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Mississippi Purple Hull Cowpea (bush)
  • Mississippi Purple Hull Cowpea (bush)
  • Mississippi Purple Hull Cowpea (bush)
  • Mississippi Purple Hull Cowpea (bush)
  • Mississippi Purple Hull Cowpea (bush)
  • Mississippi Purple Hull Cowpea (bush)
  • Mississippi Purple Hull Cowpea (bush)
  • Mississippi Purple Hull Cowpea (bush)
  • Mississippi Purple Hull Cowpea (bush)
Mississippi Purple Hull Cowpea (bush)

Vigna unguiculata
$4.50
Description

A classic southern heirloom developed by the Mississippi Ag Experimental Station in 1973. This crowder type bush variety will send out runners but typically maintains a nice bush form which doesn't require trellising. Very productive and bears lovely reddish-purple colored pods that are on top of the plant, which is great for easy picking!

The pods are at first a bright green, and then turn color as they mature. Easy to shell green or dried. Great variety for fresh eating and preserving for later frozen fresh, or dried seeds (which should also be frozen due to the prevalence of bean weevils!)

Cowpeas are great for our climate as they grow in the hottest months, build soil, add nitrogen to the soil when used as a cover, and they have great tasting edible and very nutritious protein rich beans!
Product details
  • About 30 seeds
  • 65 days to harvest
  • Seeds grown in Working Food's Giving Garden in Gainesville, Florida and also sourced from Hancock Farm and Seed Company in Dade City, Florida
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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