Last edited on November 01, 2026. View history
Dalmatian Pea
Dalmatian Pea
A variety of pea
How to sow Dalmatian pea: direct
Sun requirement for Dalmatian pea: Plant in Full Sun
A pea growing to 2 m with two-tone purple flowers, stunning purple pods and brown, squarish peas. Used as dried peas for soups, stews and mushy peas, or eaten as ordinary shellout peas. Came to New Zealand with the Dalmatians, and was developed by Capuchin monks in Holland or France in the 16th century. Sow in trays once the ground has warmed in spring.
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Dalmatian pea facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For Dalmatian pea, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 4°C and a shortest growing cycle of 60 days at its best temperature, about 780 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your Dalmatian pea will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing Dalmatian peas
- Dig the bed and add compost 1 week before sowing
- Put up supports for the vines 1 week after sowing
- Water regularly at sowing every week
- Weed gently by hand 3 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
- Tie in the shoots 4 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
- Pick pods regularly at first harvest every week
- Pull out finished vines and dig in the roots 4 weeks after first harvest
Plant Dalmatian peas with
coriander
oat
french breakfast radish
red d'anjou pear
Video
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Pisum sativum L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Fabales Leguminosae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -2 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | prostrate/procumbent/semi-erect, climber/scrambler/scadent |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours) |
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