want to try growing peanuts

[charline]

could anyone please tell me how to grow peanuts? what soill does it require? can it be done in zone 7? when to plant? what care does it need? .....
I dont want to grow for high yield, it is just for fun..

thank you for any answer

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by charline

could anyone please tell me how to grow peanuts? what soill does it require? can it be done in zone 7? when to plant? what care does it need? .....
I dont want to grow for high yield, it is just for fun..

thank you for any answer

Sandy soil a long growing season can be aided by starting inside.
Take the nut out of the shell and plant it about one inch or 2.5 centimeters deep
You can just buy the raw un-roasted in the shell peanuts in the store and plant them they will grow.
The Spanish ones would be best for a shorter growing season of about 100 days.
The peanut puts out a flower and what they call a peg.
This peg will shoot up and then back down into the soil and this is where the peanut comes from.
Peanuts do not form on the root they form on the peg.
The last time I had anything to do with peanuts was about 100 acres.
They are a lot of fun.
Worth

[Worth1]

I forgot to add we had to irrigate them from the river with an engine and a pump.
We did it with an old Hemi engine out of a 1957 Chrysler.
That engine ran until 1989 when it threw a timing chain.
Here is what it looked like.

[Mark0820]

You should be able to grow peanuts in zone 7. I grew them for the first time last summer. I am in zone 6.

As Worth said, they need very loose soil. Sandy soil is ideal, but soil with lots of compost that is very loose works nicely. Peanuts would not grow well in clay or compacted soil.

In addition to loose soil, a long growing season is needed. I started mine indoors and transplanted them to the garden when it was warm enough. Overall, they require very little maintenance. They do prefer a hotter and drier climate. The plant has a fairly long tap root.

I was very happy with my crop. I only grew 10 plants since it was my first time growing them. I wanted to see how they would perform in my area before I planted a larger crop.

[Tormato]

Avez-vous des ecureuils?

[Tormato]

Any Valencia-type would likely do best for you. My one year trialing peanuts had prefect warm dry weather. Harvest (mostly by squirrels, some by voles, few by me) was in 95 days, although the package said it would be ~110 days.

[charline]

thank you all !

I dont have much choice for the varietiy. I got peanuts that are not treated or roasted but I dont know the name. Not easy to get them here. I will just try for fun..

[Tormato]

If they're still in the shell, don't shell them until planting time.

[Mark0820]

As Tormato said, leave them in the shell until planting time. The shell helps keep the peanut from drying out, and is helpful in a decent germination rate.

Also, do not remove the peanut skin from the peanut. This is important in the germination process as well.

Good luck and enjoy.

[Ken B]

Dry weather's convenient to have at harvest time, but the recommendation I've heard from a peanut researcher is to give them lots of water once they start flowering -- about an inch a week.

Like folks have said, transplanting peanuts really helps in cooler areas -- instead of waiting til after a month after last spring frost for the soil to be warm enough to sow them in the ground, you can transplant out a 3-week old seedling at that time and be off to a great start.

Also, peanuts grow pretty slow at first, so for anyone doing a small amount of peanuts (say, less than 200'), you can save yourself a lot of weeding work by transplanting out seedlings. (After ~6-8 weeks, the peanuts are big enough to not need much weeding the rest of the way.)