Maturity and Quality
Sweet peas are traditionally harvested when the last bud on the stem is about half open. "Bud-stage" flowers are harvested when the petals on the first bud are colored and near full size, but have not yet opened. Flowers are harvested by holding the stem between the thumb and forefinger near the base (supporting the vine with two fingers behind and one in front) and then pulling the flower backwards and upwards from the axil of the leaf. Sweet peas should have 5 flowers per stem and only one flower open at the time of purchase. Avoid bunches with wilting flowers or where buds or flowers have fallen.
Grading and Bunching. There are no grade standards for sweet peas, but quality flowers have long, straight stems and at least five buds on each spike. Flowers can be bunched by color, or in mixed colors, in bunches of 10.
Postharvest Handling and Storage
Sweet peas should be stored at 0-1°C. Flowers that have been pretreated with 1-MCP and sucrose will open well and have a satisfactory vase life after storage for up to a week at 1°C.
Exposure to ethylene results in accelerated wilting of petals, abscission of flowers, and failure of developing buds to open.
Pretreatments
Proper pretreatment greatly improves the vase life of sweet peas. Flowers should be treated with 1-MCP or STS, and then placed in a preservative solution containing 4% sucrose at 20°C overnight.
Packing
Sweet peas are packed in horizontal boxes or hampers.
Special Considerations
Cultivars vary in the intensity of their aroma, one of the characteristic and appealing features of sweet peas.
Disorders
Description
Lathyrus odoratus. Once important cut flowers, prized for their aroma and range of colors, sweet peas benefit substantially from anti-ethylene pretreatments. Combined with a sugar pulse, treatment with STS or 1-MCP enables these delicate flowers to be harvested at an earlier stage when the flowers are less susceptible to damage, and to give as much as a week of display life.