Time to Plant Black Eye Peas

Soil Temperature

• Black-eyed peas need warm soil temperatures to germinate, so plant them in late spring to early summer after soil has warmed to at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Because the plants are heat tolerant, you can also plant them throughout summer up until 65 to 75 days before the last frost date for your area. Succession planting every two to four weeks throughout summer ensures you have enough black-eyed peas to eat all summer and some left for storage.

Air Temperature

• Black-eyed peas thrive in warm to hot weather and need 60 to 90 frost-free days to reach harvest. Black-eyed peas thrive in air temperatures between 70 and 95 degrees, especially when most days reach 85 degrees or higher. Once soil and air temperatures are warm, you can plant black-eyed peas about 1/2 to 1 inch deep, spacing seeds 2 inches apart and thinning them to 4 inches apart, while spacing rows 3 feet apart and raising them 6 to 8 inches above ground.

Starting Seeds Indoors

• You can start black-eyed peas indoors six weeks before it's time to transplant outdoors. Plants can be placed outdoors about four weeks after the last frost date in your area. Starting seeds indoors allows you to protect seeds and control germination conditions. Black-eyed peas do not transplant well, so start seeds in soil blocks, cell packs or other individual containers to prevent root disturbance during transplanting. Timing is important when starting seeds indoors, because black-eyed peas can suffer if they outgrow their soil block. When transplanting black-eyed peas in spring, plants require hardening off before planting.

Planting Too Early

• Black-eyed peas sowed in cool or wet soils can suffer. Seeds sown too early often come up yellow, but generally turn green once the soil and air temperatures warm. Seeds take longer to germinate when planted in soil below 60 degrees. Under ideal conditions, black-eyed peas germinate in eight to 10 days, but in cool soil, germination can take two weeks or more.