Won't they all self-sow if you don't pick them?

anney, I am not sure that they will. I think most of them will rot in cold damp soil but I may be wrong.

We have left peas in the garden over winter many times and never noticed that they self sow. Maybe we plowed the ground before they had a chance to sprout.

The post I read had this comment was from jimster in Sept 08.

M&M

Okay, maybe he'll see this and come answer...

Sorry. I have no self seeding variety of cowpea and nothing called Tommy. I don't think that was my quote.

Jim

Sorry about the misinformation jimster. I read all of the post several times because there is so much information there.

I remember a picture and when I started this post I just scrolled down to the picture that I though I remembered. Old age must be catching up with me faster than I realized. My short term memory is shot!

Here is a link to the post
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/legumes/msg0823383727623.html

The picture and information was posted by farmerdilla maybe I will send him an e-mail.

If anyone else has experience with cow peas self sowing I would be interested in the information.

Thank you all.

I do grow Tommy/Preacher peas and they do self seed. Only cultivar of the dozen or so that I have grown over the years that does. Have a friend that grows them in a junkyard simply by by disking up the ground each spring. I usually plant some, but they also come up where I had them the past year. Usually rotate peas with corn so it works out fine. Deer have discovered them the past two years so the crop has been cut very short. Google "Cowpea,Tommy" and you will find photos. It is a small cream type.

This thread is less than 2 1/2 hours old and has 7 posts by 4 members. Ain't Bean Forum wonderful?

Jim

Thank you for the information.

I joined SSE last week and if they have them I will order some. Small cream peas are my favorite.

The original Whipporwill will selfsow to some extent. I get lots of volunteers for several years after growing them. Sandhill Preservation has them listed as "Brown Whipporwill".

DarJones

I've had sporadic volunteers of Penny Rile (a cream pea) and the cream part on Zongozotla Pintitos, which is a mixture from Mexico.

This yeas I also had a significant number of volunteers of the p. Vulgaris variety Tarhumara Pink Green Bean.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Would it depend on how cold the winters are?

I have had the following legumes self-sow:
Kentucky Wonder pole beans
Garrafal Oro pole beans
Purple peacock pole beans
Snow peas (pole, not sure which variety exactly)
....and I got another 'volunteer' bean growing with my potatoes, yet to be identified.

Other than a year when I grew black eye peas, this will be only my second year growing cow peas. I harvested every single seed very carefully/thoroughly because I did not have many. I am sure that if I hadn't, they would be self sowing as well! I must have a good climate for volunteer legumes.

"Would it depend on how cold the winters are?"

I would not expect that to affect viability of seeds on the ground because most seeds can withstand storage in a freezer. Instead, I would expect it to have something to do with rotting, or resistance to rotting, which is known to be a problem with legume seeds planted in cool weather.

Jim