Court Estate Gold x Bijou

[Galina Isolating and Pollinating Find all posts View Profile Close Galina]

Pea Bijou is one of the largest of the large mangetouts around. In order to get Court Estate Gold into the 'giant pea' not just the large pea category, I made a cross with Bijou in 2014. 4 plants sown, 3 made it, but one is poorly with only one pod. The others are large plants with purple flowers and a typical large Bijou pod. Bijou is a green pea, but very mature pods turn yellow green. The F1 looks just like Bijou, but as CEG was the mother, the cross must have been ok or the pods would be yellow. All 3 plants look identical (apart from the damage that plant 2 sustained and which limited yield).

I have just harvested the first pod, well leathery and a good candidate for an attempt at an F2 growout later this year after a few days drying. The maximum seed count was 8.

F1 pod shown in photo.

[jayb Enjoying the scenery. Find all posts View Profile Close jayb]

Another great project,
The Fi's certainly have a good size, roll on 'huge' yellow ones

[Galina Isolating and Pollinating Find all posts View Profile Close Galina]

Too many other things last year, so the first F2 growout of only 6 plants happened this year.

I got 3 yellow and 3 green podded plants- a better than expected ratio of yellows to green (1/4 yellow expected and with such a small sample I might not have had a single yellow podded plant).. The yellow pods #4 and #2 are a little longer than Court Estate Gold. The mangetout pods are somewhat curved/buckled looking (lack of fibre). Stretched out they would be 5 1/2 inches long. #2 is an inch wide, #4 slightly less.

The largest of the green ones by comparison has an 'inflated' pod and is 6 1/2 inches long. Interestingly, the largest green pods only have 3 or 4 seeds, not well-filled at all, but being a mangetout that is not of great significance (other than for seed saving purposes).

The seed count in one of the largest yellows is 9, which is excellent. And the plant itself was branching. Which means despite single pod bearing, the plant gave good yields. All but one of the plants are also taller than CEG at well over 6ft tall.

The second yellow, #4, was marginally shorter podded and with more narrow and curved pods. But this plant produced the bigger harvest overall (and not finished yet), because of many side branches. The pods were more golden yellow than #2.

The third yellow had very low harvest on a shorter plant, not such a desirable plant.

Photos show the largest yellow pods, the largest in comparison to the largest green pod, and the wide yellow pods of #2 in comparison to a narrower, more golden coloured pod of #4.

[Galina Isolating and Pollinating Find all posts View Profile Close Galina]

The longest type was very long again in the F3.. Again up to 9 seeds per pod. Very happy with that outcome.