Sweet Peas

I have tried for the past two years to grow sweet peas...they start off fine, get about 12-18 inches high, and then brown and die before flowering. I kept them watered fairly well, unless they're water hogs or something. Last year I had one puny bloom. I had them planted in an area that gets quite a bit of sun....I really like sweet peas...any suggestions on how to grow them successfully next year?

Kristie

I wonder if this would be the same but I have a vine type that I have tried to kill off because it's creeping a small strip of garden taking over all of my plants. This plant grows along a side of an alleyway. I don't think this seems to be the same thing. Perhaps the problem is too much water? Just a random guess.

Hi Kristie, this is only my first year growing sweet peas so I'm no expert... But I'm wondering when you are planting them, and if you could be planting them too late? They definitely do not like heat, especially the more modern Spencer types. Some of my Spencers are browning up and dying now in the heat. They have been flowering since June though. Normally you would plant sweet peas as soon as the ground can be worked (that's late March or early April for me), they will flower in early to mid summer, and then they often die down in late summer when the heat kicks in.

The only other thing I know about them is that they like really rich soil. I dug in lots of compost to my bed in the previous fall.

I put mine down here in south Texas in great big pots and planted the seed during the middle of January................they did great until the heat hit................

I am going to try planting the seeds in November............but i am in zone 9a..........

why don't you start them indoors from seed about 8 weeks before you can put them out in the yard.....................

Well, I have been starting them in the ground around late March or April...but it could be its been heating up too quickly and they die out before they get that big......maybe I will try starting the inside this year.....I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong!

Thanks for the help!

Kristie

best to plant the sweet peas early spring, just as the soil out in the garden starts to warm up, look for weed seedlings starting to peep through the soil, that tells you the soil is warming and moist enough, OR start indoors Feb in pots, once the seedlings are large enough to handle by the second set of true leaves, devide the seedlings into tall pots or special root trainer pots and grow them on till the soil is ready to plant them into their finnal place, say about May/June, by then you should have prepared the soil well in advance and added lots of compost, manure even better as sweet peas are hungry feeders, like watered well and you need to pinch out the growing tips as they get climbing to bush the plants out, or all the flowers will be way up top of the plants, you need to deadhead or pick the flowers constantly or the plants will go to seed very fast, also try to nip off the tendrils as they form because this uses up a lot of energy and you want flowers rather than tendrills, also the tendrils are inclined to twiast around the flower stems and bend or stunt the stem developement so you can pick nice long stems to take indoors to enjoy the sweet pea perfume, feed the plants say once every 2/3 weeks as the flowers develope as I said, these are hungry plants, deadheading or flower collection tricks the plants into making more flowers as they realy only want to flower once and make seeds, you want the opposite, good luck. WeeNel.

thanks, WeeNel.................I just learned a lot from you!!!

WeeNel as per usual you are a life saver! I have been wondering what I am going to do about my sweet peas for next year. As I have explained before these are not tidy plants that I have but rather some very unruly guests. But they do bloom pretty and make nice additions to arangements with sweet fragrance ect. So as I know I will likely not be able to rid the area which I am fighting for of the sweet little buggers at least I have a better idea of how to make them behave!

Hi Nickeler, you obviously have the perenial sweet peas, these are a lot tougher than the annial onces like the Spencer type that only last a season, so to get rid of yours, first you need to spend a lot of time deadheading to prevent seeds, also maybe have to spray with a weed killer and redo this for a few seasons, if you have other plants close by, watch you dont splash or wind blow onto them, try painting the killer onto just the sweet pea vines so it can be taken down into the roots, hope this helps you out a bit, good luck, Weenel.

Oh...ok, I get it now....no wonder my sweet peas never did well! Thanks WeeNel.....I'll have to let you know next year if I successfully grow sweet peas!

Kristie

I have perenial sweet pea and have had no problems with it. I keep it watered in dry seasons and help it climb. I have it in full shade so it doesn't grow fast but it does thrive.

I do have a shade garden that I had tried the annuals in...they didn't do well. They still bloom in full shade? I have a fence that is maybe 3 ft tall in that bed....would that be tall enough? Do they spread on the ground?

They do bloom in shade and profusely too. When I bought mine I was told that they were shade plants. I wouldn't have bought them otherwise cause I have too much shade. But they do grow up if you help them a bit and they will go sideways too. The 3ft bed should be ok. You will have to trim them sometimes though since the fence is short. I have mine on a 6ft tall lattice and it goes up and sideways. Water reguarly and fertilize sometimes to help them out.

Thanks, I may try them! I've been looking for flowers for shade!

Kristie

They don't grow fast for me but then I have them under a walnut tree. lol. But they do get bigger every year so I am happy with them. Plus they smell good too.

thanks for all information I read here in this forum, my sweet pea will be sweet this year,

Just want to say guy's, there are dozens of sweet peas varieties you can now grow, from dwarf ones that are great in hanging baskets, to annuals that only last one year and lastly, the perennials ones that flower every year, the latter are as tough as old boot, the mid are easy to grow so long as they have a good rich soil with plenty manure/compost added as you plant out into the flowering hole, they do like feeding if you want the best flowers and the removal of all the tendrils helps send all the energy into the flowers and prevents the mass getting all tangled up, the perfume in one of my favourite smells from the garden as it reminds me of my parents, dad grew them and mum got the job of picking all the flowers as this prevented the plants forming seed heads and that stopped the plants dying off too early, good luck, as you buy your seeds, always read the height the plants will grow to and if annual or perennial, perennial sometimes called everlasting sweet peas because the come back each year. WeeNel.