Winter peas?

DIY

Member
Any thoughts on the more commonly mentioned Austrian Winter Peas vs other varieties of winter peas? I was reading about "white flowered" winter pea varieties and based on what I've read they sound like a better choice than AWP due to claims of better production, higher palatability and improved winter hardiness for about the same price as AWP.

One of my lease-mates recently planted a bag of Tecomate Max Attract. I noticed that it contains Nutrigreen Winter Peas instead of AWP. I checked it out and it's a white flowering winter pea that Tecomcate claims are an "upgrade" over AWP.

I saw a bag of fall deer blend from MBS Seed that includes Windham Winter Peas, which are advertised as a white flowering, tannin-free winter pea with higher sweetness and winter hardiness over AWP. Sounds sort of like a white oak vs red oak kind of difference.

Hancockseed.com sells AWP and some other varieties of winter peas, all of which are about the same price per pound. Below is what they have to say about the FrostMaster and Whistler varieties.

FrostMaster Winter Peas - These peas are a small seeded forage pea, yet will grow into a long vine with large leaves producing good tonnage of very palatable forage. FrostMaster Winter Peas have good winter-hardiness and are capable of out producing Austrian Winter Peas. FrostMaster Winter Peas are white flowered, which indicates the absence of tannin. Tannin is a compound that creates a bitter taste in plants. Due to the lack in tannin, FrostMaster peas are very sweet, unlike the majority of winter peas and spring peas.

Whistler Winter Peas - Whistler Winter Peas are a semi-leafless, SWEETER WHITE flowered pea with yellow cotyledons. They are winter hardy down to 0 degrees F. Whistler winter peas are white flowered, with a very low anthocyanin content (the reddish, purple color on flowers, leaves, and stems). Studies have shown that the lower the anthocyanin content, the higher the palatability of forage. Austrian winter peas are purple flowered, and have a high anthocyanin content. Sweeter feed means higher intake, higher weight gain, and more profits.
 
I saw an ad for lynx winter peas a few years ago. I didn't purchase any at the time because I had a 50lb bag of Austrian peas.

The lynx were to be more cold harder, higher palatability and tannin free? Sounded like a winning combo but never got my hands on any. The supplier (speare seeds, who supplies rack stacker) in isn't able to source any at this time.
 
I have planted AWP and frostmasters and I didn't see any preference by the deer one way or the other. To be honest I think the only way you may see a preference is IF you plant them side by side. I tend to plant which ever is cheaper or whichever I can get my hands on.....
 
I have planted AWP and frostmasters and I didn't see any preference by the deer one way or the other. To be honest I think the only way you may see a preference is IF you plant them side by side. I tend to plant which ever is cheaper or whichever I can get my hands on.....

It's been my experience that it depends on the deer. On one of my places, they don't last too long, but on a lease I hunt, we had a really good stand of AWP climbing the wheat at the end of winter. I looked at them pretty closely and saw little evidence of browsing. What's peculiar about this, is that this place is mostly pine plantation and there's not an over abundance of natural browse until they cut some timber last year.
 
I think in some cases deer have to figure some new foods out. If they had never seen peas defore they may not take to them right away..... just a thought.
 
Who knows what deer prefer----this year the deer in my food plots didn't go after oats or peas and just started getting after sunflowers(usually are not allowed to reach 6") but are eating the winter rye daily? I don't even know what to think.
 
Any thoughts on the more commonly mentioned Austrian Winter Peas vs other varieties of winter peas? I was reading about "white flowered" winter pea varieties and based on what I've read they sound like a better choice than AWP due to claims of better production, higher palatability and improved winter hardiness for about the same price as AWP.

One of my lease-mates recently planted a bag of Tecomate Max Attract. I noticed that it contains Nutrigreen Winter Peas instead of AWP. I checked it out and it's a white flowering winter pea that Tecomcate claims are an "upgrade" over AWP.

I saw a bag of fall deer blend from MBS Seed that includes Windham Winter Peas, which are advertised as a white flowering, tannin-free winter pea with higher sweetness and winter hardiness over AWP. Sounds sort of like a white oak vs red oak kind of difference.

Hancockseed.com sells AWP and some other varieties of winter peas, all of which are about the same price per pound. Below is what they have to say about the FrostMaster and Whistler varieties.

FrostMaster Winter Peas - These peas are a small seeded forage pea, yet will grow into a long vine with large leaves producing good tonnage of very palatable forage. FrostMaster Winter Peas have good winter-hardiness and are capable of out producing Austrian Winter Peas. FrostMaster Winter Peas are white flowered, which indicates the absence of tannin. Tannin is a compound that creates a bitter taste in plants. Due to the lack in tannin, FrostMaster peas are very sweet, unlike the majority of winter peas and spring peas.

Whistler Winter Peas - Whistler Winter Peas are a semi-leafless, SWEETER WHITE flowered pea with yellow cotyledons. They are winter hardy down to 0 degrees F. Whistler winter peas are white flowered, with a very low anthocyanin content (the reddish, purple color on flowers, leaves, and stems). Studies have shown that the lower the anthocyanin content, the higher the palatability of forage. Austrian winter peas are purple flowered, and have a high anthocyanin content. Sweeter feed means higher intake, higher weight gain, and more profits.
Please don't post any more about the AWP. My deer don't know they have a high tannin content and are not as palpable. As of now with their ignorance, they browse them faster than they can grow.
The two alternatives you show are good choices mainly in that they are slightly less expensive. The descriptions are a bit farfetched as to attraction tho.
AWP is too expensive, harder to T&M plant, get eaten as soon as they grow. Not worth the trouble and expense. And I plant them with my mixes every year....how can you not plant something with high nutrition, moisture conserving, soil building plant that happens to have such a unique leaf and flower, that when you see that "tannin" filled white/ purplish/burgundy colored flower blooming above the heart shaped leaf the following year in your plot, well, you just know life is good.
 
Please don't post any more about the AWP. My deer don't know they have a high tannin content and are not as palpable. As of now with
their ignorance, they browse them faster than they can grow.

If you are worried, just block your deer from reading the posts

Im sure Cutman has worked this out

bill
 
Planted two bags of AWP and two bags of 60/40 peas at 50 lbs to the acre in my grain mix food plots. Additionally my farmer planted four bags of "Survivor peas" for me. The Survivor peas are planted at 50 lbs to the acre in some of the grain fields. Both grain and peas were planted this past week with planting finally completed yesterday 9/18. The farmer feels the peas can make the winter alive if the deer don't get most of them but anticipates the deer could eat them all up as they are really hitting our four acre bean field hard and have been all summer. This is our first time planting more than a couple of bags of peas and our first time planting Survivor peas so we are just in the try it and see mode. Just like beans there must be a threshold that when planting more than a certain number of acres, the peas can survive the deer browsing;we'll see if eight acres is high enough.
 
Not to worry - I am convinced deer can't read!

They don;t cross the roads at the signs!
They don't follow what all the hunting books say!
They don't show up when the book or magazine says they are supposed to!
They don't rut when the glossy magazine article says they will!
And they certainly are not brand loyal! Every deer should be walking past our co-op seeded food plots and beating a path to the BOB branded food plots!
Turns out that are not brand loyal to weapons and hunting gear either..... turns out they die from a 20 year old bow or wal-mart special shotgun just as well as they do a brand-new top brand $1,000 weapon!!!!

Man, IF deer could read.....it would make this hunting thing so much easier! I would just set my hunting library of books from the house in the woods and rotate them to different areas to ensure every deer got the chance to read them.... I might even hang some of them deer crossing signs in the woods just to help them out as well!!!!
 
I think they read quite well, then do just the opposite of what is the train of thot.
Back to the OPs question, if you read Lickcreeks material, he long ago began recommending Frostmaster peas. Not for the attraction, but simply as they were good bit cheaper. Last time I checked they weren't much diff than AWP any more, and quite honestly, the AWP is what I can get at the coop. Any winter forage pea should work I think. Highly recommended for cattle farmers but I don't think any in my area spend that kind of money for winter feed. They stay with grains and brassica. Now why would they do that??? More cost effective and easier.. Some things we do in deer plotting is not necessary but we choose to do so for self satisfaction to some extent.
But a few quick things on winter peas.
AWP survive well down to 10 deg
They grow almost as fast as WR
Are the most water conserving plant//biomass
Blooms great for bees
When used as mulch, provide double the N of alfalfa mulch
And speaking from experience, provide as awesome fresh green winter salad!!

Now you know why I plant them.
 
Back
Top