Appreciate the thought, George.

Something else about the Red Ripper; it's the most rampant cowpea I've ever grown. Thought Blue Goose was prone to take over. Ha! Some of the Red Ripper vines are more than 15 feet long; and I've had to break off growing tips to keep them out of the tomatoes.

Lots of green pods, now. Hopefully they'll have time to ripen and dry between now and first frost.

Georgia Long has 20' vines. Bet it grows like Red Ripper. If you have pods now I bet they'll have time to mature.

This year I planted 4 poles of Black Greasy (p. vulgaris), the first two on April 17. None have had a single flower! Wish I knew why. My seed supply has gotten very low and this was a priority for me this year. We're not going to harvest much more seed of Georgia Long, than we planted either. But at least it's producing.

George

Gardenlad,

Red Ripper is a very long season pea. They are about 2 weeks later than most other peas to mature pods here in North Alabama.

If you are looking for a good red pea to grow, send me a message. I have an excellent local heirloom that is up to a week earlier than most other cowpeas I've grown.

For fresh green shelly eating, I prefer White Whipporwill. These are a bit difficult to find especially the old strain. Sandhill Preservation will have them for 2007.

Fusion

Fussion I like the White Whipporwill myself, I had seed to trade at the AHSC a few weeks ago. Rodger

Well I've always preferred the original Whippoorwill. But I try to grow at least one "new" cowpea each year as well. This was the year for Red Ripper.

Just as an update, many of the pods did ripen, and I harvested about 8 ounces. Not a bountiful crop, it's true. But enough for the AHSC seed bank and some for sharing with other members.

Fusion: Tell me more about that local red cowpea; particularly growth habits. I'd probably like to give it a try if it's not too rampant.

Gardenlad,

The red cowpea makes runners 3 to 5 feet long with heavy production of red peas in large loose pods. There is some variation in pod type that I would like to rogue out. Flavor is good to very good. They are best eaten with cornbread and a little hot pepper sauce.

If you want a few, email me your address and I'll put some in the mail. You can get my regular email off my website at selectedplants dot com.

Fusion

Hello. This is my first post here. I was reading about the Red Ripper peas which is my favorite. My older sister told me that they use to plant them in corn as they had long runners and made a dark soup. I found some locally and tried them and they became my favorite. The variety that I use don't have the real long runners on them, but they still have abundant foliage which are loved by cows as well as deer. I have to plant a lot of them for the deer and I get what is left over. The deer will get theirs whether I do or not. I started out just planting some for me as most of my family and friends prefer the white peas. They soon discovered what I was onto and now everyone wants them. This morning I checked with my local seed store and ordered 10 pounds as they said they would no longer stock them because it was not a big seller. Think I will save some for seed for next year just in case.
Roy AKA Shot

Hey, Roy. Welcome to the bean forum (yeah, it's got a longer name, but that's what we call it).

I would definately start saving my own seed if I were you. These old time varieties are disappearing rapidly, and you don't want to get caught short.

Hi Gardendad. Thank you very much for the welcome. Speaking of old varieties, last year a farmer friend gave me some seed corn that is supposed to be of one of the old varieties of white field corn. Wow! The stalks were tall and the ears long. My wife mixes it with an equal amount of sweet corn (silver queen) creamed and the consistency is just right. I did shell some for the coming season. Just a couple of months ago before burning off the field I pulled about 3 ears that the deer had not eaten and was surprised to see that the weevils had not eaten it up and it was still in great shape. I am really getting planting fever... Oh, I still grow Black Diamond watermelons too... remember those?
Roy