[seaside]

You really must realise that gardeners must be allowed to use the method of crop production to suit their own needs facilities and pockets.

I couldn't agree with that more Aunty. Each to their own. Most of us tend to follow our default emotional shape in arriving at our gardening technique, and so we should. Best left there I think. We all do our best
.
If I get pea moth infestation in my fleeced second pea crop I shall not be a happy bunny.

[Aunt Sally]

Harvested my last peas of the season today.  I don't do any later ones as there is too much mildew about from now on.

[mumofstig]

Snap! Picked the last of mine, for eating, and cut all the tops for the compost bins. I sowed some French beans in what was the gap between the rows.

The only peas left are some that I'm growing on for seeds for next year 

[Aunt Sally]

I've got some mange tout left.  Not flowered yet.

[DD.]

I've actually got 5 x 36" feet of peas, plus a few others still podding and looking healthy.

I would not consider another sowing though.
 

[Aunt Sally]

But you are a Pea fanatic DD.   

[Steve_LF]

Harvested mine yesterday, had larvae in about 10% of them, but mostly small ones and only one pea wasted per infected pod. (phew)

[Aunt Sally]

I'd count that as a good result, Steve

[JayG]

Pea thrips have been a real pest this year making silvery patches on the pods and in some cases covering the whole pod and making them shrivel. I sprayed with Bug Off as soon as I saw the damage but too late.

Had to Gurgle this one (heard of them but never seen them until this year.)

Tiny orange/yellow bugs not much more than 1mm long - I thought they were only causing a few silvery patches which I could safely ignore but having looked more closely my sugarsnaps are coming to a premature finish because the latest flowers aren't going to even get as far as developing proper pods. 

A feature of hot humid summers apparently - you just can't win can you? 

Apparently they overwinter in the soil so I'll have to find somewhere else to grow them next year and possibly even think about spraying them, although that's the last thing I want to do.) 

[MickyB]

Harvested mine yesterday, had larvae in about 10% of them, but mostly small ones and only one pea wasted per infected pod. (phew)

Are not all the peas infected then? I seen the grubs and slung the lot!

[mumofstig]

No not all, just throw the bad ones away as you are shelling.

That's all we did at home when shelling peas for my mum 

Couldn't get frozen ones in those days, they were all sold in the pod for shelling 

[MickyB]

No not all, just throw the bad ones away as you are shelling.

That's all we did at home when shelling peas for my mum 

Couldn't get frozen ones in those days, they were all sold in the pod for shelling 

Sorry - my fault for not explaining myself correctly -  what I meant to ask is, if I find a caterpillar in a pod are all the peas inside that pod possibly infected? Some of the peas looked OK but I was that freaked out by the site of the grub I threw the whole pod away - does the grub live within the peas and eat there way out or just within the pod. 

[DD.]

It's not an infection. You can't catch anything!

It lives within a pea and may affect the one next to it. The ones that look whole are indeed whole.

[mumofstig]

They munch a pea - then they may move on to the next one................

Each larva feeds on two or more peas over a period of two to three weeks. Mature larvae bore through the pod wall, then drop to the ground where they spin cocoons.

http://www3.telus.net/conrad/insects/peamoth.html

As I said when you open the pod you throw away the nasty pea or 2 and eat the others from that pod.
Not all pods will be infected, so it's only a relatively small proportiong you throw away.

I had about 10-12 pods with bad peas in, in each carrier bag of peas I shelled...............and this is the first year in ages that I've seen any.

By sowing early in mid-March I usually harvest the peas before the moth is about

[MickyB]

The first pods I picked appeared to be OK, after that virtually every pod (90% plus) had a caterpillar inside