Vegetable · Fabaceae
Chickpea
Cicer arietinum
Fine fern-like leaves dusted in sticky hairs, hiding short puffy pods that rattle with seed.
Full sun
Every 7–10 days
50–86°F · 10–30°C
90–120 days
Overview
Chickpea is a bushy annual legume that rises only knee-high, its frame built of small fern-like leaves arranged along slender stems. Run a finger over any part of it and you meet a coat of fine glandular hairs that secrete an acidic exudate, mainly malic and oxalic acid, leaving a faint sticky feel.
The seeds ride in short puffy pods, two or three to a pod, each pod swelling like a tiny inflated case around its cargo. As the season closes the green fades and the pods brown on the plant, the signal that dry seed is ready.
One of the oldest cultivated crops, carried out of the Near East thousands of years ago, it goes by garbanzo bean, Bengal gram, Egyptian pea, and ceci bean. The plant is compact and bushy, growing to maturity, giving its pods, and then pulled.
Care
The short version: chickpea is a bushy knee-high annual with small fern-like leaves and a coat of fine glandular hairs over every surface. Give it full sun and well-drained sandy loam, water deeply every 7 to 10 days, and let the pods brown on the plant before you pull it.
Light
Chickpea wants full sun on every fern-like leaf and will not tolerate shade. Starve it of light and the plant grows weak and thin, setting fewer pods along its stems.
Water
Water deeply roughly every 7 to 10 days, holding even moisture through flowering and pod fill when the puffy pods are swelling with seed. Once established the plant is drought-tolerant, but waterlogged soil rots the roots, so taper the water off as the pods dry toward harvest.
Soil
Plant into well-drained sandy loam to loam, where drainage matters more than richness. The roots accept a pH of 6.0 to 8.0 and shrug off mildly alkaline ground.
Temperature
The plant runs best between 50°F to 86°F (10°C to 30°C), and young seedlings shrug off light frost. Heat that climbs during flowering knocks the flowers off before they set pods.
Humidity
Keep the air around it low and dry, 30% to 50%, so the fine hairs and small leaves stay clean. Damp still air clings to the foliage and invites leaf diseases onto those crowded fern-like leaflets.
Feeding
Feed only at planting. As a nitrogen-fixing legume the plant makes most of its own nitrogen, so a phosphorus starter plus Rhizobium inoculant at sowing is usually all it needs, and excess nitrogen does it harm.
Pruning
No pruning required. This bushy annual simply grows to maturity, swells its pods, and is pulled after harvest.
Repotting
Not applicable (field/garden annual, not container-grown long term)
Size & spacing
Mature plants stand 12 to 24 inches (30 to 60 cm) tall with a spread of 8 to 18 inches (20 to 45 cm). The compact bushy shape tucks neatly into rows or among cool-season crops.
When to plant
Chickpea is a cool-season crop you direct-sow early-to-mid spring once the soil is workable and warmed to about 50°F (10°C). From sowing to a plant heavy with browned pods runs 90 to 120 days. Pick green immature seeds early for fresh eating, or wait until the whole plant and its pods have dried to a papery brown for dry seed.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Direct-sow in early-to-mid spring once soil is workable and has warmed to about 10°C (50°F); chickpea is a cool-season crop that tolerates light frost as a seedling.
- Harvest: Harvest green (immature) seeds earlier for fresh use; for dry seed, harvest when the whole plant and pods have dried and turned brown.
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–10
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
Read the plant up close and the trouble shows on its skin: ringed lesions on leaves and pods, a wilt that browns the tissue inside a split stem, or flowers dropping off before any pod swells. Each leaves a visible mark on stem, leaf, or pod.
ASCOCHYTA BLIGHT
Look for brown to tan lesions with dark margins spreading across leaves, stems, and pods, often marked with concentric rings, with rapid collapse in cool wet weather. This is Ascochyta blight (Ascochyta rabiei), the most damaging chickpea disease, racing through cool rainy spells and carried on infected seed and residue. Confirm by spotting tiny dark fruiting bodies, the pycnidia, set in concentric rings inside the lesions. Use certified disease-free treated seed, apply registered foliar fungicides preventively in high-risk wet seasons, and destroy infected residue. Prevent it with resistant varieties, rotation out of chickpea and pulses for several years, no overhead watering, and clean seed.
Fix:
- Use certified disease-free, treated seed
- Apply registered foliar fungicides preventively in high-risk wet seasons
- Remove and destroy infected crop residue
FUSARIUM WILT
Watch for yellowing, wilting, and stunting, with plants dying in scattered patches across the bed. Split a lower stem and you find the giveaway: internal vascular browning where the fungus has clogged the plant. This is Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris), a soil fungus that is worse in warm soils and infested fields, with no cure once established. Remove and destroy affected plants, improve drainage, and avoid overwatering. Prevent it by planting resistant cultivars, rotating crops, and steering clear of fields with disease history.
Fix:
- Remove and destroy affected plants
- Improve drainage and avoid overwatering
HEAT-STRESS FLOWER DROP
When flowers drop and few or no pods set during a hot spell, the cause is heat stress above the cool-season optimum at flowering, made worse by moisture stress and dry soil at that stage. Hold even soil moisture through flowering and time planting so the bloom misses peak summer heat. Sow early in spring so the reproductive stage falls in cooler conditions, and choose adapted varieties.
Fix:
- Maintain even soil moisture during flowering
- Time planting so flowering avoids peak summer heat
Toxicity
Rated none. Cicer arietinum is an edible food legume and is not listed by the ASPCA as toxic to cats or dogs. The catch is physical, not poisonous: the foliage and pods wear fine glandular hairs that secrete an acidic exudate, mainly malic and oxalic acid, so prolonged skin contact at harvest can irritate.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Cooked chickpeas are harmless to cats, turning up even in some pet foods, and a nibble of the growing plant is no worry.
Dogs None
Dogs can eat plain cooked chickpeas just fine, and the growing plant poses no poisoning risk if a dog bites it.
Horses Safe
There is nothing toxic here for a grazing horse.
Rabbits Safe
A rabbit can sample the leaves safely, though the sticky acidic hairs may make them less appealing than fresh greens.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, sheep, and goats can graze chickpea without harm, and the residue is sometimes fed as fodder.
Birds Safe
Backyard hens and other birds can eat cooked chickpeas, and the seed is common in feed mixes.
People Safe
Cooked chickpeas are a staple food worldwide: cook the raw seed first, and wear gloves at harvest since the acidic hairs can irritate skin.
The foliage and pods are covered in glandular hairs that secrete an acidic exudate (chiefly malic and oxalic acid). Prolonged skin contact during harvest can cause irritation, so wear gloves and long sleeves when handling plants by hand. Raw seeds are cooked before eating.
Varieties
Hold the two seed types side by side and the difference is plain in the hand. Kabuli seeds are large, pale cream, smooth and round under a thin coat. Desi seeds are smaller, darker, and angular, wrapped in a thicker, often colored coat.
Kabuli
Kabuli is the large, pale cream garbanzo with smooth round seeds under a thin coat, the type sold dried or canned for cooking.
Desi
Desi is the smaller, darker chickpea with angular seeds and a thicker, often colored coat, common across South Asia and frequently split into chana dal, also called dal.
How to propagate
Chickpea grows from seed only, and it is easy. Drop seed straight into early-to-mid spring ground once it is workable and around 50°F (10°C), and watch for seedlings pushing up in about 1 to 2 weeks.
SeedEasy
Direct-sow in early-to-mid spring once soil is workable and around 10°C (50°F). · Seedlings typically emerge in about 1-2 weeks under suitable conditions.
Sow seed straight into early-to-mid spring ground once it is workable and around 50°F (10°C), with seedlings emerging in about 1 to 2 weeks. If chickpeas have never grown in that ground before, coat the seed with the right Rhizobium inoculant at planting so the roots can fix their own nitrogen.
Myths
Chickpeas need heavy nitrogen fertilizer to grow well.
As a legume the plant partners with Rhizobium bacteria and fixes much of its own nitrogen straight from the air. Extra nitrogen fertilizer is wasted, and too much can actually reduce the nodulation the plant relies on.