Plant · P-238

Cowpea

Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.

Cowpea, also called southern pea, is a heat-loving legume that thrives in exactly the warm days and warm nights of a subtropical summer, sown once the soil warms and ready in as little as 60 days. It yields both a dried or fresh seed crop and abundant high-quality forage that cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits and poultry all eat, with animals picking out the protein-rich leaf first. Left past dry maturity the pods shatter and the plant reseeds itself, so an unwanted volunteer stand is avoided simply by cutting for hay or picking pods before they go papery. On calcareous, high-pH clay that would otherwise cause chlorosis, choosing a pinkeye-type variety turns the soil limit into a seed choice rather than a fertility problem.