I live in about 5 miles north of I-20 in East Texas near Tyler. At the Interstate crossing it is 120 miles east to Shevenport, La and 120 Miles west to Dallas, Texas. That is to give you an idea of my location. Now my question is what are the best times to start purple hulls and how long does the planting season last? Too what are some growing tips of making excellent purple hulls? Also I am trying to find the wholesale value on the Texas market for purple hull peas per 30 pound bushels. Basically I am trying to refresh my mind and learn anything and everything on purlpe hulls. I did this before but it was as a helper when I was a kid for my Grandpa and now I am becoming a wholesale supplier. I will buy any usefull handbooks on growing and farming if you have some good rescources. Because I will eventually do more than purple hulls.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2003

Answers

I have been growing peas most of my life and live in Tennessee but because I don’t know much about Texas growing climates I did some searching and found a couple of website links that may help answer some of your questions. The first one is “Commercial Fresh Market Southern Pea Production” from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, this contains growing requirements which should be primarily the same for your area.

http://www2.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/HTML/UAPB/FSA-6057.asp

The other is titled East Texas Home Gardening Information. This gives information on planting dates and I see that you are able to plant a spring and a fall crop.

http://aggie- horticulture.tamu.edu/county/smith/homegardens/homegardens.html

There are a lot of good publications from your state extension service that cover a vast amount of information on growing vegetables both for the home garden and commercial growing. I hope this helps.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2003