How many pea plants did Mendel grow in his experiments?

Gregor Mendel grew and examined about 28,000 pea plants during his experiments. The work took place mainly between 1856 and 1863 in the garden of St. Thomas's Abbey in Brno, then part of the Austrian Empire and now in the Czech Republic.

The figure refers to the large body of plants cultivated and tested across several breeding experiments, rather than to a single cross or one harvest. Mendel selected pea varieties that bred true for clear traits, then controlled pollination and counted the characteristics appearing in successive generations.

Peas were especially useful because they were easy to grow, many stable varieties were available, and their flowers normally self-pollinate. Mendel could remove the stamens and transfer pollen from a chosen plant, reducing unwanted crosses. He investigated seven traits, including seed shape, seed color, plant height, pod form, flower color, pod color, and flower position. His numerical counts helped establish predictable inheritance ratios, although the importance of the work was not widely recognized until around 1900.