Sugar Snap Pea

Pests & beneficial insects

🐛 Prone to: Aphids

Aphids

Aphididae

Curled leaves, sticky honeydew and ants on patrol — usually with something already eating them.

, Caterpillars

Caterpillars

Lepidoptera larvae

Holes, droppings, and a pest you can simply pick off by hand.

, Cutworms

Cutworms

Noctuidae

A seedling lying beside its own stump in the morning, cut clean through at soil level.

.

Attract Hoverflies

Hoverflies

Syrphidae

The adults only drink nectar. It is the larvae that eat the aphids.

, Lacewings

Lacewings

Chrysopidae

Golden-eyed adults that mostly drink; larvae that hunt like small alligators.

, Ladybugs

Ladybugs

Coccinellidae

The one predator here where the adults hunt as hard as the larvae do.

, Parasitic wasps

Parasitic wasps

Braconidae, Ichneumonidae and relatives

Pinhead-sized, stingless, and lethal to aphids and caterpillars from the inside.

, Ground beetles

Ground beetles

Carabidae

Night-active ground hunters, taking slugs, cutworms and leatherjackets at soil level.

to keep them in check — plant African MarigoldGreat, Belgian EndiveGreat and ChervilGreat nearby.

Growing from seed

Direct-sow Sugar Snap Pea outdoors about 4 weeks before your last frost, keeping seeds in cooler soil (around 10–18 °C). Seeds usually come up in around 10 days. Grow in full sun, spaced about 5 cm apart. Expect to harvest in roughly 65 days.

Sugar Snap Pea seed rarely stays viable beyond 3 years — track what's still worth sowing.

Companion Planting

• 
  Alpine Strawberry
  

  Alpine StrawberryGreat pair

  • ❧Alpine Strawberry attracts Ground beetles, which prey on the Cutworms that attack Sugar Snap Pea
  • ❧Sugar Snap Pea fixes nitrogen in the soil that Alpine Strawberry feeds on
  • ❧Alpine Strawberry acts as living mulch, keeping soil moist and weeds down around Sugar Snap Pea
• 
  fescue
  

  fescueGreat pair

  • ❧fescue attracts Ground beetles, which prey on the Cutworms that attack Sugar Snap Pea
  • ❧Sugar Snap Pea fixes nitrogen in the soil that fescue feeds on
  • ❧fescue acts as living mulch, keeping soil moist and weeds down around Sugar Snap Pea
• 
  African Marigold
  

  African MarigoldGreat pair

  • ❧African Marigold attracts Hoverflies and Lacewings and more, which prey on the Aphids that attack Sugar Snap Pea
  • ❧Sugar Snap Pea fixes nitrogen in the soil that African Marigold feeds on
  • ❧African Marigold suppresses pests that trouble Sugar Snap Pea

How to grow Sugar Snap Pea

1. Sow-4 weeks from frost
2. Germinates10 days
3. Space5 cm apart
4. GrowFull sun
5. Harvest~65 days

Water: Medium · Height: 180 cm · Soil: Well-draining, cool