GardenAnnual Legume · 22 varieties
Cowpea
Vigna unguiculata
Fabaceae — the same plant family as bush bean, pea, pole bean, lima bean and 9 more here. Relatives share pests and diseases, which is why rotation plans group by family.
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an annual legume. It wants full sun and pH 5.5–6.5 soil, with about 1 in of water weekly. It matures in about 60–80 days from sowing. Watch for aphids and fusarium wilt. Below: its full sourced profile from 10 extension sources, plus a planting calendar timed to your frost dates.
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP for yours. This calendar assumes the crop is direct sown. Timing is a guide from the crop's sourced growth stages; confirm with your local frost dates and extension before you sow.
What we will not put a number on
We do not give a feeding rate for this crop, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. The figures published by extension services are pounds of nitrogen per acre for a production field — they do not convert safely to a raised bed or a pot without knowing your soil test and your fertilizer's analysis, and guessing errs toward burning roots. It is also why every chart you find online disagrees with the next one.
We give watering as a depth per week rather than gallons per plant, because that is how it is actually measured and how the published figures are written. A gallons-per-plant number depends on your spacing, your soil and whether the plant is in a pot — so it would look more precise than it is.
Site & soil
- Sun
- Full sun
- Soil pH
- 5.5–6.5
- Soil texture
- Sandy, Loam, Well drained
- Frost tolerance
- Tender
No published figure for the temperature frost starts to hurt it, the temperature that would kill it and a heat limit. We looked — where a number is missing here it is missing from the research, not skipped. The crop’s frost and heat tolerance above still applies.
The plant
- Mature height
- 1.5–3 ftest
- Mature spread
- 1–3 ft
- Growth rate
- Fastest
- Spacing in row
- 3–4 in
- Between rows
- 20–42 in
- Planting depth
- 0.75–1.5 in
- Container size
- 5 galest
- Support
- Self-supporting
- Grown from
- Direct sow
Water & feeding
- Water needs
- Low
- Water per week
- 1 in/wkest
- Critical water
- Flowering, Pod fill
- Feeding
- Low
Timing & fruiting
- Days to maturity
- 60–80 days from seed
- Harvest cues
- Pods filling
Planted again for autumn
- Sow by
- late Aug typical · zone 6b
60 days to maturity from sowing, counted back from the first frost above. Not published for anywhere in particular: it is your own frost date and this crop's own figure, which is why it works wherever you are. A days-to-maturity figure is a catalog number for a good season rather than a promise, and a cold month moves it.
Edible parts per source: fruit, seed.
Compiled from the extensions cited below. Which ones actually show up depends on your region — your extension's local list is the last word.
| Variety | Type | Habit | Days | Color | Disease | What it is known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Red Ripper Pea Heirloom | Blackeye,Purple Hull,Cream,Crowder,Field | Vining | 70 | Bicolor | Mary's Heirloom Seeds describes this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| Blackeye Pea Heirloom | Blackeye | 60–80 | Bicolor | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | ||
| Calico Crowder Pea Heirloom | Crowder | Vining | 80–110 | Bicolor | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| California Blackeye | Blackeye | Bush | 60–70 | Bicolor | ROOT_KNOT_NEMATODES FUSARIUM_WILT | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water |
| Chinese Red Noodle Bean Heirloom | Blackeye,Purple Hull,Cream,Crowder,Field | Pole | 85 | Red | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| Colossus Crowder | Crowder | Vining | 60–80 | FUSARIUM_WILT ROOT_KNOT_NEMATODES | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| Coronet Pinkeye Purple Hull | Purple Hull | Bush | 62–90 | Purple, Bicolor | CUCUMBER_MOSAIC_VIRUS SOUTHERN_BEAN_MOSAIC | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water |
| Iron and Clay Heirloom | Field Pea | Vining | 110 | Mary's Heirloom Seeds describes this asgets by on less water | ||
| Knuckle Purple Hull Pea Heirloom | Crowder | Vining | 60–65 | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | ||
| Mississippi Purple Crowder Heirloom | Crowder | Bush | 65 | Purple | FUSARIUM_WILT ROOT_KNOT_NEMATODES | Thresh Seed Co. describes this astakes the heat |
| Mississippi Silver Crowder Heirloom | Crowder | Bush | 60–65 | Green | FUSARIUM_WILT ROOT_KNOT_NEMATODES | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water |
| Orient Wonder Yardlong Bean Heirloom | Blackeye,Purple Hull,Cream,Crowder,Field | Vining | 80 | Botanical Interests describes this astakes the heat | ||
| Pinkeye Purple Hull Pea Heirloom | Purple Hull | Bush | 65 | Purple, Bicolor | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| Purple Hull Pea Heirloom | Purple Hull | 60–80 | Purple | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | ||
| Queen Anne Blackeye Pea Heirloom | Blackeye | Vining | 68 | Bicolor | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| Red Ripper Pea Heirloom | Blackeye,Purple Hull,Cream,Crowder,Field | Vining | 60–80 | Red | Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds describes this asgets by on less water | |
| Sadandy Cream Pea | Cream | Bush | 70 | Urban Farmer describes this astakes the heat | ||
| Texas Cream 40 Pea Heirloom | Cream | Bush | 65 | Bicolor | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| Top Pick Pinkeye Pea | Purple Hull | Bush | 65 | Purple, Bicolor | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| Whippoorwill Pea Heirloom | Blackeye,Purple Hull,Cream,Crowder,Field | Vining | 72 | Bicolor | Southern Exposure Seed Exchange describes this asgets by on less water · takes the heat | |
| White Acre Pea Heirloom | Cream | Bush | 70 | White | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| Zipper Cream Pea | Crowder | Vining | 65 | White | ROOT_KNOT_NEMATODES | NC State Extension records this astakes the heat · gets by on less water |
- Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC
- LSU AgCenter
- LSU AgCenter (Ferguson)
- Mississippi State University Extension
- NC State Extension
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension (Masabni)
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
- UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
- UW-Madison Corn Agronomy (Alternative Field Crops Manual)
- University of Georgia Extension
We compile bare facts from these university-extension and horticultural sources, never copied prose. 15 of the 19 values on this page carry a citation. The rest are marked est; hover one and it says why — either nobody publishes a figure we could point at, or a person set it and attached no source. Figures vary with climate and seed source; confirm with your local extension before you buy.
Growing more than cowpea? Browse all crops, or grab the spacing calculator and frost date lookup. The GardenTrack app (now in beta) remembers what you planted and where, then tells you what to do and when. Join the beta →