my sugar snap peas are growing the wrong direction, why?

I built a nice trellis for my sugar snap peas to grow up and as you can see, they are growing away from the trellis. I can't seem to redirect them back toward the trellis without breaking the tender little stems. Any suggestions?

Not a veggie gardener, but I am sure like other vines if you put a bamboo pole piece at their base and hook it in the trellis they will be there in no time. I bet from looking at them and your sun line, your fence in on their east side. They will follow the sun and they can't see it in the morning behind the fence and are getting sun from the west the last part of the day. Once you get them on the trellis you may have to stuff a few vines back to it ever now and then.
Looks healthy and great improv for a trellis!!

Sheila_FW
I hadn't thought of that but it probably does have to do with the plants growing toward the sun which is in the opposite direction from the trellis. The trellis is shaded by the wall of a shed on the south side (on left side of picture) so the bed only gets mid and late day sun. My pole beans are only a few feet away and they seem to be doing fine, but the trellis faces east and west.

Yup Sheila has it right! They are reaching for the sunlight. The cinder blocks are nifty aren't they? You have troubles in mid to late summer with them sucking the water from your plant's?

This message was edited May 3, 2011 4:42 PM

Here is my set up.

This message was edited May 3, 2011 4:41 PM

It seems possible for that to happen but since this is my first year to grow in cinder blocks, I will let you know when it gets real hot this summer. I may be out there watering them three or four times a day.

Folks on the High Yield gardening forum say if you seal the concrete blocks with paint, they won't dry out as fast. I'd rather grow than paint though.

When your vines get taller, you will be able to persuade them to vine the trellis willingly.

I wonder if they are growing away from the wall because it gets too hot from the sun. It looks like a metal of some sort which would get very hot in the sun. Just my view on it :)

My eyes may deceiving me though as I'm not seeing the cinder blocks either LOL

This message was edited May 3, 2011 7:21 PM

LOL! I was thinking the same thing about the blocks at first Catz! But it is two different beds. I didn't notice on the first pic that that wasn't a fence and that it was metal. I wouldn't make a very good witness in a robbery! LOL!

hrp50, really nice crop you have going there with the blocks. How about laying a soaker hose across the top of the blocks before the plants get any bigger and that way you wouldn't be struggling with it when the plants are big like I have a terrible habit of doing. LOL. I haven't used a soaker hose on blocks but seems like it would work just as well as other places.

That is a smart idea Glenna, bet it would work well.

HRp, My peas do the same thing but they lean to the left because the main direction that the sun comes from is there. I just "help" them now and then to attach to my trellis even if I have to tie them.

Yup I had to train mine to the trellis I built and now just waiting for the pods to dry so I can gather the seed and tear out the ants for Collards.

A different question regarding my young squash and eggplant plants. They are still very small but most have blossoms that are about to turn to fruit. Should I snip them off and let new blossoms be produced? The reason is that I believe that the plants need to be larger in order to support the fruit.

My experience with zucchini squash was that when the plants were small and blooming, the fruit just didn't set. Disappeared. So I didn't have to remove anything. Now that the vines are huge, it is making fruit. I don't think it makes any difference. When the vines "take off," they become huge overnight.