peanuts

[Walk]

I grow the Bramling pink, Schronce Black, and Black Peanuts for Sandhill. Glenn sometimes gets a good crop but more often than not, his are overrun with weeds and don't produce very well.

DarJones

I was thinking of ordering some Black peanuts from Sandhill next year. Do you think they will grow in SE Minnesota? We're about 50 miles north of the Seed Savers Exchange farm on a ridge top, zone 4. What is the yield like per plant of this variety?

[Deleted]

Interesting.

[oxbowfarm]

Any of you folks have a pic of a peanut seedling? I am eagerly waiting for Valencia to emerge and would like to know what to look for.

[DarJones]

Oxbow, you will know when they sprout. They push up a huge clump of dirt to make room. They are also highly attractive to birds and rodents.

Of all the varieties of peanuts I've grown, the Black peanuts I sell to Sandhill are the shortest season. I've had them mature a good crop in as little as 100 days from seed. They are the best option for short season areas.

Yield is a variable question. Some years I get about a bushel of peanuts per 100 ft row (and yes, my rows are 100 feet long). Other years I get about half that. It all depends on rainfall and how late in the season they can keep growing. The best crop I've had was in 2011 when I got nearly two bushels per row.

Peanuts grow from a series of flushes of blossoms. The first flush is called the "crown set" because they are right in the center of the plant clustered around the roots. The second and third flushes are out the runners. In a rare year, we get a fourth flush of flowers. The problem that can occur is when we get heavy fall rains, the first flush of peanuts will mature and start to sprout while the 3rd or 4th flush peanuts are still immature. You have to harvest when those crown set peanuts start germinating or risk losing a large part of the crop. If the weather cooperates and there is limited but adequate fall rain, the vines will mature nuts up to 24 inches out the runners from the roots. With a typical plant producing 6 runners, and a peanut located every 1 to 2 inches along the runner, it is possible for a large and healthy plant to produce 100 or more peanuts. This would be the exception, not the rule. I expect an average of 25 to 30 peanuts per plant.

DarJones

[ferdzy]

Oxbow, did they come up? Mine are just coming up and I could take a picture. Not sure I could post it though...

[oxbowfarm]

I haven't checked this morning, they weren't up yesterday. Good to know about the bird issue. I've had severe bird problems this spring, mostly redwings and crows.

Are peanuts epigeal or hypogeal germinators?

If Valencia doesn't work out I might try the Black peanuts next year. Although I find Sandhill Preservation extremely cumbersome to use and normally avoid them if there is any possible alternative. Nothing against Glenn Drowns.

[ferdzy]

Oxbow, I'd say they are hypogeal. I can see a few cotyldons, but I think that's because I could have planted deeper. Most of them are just a folded up fan of the first true leaves. I took a picture. I will now try to post it.

[ferdzy]

[ferdzy]

Hoo-bloody-rray.

No, I didn't plant them at the beach. That's our "soil".

[steev]

Interesting soil, so far as I can see; is that as you got it, or have you amended it? What do you suppose it is, basically?

[ferdzy]

Steev, we are old lake bottom. Mostly it's clay, but there are old sand deposits over it in places. We picked the highest, sunniest spot for our garden and surprise! It's a sand deposit. We have put 45 tons of composted organic elk manure into the beds, as well as topping it up with our own compost at various points in the rotation cycle. The peanuts are in the "root" cycle, which is the last, and least amended, so it is looking at its worst.

"Clay over sand, money in the land.
Sand over clay, money thrown away."

Didn't hear that until after we bought... would have bought this spot anyway, I guess - location, location, but not location. Oh well. Hard to get everything. And it IS easy to dig!

[oxbowfarm]

If there is clay all over the place locally it should be pretty cheap to buy a few dumploads of it from very nearby and amend your sand with it. A little clay will go a long way to changing that sand. Much harder the other way round.