How to grow peanuts at home and what are the main problems

Peanuts are one of the most beloved types of nuts. They are a tasty snack on their own, and they taste good in many recipes. But did you know that you can grow this plant in your own garden?

Yes, this is a more southern culture, but experiments by some gardening enthusiasts have shown that with some effort it can be grown in more northern latitudes. OBOZ.UA has learned about the secrets and life hacks that will help with this.

Why it is difficult to grow peanuts

Groundnut (another name for the crop) belongs to the legume family. The fruits of the annual plant ripen in the ground, and the growing season is up to 150 days, which is quite a long time. The plant blooms 6-7 weeks after the first seedlings appear and continues to bloom for three months. The small yellow flower produces a unique fruit: a gynoecium. It bends downward, grows into the ground, and ripens there.

Up to 50 pods can be harvested from one plant. Each pod contains up to 4 seeds. They are the very "nuts" that are so popular all over the world.

How to choose peanuts for sowing

Ready-to-eat peanuts bought in a store are unlikely to give you a good harvest. You need to sow specially prepared seeds. It is important to pay attention to the fact that the selected variety is prepared for growing in colder climates. These include the varieties Valencia Ukrainska, Linar, Valar, and Stepnyak.

Where to plant peanuts

Since this plant is thermophilic, you need to choose a fully lit bed for peanuts, where there is no shade. The soil on the site should be dry, without high groundwater. Clay soils, salt marshes, and soil with an acid reaction are not suitable for the plant.

To ensure that the plant takes root well, the site should be prepared in the fall. Thus, for each square meter, you should add 50 grams of complex fertilizers and 1 bucket of organic matter: compost or humus.

It is best to plant peanuts after potatoes, cucumbers, or cabbage. Other members of the nightshade or cabbage families are less suitable. After any other legumes, peanuts can be planted no earlier than three years later.

How to grow peanuts

You can plant the seeds when the soil warms up to at least 12-14 degrees. The air temperature at night should not be lower. The ideal temperature for the crop is above 25 degrees. If it drops to 15 degrees, the peanuts will stop growing, and at less than 12 degrees, they will not form beans. Even light frosts can destroy all crops.

To make it easier for you to choose the right time to plant peanuts, plant them after melons and gourds. The nut needs about another week after them.

Peanuts are planted loosely, leaving large row spacing to facilitate hilling. For sowing, you need to make deep furrows (6-8 cm) at a distance of 60-70 cm from each other. Before sowing, the kernels are soaked for 12 hours, then completely dried in the dark on a single layer of fabric. Such cycles lasting 12 hours are repeated until there are signs that the sprouts have awakened (a clear bulge appears under the thin skin). Peanuts should be sown immediately at a distance close to the optimum distance to minimize the need for thinning. The desired distance between the bushes is 15-20 cm. It is also good to grow peanuts through seedlings.

How to care for peanuts

During its life cycle, the plant needs to be hilled many times. At the beginning of the growing cycle, the soil should be regularly loosened and cleared of weeds. The first hilling should be done 10 days after flowering.

Then the procedure is repeated every 10 days. The plant is hilled by 5-7 cm. It is better to do this after watering or heavy rain and to spread the soil as evenly as possible.

Peanuts have rather modest watering requirements. But if there is no rain, it is better to moisten the soil near the plant. In dry periods, watering is required once every 10 days until flowering is complete and 5-7 days after the first beans begin to ripen. You should stop watering about a month before harvesting.

When to harvest peanuts

When the green of the plant begins to turn yellow, you can dig up a few peanut pods for testing. If they are easy to crack open and the kernels are separated from the shell, the crop is ready to be harvested. It is important to do this before the first frost. If the peanuts are allowed to freeze in the ground, the fruits will become bitter and lose their germination.

The fruits are removed from the ground with a pitchfork, the roots are shaken off the ground and the tops are air-dried. This can take about 10 days. Only then can the pods be removed and dried. They will need a warm environment (up to 40 degrees) and good ventilation. Seeds that will be used for food can be dried in an oven or electric dryer.

Peanuts are stored unhulled in cardboard boxes. Pour the pods in a layer no thicker than 10 cm. They are also stored well in linen bags. They should be kept in a dark and cool room (8-10 degrees) with good ventilation.

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