Peanut problems

I bought two peanut plants from Aldi a few months ago and planted them in squares when I got my SFG set up. The problem is they were fairly big plants when I got me so I have no idea when to harvest them!

I've read that the leaves yellow when they are ready but mine don't seem to be doing that yet. However, one of my plants seems to be dying back and I have no idea why.

Can anyone help?

This is the one that has problems...


And a close up of the dead bits...

All I know about peanuts is that they need 120 frost free days to maturem have you had that? I am trying them in 90 frost free days so I am curious?

Have you tried either pulling a few out or feeling in the dirt to see if any peanuts have formed?

cheyannarach wrote:All I know about peanuts is that they need 120 frost free days to maturem have you had that? I am trying them in 90 frost free days so I am curious?

I've probably had at least 900 frost free days...

Not much frost around here, probably had one or two in the 11 years I've lived here. We get more down the road but our house is too high on the hill to be affected.

Might try Chopper's suggestion tomorrow and have a bit of a feel and see what I can work out. Thanks guys.

Did they bloom? They make the peanuts after they bloom. I think I'd also check underneath the plant for nuts. Prob. the dying back is just the plant nearing the time to pick.

I've planted peanuts this yr. My birds eat them, I love hommade peanut butter, and oh, don't forget the boiled peanuts!

Jo

They were flowering when I got them and for a while afterwards but I think the last flowers were probably 2 months ago.

Boiled peanuts? Not sure about that one!

After they flower (don't know if it is the flower heads) some part of the plant digs back into the ground to grow the peanuts on. If you don't have any frost you can plant some more raw peanuts.



I don't like the boiled peanuts, but my dh and everyone else does. You take the raw peanuts, add some salt and water and boil the heck out of them. They are too slimy for me.

Jo

I checked out the peanuts this morning, the first peg I pulled had a tiny nut on it but a couple of the other ones looked pretty good so I waited until this afternoon when my son was home from school and we just pulled the plants out. I've put them upside down in a bucket under the pergola at the back to dry and we'll try roasting them in a few weeks!

Here they are!



Pretty cool, not enought to make PB with of course but I only bought the plants for a bit of fun and for the boys to see how they grow, so mission accomplished there!

I wonder about saving a few of the seeds for next season.... hm.... maybe I will have to try a few of these plants next year.

Congratulations on your harvest.

It is so much fun seeing your harvest, on the other side of the world. Now, I really am looking forward to growing/harvesting. Mine are just popping their heads out the mm.

Congrats!!

Jo

camprn wrote:I wonder about saving a few of the seeds for next season..

How do I do that?

It could be fun to try this again, I bought these as fairly large plants and they didn't go in the ground for a few weeks because my SFG wasn't set up yet so I think that affected the number of peanuts.

ericam wrote:

camprn wrote:I wonder about saving a few of the seeds for next season..

How do I do that?

LOL I don't know, I have never grown peanuts. Let us know if you find any good info on saving peanut seed on the internet.

Hmmm, I can find lots of info on why NOT to save them and a seed saver site that says they are for experienced seed savers but no instructions on how to do it...

Apparently it is actually illegal to save some varieties and it sounds like there needs to be some specific treatments to the crop before harvesting in order for it to work. Something about irrigation and gypsum.

Think I'll just buy seeds if I decide to grow them again!

Saving peanut seeds is easy! Just put a few of the pods aside, don't wash, just let them dry. When ready to plant, open the pods gently, try not to break apart the peanuts, they won't grow unless whole. Don't take off the red skin either, don't know why?

The idea with the irrigation, when getting near time to pull the plants, if you water too much, the peanuts in the ground will sprout.

The idea with the gypsum, add some gypsum to the soil when plants are flowering, to be sure they have the added calcium in the soil to make the peanuts.

The deal with it being illegal to save seeds to plant. GMO or a hybrid made especially for farmers to make more peanuts, usually for peanut butter. The farmer has to sign a contract and is forbidden from saving seed, must buy seed again next yr, just like the gmo corn farmers. The raw peanuts in the grocery, at least here, has no warning that I cannot plant, and I've saved the bag. I may try an heirloom variety next yr if this yr turns out ok.

Jo

Thanks for that, it was only a quick search last night but everything I found was doom and gloom or had no info, glad to know it's not that hard!

Pulled the peanuts off the plants the other day, so here's the haul. Just going to let them dry a bit more and then will try roasting them.

Curious, how many squares was this harvest?

I only had two plants, one in each square, as I bought them fairly well established from Aldi. They also didn't go in the ground for a few weeks as I bought them before I had my SFG set up so I don't think I got as many off them as I would have if they had gone in the ground straight away.

But I only bought them as a bit of fun for the kids so I'm not worried about how many we got!

Good Haul!

GG

Erica,
Glad to see that you got some nuts from your mature plants!

I've been told that plants started from seed will produce 100 to 200 pod per plant. I've planted about 48 plants, that's about 4800 pods. I decided to plant peanuts when I read that a certain percentage of bugs would be allowed in the peanut butter! I think the government needs to put some folks to work by sorting the peanuts from the bugs!!

Jo

littlejo wrote: I decided to plant peanuts when I read that a certain percentage of bugs would be allowed in the peanut butter! Jo

That's why I make my own tomato sauce.....

GG

Mmmm bugs....extra protein?!

That's a lot of pods, Jo, have fun drying roasting and shelling those!

I don't think I could grow enough peanuts to supply my family with peanut butter, we go through a LOT of PB!

We eat a lot of peanut butter too! Since I've started growing my own food and reading up on the foods I eat, I cannot hardly stand going to the grocery.

Jo

ericam wrote:I don't think I could grow enough peanuts to supply my family with peanut butter, we go through a LOT of PB!

According to Skippy, it takes 850 peanuts to make a 12 oz jar of peanut butter. However, you take out the sugar and added hydrogenated oils they put in and it would take more to fill that jar with natural peanut butter!

GG

Did you ask Skippy what they do to the peanuts, before they make the peanut butter?

I don't really know for sure, but, they at least smash them to extract the 'natural' oils to cook fries with. If they would leave it in, they wouldn't need to add the hydrogenated oils.



I may not even like home made peanut butter. As I remember, many yrs ago, the oil would separate and you would have to stir the butter before making a sandwich. Since we are a diabetic household, any sugar we can remove from the diet, the better.

Jo