Growing Cowpeas, also Black eye peas, Southern peas

Vigna Unguiculata : Fabaceae / the pea or legume family

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
							P	P	P

(Best months for growing Cowpeas in Australia - sub-tropical regions)

P = Sow seed

Easy to grow. When soil begins to warm up. After frosts finish.. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 15°C and 35°C. (Show °F/in)
Space plants: Rows 1 Metre apart
Harvest in 11-14 weeks.

Cowpeas are heat and dry tolerant but frost will finish them. Can be grown in cooler areas if they are started under cover and planted out after last frost. They are an ancient food source and have probably been used since Neolithic times.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Cowpeas

Young leaves can be cooked and used like spinach and are very high in protein. The young pods are edible.

Your comments and tips

09 Apr 22, Selman (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Can I grow Black eye peas in April where I live in south Brisbane ? Thank you .
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16 Dec 21, (Australia - temperate climate): Any ideas where I can buy them in Tasmania please?
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19 Dec 21, Anonymous (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Try ringing a few stock agency places. Places that sell seed etc to farmers. Try googling it.
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09 Dec 19, Donna Georgiou (Australia - temperate climate): I would like to grow black eye beans (cowpeas) for family use as we like them fresh as well as dry , would I be able to purchase seeds . [Gardenate: we don't sell any seeds or plants]
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12 Dec 19, (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Try the internet.
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24 Aug 19, Natalia (Australia - sub-tropical climate): I want to know the fertilizer recommendation(Including major and minor elements) of cowpea in sub-tropical, Australia. I lived in Armidale, NSW and I am going to grow cowpea. If I have a chance, could you please discuss boron and zinc fertilizer application (both basal and foliar fertiliser application)? Regards, Natalia
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26 Aug 19, Anon (Australia - tropical climate): If you were going to grow these on a large commercial scale then you could go into all this stuff you ask. Are you growing it to eat. In some farming it is used as a green manure crop. It puts N back into the soil - also some fibre. A general vegie fert would do. If really into boron and zinc buy some at Bunnings and apply at the rate on the packet.
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17 Nov 13, herb (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Cowpeas,are they a ground cover or climber? I would like to dig some back in as nutrient.Is that ok?
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07 Dec 15, Ray S (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Rather belated reply but cowpeas come in both bush and climbing forms, just like common beans. They make an excellent green manure during the warmer months in my climate zone and I'd expect they'd do well any time in the subtropics. Some are adapted to the wet tropics and others to the dry tropics. I grow them with minimal watering. Some I grow for the dry seeds to use in winter stews and others I grow as a green manure crop.
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Growing Cowpeas, also Black eye peas, Southern peas

Vigna Unguiculata : Fabaceae / the pea or legume family

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Cowpeas

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