moderate wind. Any suggestions?

We have had excellent yield in the spring and moderate in the fall in
Ohio.


When I grew the original Sugar Snap peas I used concrete reinforcing mesh
(6 foot tall, 6 x 6 mesh), supported with poles made from the weed trees
that grew up the narrow strip between the garage and the fence (free
material). Now I grow the shorter vining snap pea varieties (Sugar Ann or
Sugar Mel) and use a 3-foot fence.

Another question: Our zucchini was doing great last summer until the
squash bugs hit. These are the brown ones which lay rust colored eggs
on the underside of the leaves, not the vine borer insects. Anyone
have any luck dealing with these brown bugs that destroyed the
zucchini and the cantaloupe?

Thanks, Jane

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/squashbug.html

This site covers organic and sustainable methods of pest control. The first
line of defense is secured row covers from planting until flowering starts,
along with newspaper and hay mulches. And from personal experience, I would
say they don't like vines growing on light colored concrete very well -
last year I only found large clusters of them on the vines in the garden
and individuals or small clusters on the vines growing out over the patio.

Richard

Thanks for all the replies on support for the peas. Also the site you
sent, Richard, has plenty of useful information.

Thanks, Jane