Pea seeding rate trials are a new addition to the On-Farm Network lineup for 2021. We recommend a target plant stand of 80-90 plants/m2 (8-9 plants/ft2), but plant stand assessments from our pea fungicide trials over the last couple of years suggest stands may be consistently lower than this recommendation. The average plant stand across the 2019 and 2020 pea fungicide trials (15 trials in total) is about 50 plants/m2 (5 plants/ft2). This discrepancy between the recommendation and field reality led us to question the effect of seeding rate on pea crop competitiveness, standability, disease pressure and yield.
There will be several pea seeding rate trials this season, testing a range of seeding rates which will be specific to each farmers variety of choice and normal farm practice. We are excited to see what we learn!