A Guide on Growing Chick Peas
Chick pea, which is scientifically known as Cicer arietinum, is an annual that belongs to the legume family and it is also interchangeably known as garbanzo or gram. Although Chick peas are neither beans nor peas they are often referred to as garbanzo beans.
Growing Season and Soil Conditions
Growing chick peas takes a long time as it takes around a hundred days before they can be harvested and they require a long and warm growing season. Chick peas cannot be grown at too cold a temperature and they should only be grown in areas that have at least three frost-free months. When planning to grow chick peas, it is best to give them a good start by planting the chick pea seedlings indoors in paper pots or paper towels around two weeks before the last frost date of your area and transplant them when they are around 4 inches tall. Chick peas should be planted in areas that can get full sunlight and in loose soil that is well-drained. The soil should be high in organic matter but it should not be high in nitrogen to avoid an unwanted leafy growth.
Sowing Chick Peas
Start by sowing the chick pea seeds into the soil around an inch deep and space them around 2 inches apart with the rows around two feet apart. Do not soak the seeds with water right after planting them to keep the seeds from cracking. When the seeds have grown and sprouted enough, thin the plants to around 6 inches apart by cutting the plants at ground level without disturbing the other sprouts. Chick peas can be grown crowded to offer support to each other. Keep the soil evenly moist as the chick peas grow and water the chick peas regularly when they are flowering and forming beans or pods. Put mulch on the planting beds to help retain moisture and prevent weeds from growing. Avoid putting nitrogen-rich fertilizers on the soil because chick peas have a mutual exchange with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil that makes them produce their own fertilizer.
Caring for Chick Peas
Handle the chick peas with extra care not to let the flowers and pods fall off when watering, and do not disturb the roots when cultivating and removing the weeds. Do not handle the chick peas when they are wet to avoid fungal spores from spreading. Remove a disease infected plant from the planting bed to avoid affecting other plants. Stop watering the chick pea plants when they are already mature to help the beans dry out for harvesting.
How to Harvest Chick peas
The chick peas will be ready for harvest around 100 days after they are planted. They can be eaten fresh like snap beans by picking them up when the pods are still green. They are commonly harvested when the leaves are already brown and the seeds are collected when the pods split after drying.
Chick peas grow better in dry seasons because of their root systems; which are dried and tap, and they produce fewer yields when they are grown in heavy rainfall seasons because they are prone to have disease outbreaks that affect the roots. Chick peas are better grown in areas with well distributed rain patterns. Chick peas should also be planted in soil that is fertile and sandy with good drainage for effective growth.
