Pigeon pea
Cajanus cajan
ShrubPlacenta
Fast biomassProductionNitrogen fixer
A fast nitrogen-fixing shrub that gives edible peas and quick chop-and-drop mulch while your trees establish. Short-lived and frost-tender — the perfect throwaway pioneer.
Tolerances & traits
- Strata
- Shrub
- Lifecycle
- Placenta
- Soil preference
- Sandy, Loam
- Soil pH range
- 5 – 8
- Min. temperature
- -1°C
- Min. rainfall
- 500 mm/year
- Wind tolerance
- Medium
- Frost tolerance
- Low
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Irrigation needed
- Low
How to manage it
Short-lived nitrogen-fixing pioneer giving edible peas plus rapid chop-and-drop biomass while trees establish; cut back hard after each flush to keep it productive.
Watch out for
Frost-tender (damaged below ~0°C, killed by hard frost) and short-lived (2-5 years); treat as a fast support/pioneer crop to be replaced over time.
Design your line to see how your land fits Pigeon pea.
Start designing your line →Related species