Anyone Plant Peanuts???

[leeave96 487]

I'm thinking about planting some peanuts this year. I planted a small batch about 10 years ago and did pretty good, but the ground got very hard and they were difficult to get out of the ground.

Question is - do you plant peanuts, if so, what kind and do you have any tips or tricks to planting and harvesting? Also, just for a bit of measure and the feel of it, how long of a row can I make out of 1/4 pound of peanut seeds?

Thanks!

Bill

[GlenPettit 1,717]

I'm way up in Michigan, Zone 7: in 2001 we planted 20 peanuts, and 19 grew up and produced very well, maybe an average of 10 double-inshell peanuts/plant, of the normal size you get in the store, we roasted them and they tasted OK (not as good as store roasted, but I'm sure we made errors in roasting temperature/time, just slightly raw taste & unsalted).

Planted some peanuts last Spring, and not a single one grew out of the ground, (I suspect my source had old peanuts, from eBay).

We planted them a foot apart, 2" deep & out-of-the-shell but in the skin, there are lots of kinds of peanuts for growing, follow the "required number of growing days" & planting guidelines from your source.

When the plant is a foot tall, it blooms, pollenated blooms send down a taproot, 10" down into the ground (grows down 2"/day), then 2-3" deeper, the peanut or two forms quickly, then we waited for the first frost (Sept 20) to pull. Was a lot of fun watching it grow, we pulled the SOFT soil away often to look at the developing peanuts, then reburied, they didn't seem to mind.

Buy from a good seed source, not just some individual like I did last Spring. We grew a cotton plant this Summer, it did very well up here, 4' tall, 20 cotton balls did form and mature (was a very hot summer here), that was also a lot of fun watching it grow.

Good Luck, and I think soft organic or sandy soil is important, at least for the top 4-5".

Glen