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Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
  • Pigeon Pea
Pigeon Pea

Cajanus cajun
$4.50
Description

Pigeon pea is a wonderfully multipurpose plant: it produces edible peas, makes a great hedge or windbreak, provides a trellis for other vegetables, fixes nitrogen, offers light shade for plants growing beneath it, and makes excellent animal feed. The peas can be eaten like lentils or cooked beans. The fresh pods are tough and need to be cooked or shelled. Shelling takes some work and is slower than with familiar shelly peas like English garden peas or cowpeas.

A perennial shrub that can reach 7 feet tall, pigeon pea tends to die back after freezing temperatures, so it should be treated as an annual unless growing in a frost-free climate. It is also day-length sensitive and won’t flower until fall, giving us a relatively short harvest window before cold weather arrives. In our climate, it’s not always the most productive food crop unless a late first frost gives us a longer season.

We’ve had plants survive for two years when successive winters were warm, and those plants produced loads of peas all winter! Those growing in frost-free areas will have better pea harvests. The rest of us can grow pigeon pea for many of the other reasons it’s wonderful. 

We’ve grown two types, one with yellow flowers and one with pink. The pink-flowered plants produced beautiful striped pods and flowered a little later and less heavily, but eventually caught up with the yellows. With so many pollinators in our garden, the bees may have crossed the two, so our seed may be a hybrid between them. Our other available variety comes from Eckerd College in St. Pete, Florida, and has brown seeds.

A few winters in a row when we've not had freezing temperatures, we've had some live for 2 years. Those conditions provided loads of peas all winter.

We had two different types one with yellow flowers and one with pink, the pink ones has stripey pods that were so lovely, and bore pods a bit less and a bit later but eventually caught up to the yellows. We have so many pollinators in our garden, that the bees may have crossed them, so our peas may be a hybrid between the two. The other variety we have available comes from Eckerd College in St. Pete, FL and they have brown seeds.

For a great write-up on this plant, check out David the Good’s The Survival Gardener" article about pigeon peas.  
Product details
  • About 30 seeds
  • 70-150 days to harvest
  • Seeds grown in Working Food gardens at GROW HUB in Gainesville, Florida and at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida
How to grow

Sow seeds directly or in 4-inch pots, about 1 inch deep. Wait until all threat of frost has passed before planting outdoors. Pigeon peas thrive in warm weather so don’t rush planting early if there is still cool weather.

Pigeon peas grow into medium-sized trees, reaching around 7 feet tall. Space plants 5 feet apart or more, depending on your goals. Their tall, open growth provides lovely dappled shade, making them great companions for crops like peppers that appreciate some relief from intense afternoon sun.

You can chop back the stems to encourage fresh growth and use the cut material as mulch or biomass around your garden beds. Edible peas usually begin forming in late summer to early fall and continue producing until frost. In especially warm winters, plants may survive and keep producing for another year or two.
How to save seeds

Saving pigeon pea seed is very easy! The plants are frequently visited by large bees, suggesting they may contribute to the pollination and seed development of these plants, though as legumes with their particular flower structure, they are also likely largely self-pollinating. You only need one plant to save seed from, but more is always better.

Let the pods mature on the plant until they lose their green color and turn tan or brown, and leathery. Ideally, you’d wait for the pods to dry completely and become brittle, but we’ve found that waiting too long can mean losing seed to rain or hungry pests. Bean weevils seem especially fond of these pods!

We prefer to bring the pods indoors once they begin to dry, then finish drying and shell them as soon as possible. Keeping the seeds dry and stored in a sealed container is key to protecting them from pests. For extra protection, you can add a small amount of diatomaceous earth or boric acid to the storage container.

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