Eric Reimer stands a solid 6 feet 4 with his boots on.  So seeing Eric stand in his father’s pea field southeast of Killarney gives us an idea of just how high those plants are.  Barry Reimer’s 600 acres of peas has reached heights of 48 to 58 inches, or 1.2 to 1.5 meters tall, and heavily laden with pods, producing as many as 7-9 peas per pod.

Tropical growing conditions in areas of Westman are producing an abundance of expected yields in some crops; peas being one of them, if the rain stays away and the heat units continue.

Reimer says this field is one of the best pea fields he has ever seen in his 20 plus years of growing peas.  He attributes the success of the field, at this point, to the sandy-gravel soil, that is able to withstand the excessive amount of rainfall.

The biggest thing for peas right now is watching for disease.  Reimer says they are being vigilant with watching for disease and aphids.

eric peas

Peas are notorious for falling flat and being a difficult crop to harvest. From his 20 plus years of growing peas, Barry says maybe once in every 15 years will the peas stay standing for harvest.  However, as tall and thick as this field of peas is right now, there are hopes it will continue to stay upright for harvest as well.

Many fields in the Westman area are showing the signs of severe stress due to excessive moisture. And too many have been devastated by hail damage and heavy, pounding rain. Reimer says right now, in the Killarney area, they are on somewhat of a balance beam as to amount of moisture. There is enough rain to last the remainder of the growing season.

In looking ahead to harvest, Reimer feels it should be an early harvest, starting with that pea crop of 600 acres.

Reimer adds that they’re crossing their fingers that there aren’t any more summer storms this growing and harvesting season. The added concern is that the wet conditions will make harvest truly difficult when the soil under the plants is pure mud.