[looby]

can anyone help me with my sweet pea dilemmas? have some in the polytunnel flowering well but how often should i feed them to sustain good flowers? (they are for a wedding in 2 weeks). have been using dilute org tom feed same strength as for toms, and once a week but just occurred that this may be wrong. also got some stocks in p tunnel, anything i can do to force them to flower in 2 wks? they r couple inches high?  thanku!

[Stree]

I feed them with a dilute mix of a barrel full of rainwater with a hessian sack of chicken muck  suspended in it, one cupful to 2 gallons of water........
 The sweetpeas today ( 6th June) are about 5 foot high, with stems as thick as your finger and have been flowering prolifically since 1st May.
They were sown in Oct in an unheated greenhouse and planted out in march after going into a coldframe in February.

[looby]

wow...not bad! how often do u feed them with this? have got chickens so muck not a prob, thanks for your help.

[Stree]

Fed them once when they started to make flower buds, early May, and again last week.
Full watering can ( 2gallon) per plant. No feed at all before then. If you just water lightly the roots head up to the surface  for the moisture and are more prone to drying out and damage from weeding or footfall.
There is a layer of chicken bedding and compost/manure about 2 foot down that was dug in last autumn, and  the roots should hit that about midflowering time, so food for them there as well .
Cut off all side shoots and all tendrils, these just take energy away from the main stem, you will get slightly fewer flowers but they will be much better.
The stems on mine are between 12 and 15 inches long, and the cut flowers are lasting about 2 weeks.
The seeds by the way, were from the Pound Shop, so nothing special.
I will try the same technique next year with some pedigree seeds.

All the above is just the way I am doing it and there will be lots of people who swear by other methods, but it works for me.
Good luck.

PS I think they will be far too warm  in a polytunnel, they are tough plants and these I am growing have had more than one frost on them.
Obviously do not move them now, and DO NOT use a chicken muck/water mix that has not sat for a least 3 weeks or you will burn the roots! Powerful stuff even diluted.
If you want to perk them up for the wedding in 2 weeks just use Phostrogen or similar both for deep watering and a foliar feed. and keep the polytunnel open especially on warm days or they will flag in the heat.

[Kristen]

I'm trying some Double Cordons this year.

Plant one row, but put in canes to make a second row about 6 inches away. I put the plants at the edge of the bed, and the dummies "inside", so that the plants are easier to water.

Train a second shoot up the second cane.

I did this originally because I had a few failures, and wanted something on the "bare canes"

(And I discovered that I was trying to water the canes that had plants, as well as the dummy ones, hence suggestion to have a row of plants, and a row of dummies)

This is probably not good advice if growing for Show, but I think for a Vase the plants will produce similar quality crops from double-cordon as singles, and you get twice as many blooms (or onyl need half as many plants )