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Conch Cowpea (bush)
  • Conch Cowpea (bush)
  • Conch Cowpea (bush)
  • Conch Cowpea (bush)
  • Conch Cowpea (bush)
  • Conch Cowpea (bush)
  • Conch Cowpea (bush)
Conch Cowpea (bush)

Vigna unguiculata
$4.50
Description

Very rare! Make us happy and save some seeds from your crop and keep this amazing heirloom going!

The beloved heirloom most prized in Florida, of the bush form so the plants are more compact and upright, not requiring trellising. The peas are small round and white, encased in a short pod. Plants were very abundant, and like all cowpeas- so easy to grow during our warmer months as a cover crop and food crop.

Borrowed from The Utopian Seed Project's page:

Every part of the South has its favorite field peas. Virginia has its whippoorwill, Louisiana its Rouge et Noir, Mississippi its Silver Hull, Georgia its Brown Crowder, Tennessee its Pink Eye Purple Hull, Texas its Cream Pea, South Carolina its Sea Island Red and Rice Peas. A message from Italy has informed us that Slow Food has boarded Florida’s signature pea, the Conch Pea, on the global Ark of Taste, the register of the most historically resonant, flavorful and endangered foods in the world.

Lovers of traditional Floridian food know the conch pea well. It appears at a very few road side produce stands in July and August, sometimes into September. Fresh shelled they are sold in plastic freezer bags to devotees who sometimes travel thirty miles to a source.

Read more about this great pea at The Utopian Seed Project!
Product details
  • About 30 seeds
  • 60-70 days
  • Seeds grown in Working Food gardens at GROW HUB in Gainesville, Florida from seeds gifted from The Utopian Seed Project in Asheville, North Carolina
How to grow

Legumes are able to manufacture their own nitrogen (magic + science!) and typically do not need very rich soil or much fertilization at all. Well composted and healthy soils are still encouraged, but you will not need to offer them much in the way of fertilizer. In fact, too much will encourage rampant leafy growth at the expense of the pods.

Plant about 1"-1.5" deep, spaced 4-8" apart. Cowpeas do not tolerate frosts and so should only be planted well after the last expected frost is over. Cowpeas can also be planted from spring and into late summer/early fall. Direct sowing is recommended as legumes don't appreciate the stress of moving from a pot into the ground.
How to save seeds

Legumes like beans and peas are among the easiest seeds to save! The biggest challenge in Florida is our humidity, which can make it difficult to get seed pods fully dry on the plant. For this reason, late-summer plantings can be especially good for seed saving, as the pods mature into the drier fall weather. Although, weather patterns are getting more unpredictable and this isn't always the case.

Allow the pods to dry indoors once harvested, and shell them soon afterward to reduce the chance of mold and pests taking up residence inside the pods. If the pods are nearly mature but the weather is staying humid, go ahead and harvest them early and finish drying them indoors.

Thorough drying is key to keeping cowpea seeds healthy and reducing the risk of weevils, which can damage or destroy stored seed. Continue drying the seeds with silica gel or clay drying beads, or use a household dehydrator on a low-temperature setting. Make sure the seeds are completely dry before storing.

Cowpeas are highly self-pollinating, so there is generally only a small chance of crossing between varieties. However, some large bumblebees can work their way into the flowers and transfer pollen between plants. This only matters if you are trying to maintain a variety’s purity; if you don’t mind a little genetic mixing, there’s no need to worry about it.

You can successfully save seed from just one plant, but saving from 5–10 plants is better, and 20 or more plants is even better for maintaining genetic diversity and long-term vigor.

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