Saving pea seed
Same story as beans — self-pollinating, annual, and the pods dry in place. The only real risk is wet weather at maturity.
- Life cycle
- Annual
- Pollination
- Strictly self-pollinating
- Isolation
- 3–5 m (often unnecessary)
- Seed life
- 4–6 years
- Yield
- 1 plant gives 30–60 seed
Peas are cleistogamous: the flower self-pollinates and never opens properly, so cross-pollination is close to impossible. You can grow several varieties side by side and still save true seed.
They mature earlier than beans, which is useful — you get the seed crop finished before autumn damp sets in.
The protocol
- 1
Leave pods on the plant
Stop picking while the pods are still green. Let them swell, then pale, then turn brown and papery.
- 2
Harvest before they shatter
Pea pods split explosively when fully dry and throw seed a metre in every direction. Check daily once they start to brown.
- 3
Dry indoors
Pull the plants and hang them, or spread the pods on paper in a dry room for a week.
- 4
Shell and sort
Discard seed with holes (pea weevil), and any that are shrivelled or split.
- 5
Freeze, then store
48 hours in the freezer kills weevil eggs. Then a sealed jar in the fridge.
What goes wrong
Pods shattering. Peas are more explosive than beans. Once the pods rattle, harvest that day.
Mice and birds. If you are drying plants outdoors or in a shed, they will find them.
Pea weevil. Same as bean weevil — holes in the seed. Freeze to prevent.
Saved seed from this crop?
Germination rates, what came true and what crossed — post it and let other growers learn from it.
All 14 protocols
Annual, biennial and vegetative crops all save differently. The index compares them side by side.