V rake on peas

[Ronski]

I remember somebody talking about raking peas a year or two back? I left the last 15 acres of my peas until the rest were done as they were lodged ugly before the rain. They were 4-5 feet tall when blooming, now 4-5". I walked through today and they are probably dry enough but very flat so I grabbed a handful of vines to figure out which way to cut as you can't tell which end they layed towards and they aren't anchored to the ground at all. They've rotted off at the surface and the entire plant lifts up (tried in 15 or so spots and armfulls at a time).
Should I try to pick them up with my rigid header and lifters or use the neighbors v rake and use my pickup? If I spread the v rake to maximum windrow width and narrow the swath (cutting?) width it shouldn't beat them up to bad?

Thanks for any help/suggestions/humour (if it's funny I'll gladly take sarcasm, after beating the hell out of my header and pickup reel I need something to make me smile)

[Braveheart]

We haven't grown peas for years, but, doesn't raking peas mean using a Sund raking pickup? We used to rent one and it worked great for downed peas.

[newguy]

Think a sun would she'll them and you would lose them.A rake up pickup would work great.A good hay rake possibly could be gentle enough to work if peas were tough.

[poorboy]

I tried this a few years ago and the rake tended to put a lot of small rocks into the pea windrow. They don't fall out of the swath like cereal grains, so a lot of them go through the combine. Make sure you take the stationary knives out of your chopper or you will destroy it.

[hobbyfrmr]

My neighbors used a hay rake on at least 5 quarters of peas. It worked out very well I thought it was a smart idea.
I suggest using the rake so you learn something new .

[farmaholic]

Just a comment...

I wish the guys who buy these things would have to grow them and deal with stuff like this. Then maybe they'd appreciate the effort and headache we go through and offer decent prices instead of paying as little as possible for them.

[macdon02]

I used twin 12' side delivery rakes. When ground is wet and peas are flat it's the only way to go. Is amazing how little mud comes up with them. They get ripped out of the dirt clean. Yes rocks and old metal can be an issue but you can fly compared to trying to cut. Run the pickup high and you'll be done in a fraction of the time.

[fjlip]

Sticking to garden peas...all the stories/fields I see, cancel peas.

[tweety]

Use your sc header, lifters, and get your reel way out front. Pretty standard conditions and are normal for peas, they rarely are standing for harvest

[Oliver88]

Sticking to garden peas...all the stories/fields I see, cancel peas.

x2

Same here, although good to see pea acres increase this year. 👍

[Ronski]

I went to pick up the neighbors v-rake and saw a weld broken and the frame starting to stretch, figured there was a real good change I'd spend the day welding instead of combining anyways after I pulled it apart so I struggled through the last piece with my rigid header. FML. I could almost get to 2.0 mph cutting one way. I'm going to grow them again next year though. On a 26 acre piece that I left 14" stubble on and will inter row seed (but no more 150 acre learning experiences). This year doing several things wrong they went 55 bushels, I think they beat loosing money on feed barley but I won't know for sure till next fall when I see if I get a yield response.

Thanks (and sorry I don't have a successful raking story to share)