How to Grow Commercial Baby Pea Shoots From Dried Peas

Place about 50 dried peas into a zip-lock bag. Add 1 cup of cool water. Seal the bag and leave in a warm, but not hot, location for 24 hours. Soaking the peas hydrates the outer coating and hastens germination.

Empty the bag. Rinse the peas with cool water. Replace the peas into the bag and add 1 cup of water. Repeat every 12 hours until you see a tiny white root emerging from the peas.

Add water to a bag of potting soil until the soil is moist. About 1 quart of water to 1 square foot of soil should be adequate.

Poke three holes in each foam cup with the sharp end of a pencil. Fill each cup 2 inches from the top with the moist soil.

Place five to seven peas on top of the soil. Pea shoots take up less space than the peas. Cover with an inch of moist soil. Place on a tray. Water the area to soak the soil. Place the cups in a warm place -- at a temperature no higher than 75 F -- to sprout.

Move the sprouted seeds to a location that receives a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight daily when the shoot has broken the surface. If that's not possible because the weather is too cold, keep the peas inside under grow lights in a cool room. They prefer cooler temperatures to grow, but should not be exposed to cold temperatures below freezing.

Snip off two out of the three pea shoots when they reach between 4 and 6 inches high. This is your first crop of saleable baby pea shoots.

Transplant the remaining pea shoots into the garden. As the pea plant grows, snip off side shoots that are no more than 6 inches long. This is a second crop of baby pea shoots.

Fertilize the pea plants every two weeks with water soluble plant food diluted by 50 percent.