Believe it or not pea plants do actually have a sense of touch. This response to touch or contact with a solid object, called thigmotropism, is what causes pea tendrils to coil. Here is how is works: when the tendrils feel the solid object, growth is stimulated in the side of the tendril opposite of the side of contact. The non-contact side of the tendril begins to elongate faster than the rest of the tendril, resulting in the coiling form we see on our pea plants.
So help your pea plants out by making sure they make contact with the trellis you have set up for them. We strongly encourage you to tie them up with garden twine throughout the season. Simply wrap string or garden twine around your tripod trellis or along the length of a net trellis (see photo).
If your peas do not find the trellis they will be more likely to break, mold, or become diseased due to lack of air circulation, so for the best yield guide them in the right direction!
Before and after tying on a bamboo tri-pod:
If your peas look like this...
Tie them like this! This will help keep the vines from breaking!
We often quote our book “Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard” and say that fresh snap peas are a reason unto themselves for having your own garden. I’ve never eaten a pea that has tasted as good as the ones I grow in my home garden and I want to you have the same experience. I’ve created this post to help answer your pea-growing questions and set you up for success!