Austrian and Windham Winter Peas

Austrian Winter Pea

Austrian winter peas have been a commonly used cover crop for many years. The demand for their use has increased and sometimes leads to short-term shortages. They are sometimes not desireable because of their limited winter hardiness. This has led to an interest in the development of newer varieties.

Windham Winter Pea

Windham is a new winter pea that was developed in the Northwest as a joing venture between the USDA_ARS and three universities in Idaho, Washington, and Montana. Before being released, Windham was tested at 29 site-years over 8 yr in eastern Washington, northern Idaho, Oregon, central Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Windham is recognized as having improved winter hardiness. Windham has a dwarf growth habit and an upright canopy. Windham had a winter survival of 100% in a 2004 Wyoming trial and in 2004/2006 in the Pacific Northwest. Both years were considered "harsh winters" where less winter hardy entries were killed.

In 2010-11, Windham was evaluated in Central Ohio alongside Austrian winter peas. According to Richard Leslie, who observed the plots on May 12th, 2011, “Windham Winter Peas interseeded in rows with Daikon Radish, survived the winter (as  they did in another trial I observed) while Austrian Winter Peas did not. Windham Winter Peas had spring rhizobium nodules on the roots of the spring plants I dug.” (see photos)

More Winter Pea Cover Crop Resources

Field Pea Information Sheet - The University of California - Davis' SAREP Onlne Cover Crop Database page on field peas.

Windham references- Journal of Plant Registrations, Vol. 1, No. 2, September 2007