hailed peas

[darren]

My beautiful pea crop caught some hail Sunday night. I plannned on desicating with glyphosate and straight cutting them. Some pods are torn open and those i'll kiss goodbuy but I was hoping to save the bruised ones. Should I go in and swath them? They are early(April 24) and are just starting to turn a bit. I want to salvage as much as i can. HELP!

[piquett]

My concern with swathing if the plants are too green is that you will be left with immature yellow-green seeds. When we swath, it is done when most of the vines and pods have turned to a yellow-tan color and seeds are difficult to dent with a thumbnail. As much as one-third of the vines and pods may still have some lime green color left, but these plants will cure in the swath. The fully formed but immature seeds will dry without much shrinking at that point. Seed moisture content is approximatly 25% I think I would be worried about molding as well if the plants are too green. I think I would be inclined to let air circulate amongst the plants to allow the vines to continue to dry down. Anybody else have some thoughts on this?

[darren]

I started swathing saturday. They are green peas so I'm not worried about locking in the green. Mold? I guess its possible but its been 30+ for a week now and looks like another week will be hot too. I figure if the seed has the size all it can do is shrink a little as it dries.