Noticed there is no thread for goobers–so here it is!
What peanuts are you growing? How are you growing them? Tell us all about your goober peas!
I’ll go first! I’m new to peanut growing myself-- and am probably doing all sorts of stuff wrong. I selected the cultivar Tennessee Red because of its reported ease of growth, earliness, productivity and tolerance for heavy soils. I built a large ridge for improved drainage, fertilized only lightly (mostly kelp meal), and planted peanuts at 6" spacing. Used legume inoculant to ensure nitrogen fixing. Mulched ridge with rotted leaves.
They seem to be doing well, though I’m probably behind since I replanted twice because of seed rot and critters. Many pegs are already in the ground, and many others are reaching for it. (Hope they can make it!) Plants, once established, have shown no issues, save a little hopperburn earlier in season.
Will post some pics later. (Actually, posted this prematurely as I am fiddling around on a phone, and have stupid, clumsy fingers . . . “Somebody hand that man a sharp implement!” )
I’ve grown Tennessee Red before. They produced pretty well and the peanut was tasty, though I was lazy and didn’t want to crack all the nuts I got. Your plants look better than mine, so I bet you are going to get alot of peanuts!
My soil was alkaline, so I had to add additional iron. It is also a clay loam. I didn’t have as many sprouting in the pod, but some seeds did sprout in the pod in the ground (before I harvested). As I found out this spring, I also missed alot of seed, so expect to have the ones you missed pop up next year.
I did have issues with armyworms, but I’m not sure if you have those were you are at.
Have a little over four gallons of nuts in the hull, which I guess is not too horrible for a first try and a late planting. Tennessee Red can apparently be productive in this climate. Looks like very few rotten ones, though a few have minor discolorations/lesions which do not appear to affect kernels. Probably caused by our very rainy season.
Plenty of rhizobia nodules on the roots: they were definitely fixing ample nitrogen.
On the whole, an encouraging first attempt at home peanut culture. Will double my Tennessee Red planting next year, and also try another couple of cultivars.
Sandhill Preservation will have Schronce Black peanuts available next spring. They are worth growing from KY down to the gulf coast. I didn’t make much with Black and Texas Red & White peanuts this year having problems with germination of old seed. Barring incident, these will return to Sandhill’s catalog next year as I have plenty of seed.
I had 8 gallons of Schronce Black peanuts at harvest. After drying, they were down around 6 gallons. I then culled all of the peanuts that were shriveled, light weight, pre-germinated, or otherwise defective. The result was 2 gallons of pretty good peanuts to send to Glenn to sell. That may not sound like a lot, but 2 gallons of good peanuts in-shell will make around 500 packs to sell.
When it comes to drying peanuts, drying on the vine by hanging them over a wire works. If the weather has already cooled down too much, I recommend drying them indoors in front of a good dehumidifier. I get top quality peanuts for seed using the dehumidifier. I also get good results drying peanuts in the greenhouse.
Great advice, Darrel. Thanks! And I will definitely try out Schronce’s Deep Black next season.
My mom and grandmother grew Virginia-type peanuts for brittle-making many years ago, but I’d never tried doing it myself. Very fun and rewarding—and could be addictive!
If I had stayed on top of the weeds, they would’ve no doubt produced better. As things stand, though, my short row produced plenty of seed for next year’s larger planting.
“Shronce’s Deep Black” and “Tennessee Red” are definitely both worth trying in 6b Kentucky and similar climates.
I attempted “Texas Red and White” this year, too. They germinated well, but the rabbits wouldn’t leave them alone; they spent all their time regrowing and never got to set a crop. If I can get more seed, will try again next year. I like their habit—which is very compact—and their reported high tolerance for clay soils.
Anybody else have any luck with peanuts this season?
Peanuts are planted 6 inches apart in rows 42 inches apart. As noted above, they require regular weeding. Properly cared for, each plant should yield 100 to 300 peanuts each with 2 to 4 seed.
Yep, 6" is good. That’s how I’ve done all of mine. Because my soil is a little heavy, I plant in ridges—to improve drainage and facilitate production: also makes harvesting a lot easier! They seem to like a little mulch, as long as it’s not so thick/dense that it impedes pegging; I’ve had good luck with rotted leaves. Might also consider treating them with a legume inoculant rated for peanuts. That’ll ensure that they can set their own nitrogen. Peanuts don’t generally need a lot of fertilization. I usually toss on something slow release (e.g., kelp meal) at planting to provide any secondaries/micros that might be needed. The rotting leaf material probably also helps with this.
Are Tennessee Red and Schronce’s Black shorter season cultivars? I’ve seen mixed info online on both, anything between 100 days and 135 day season needed without frost. wondering if I can grow them in my climate, Maryland zone 7b.
Yes you can grow them, but both IME are mid-season, not short. I grow Black, Shronce Black, Bramling Pink, and several others here in southern Tennessee with high success.
Peanuts mature in flushes where crown set ripen first followed by pods set along the runners. It is a continuous process where runners lengthen and more flowers form in leaf axils. Eventually the crown set peanuts start germinating at which point it is best to harvest and discard immature peanuts. Because of this continuous production, it is not very accurate to give a “days to maturity” number for peanuts.
Some types of peanut set only in the crown. I grow Texas Red & White which is a crown only type.
You can grow any peanut in zone 7b. Plant no later than mid May. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is a good source of seed and their growing guide is very good. Years back my neighbor was producing organic peanuts to be sold by a seed company to home gardeners. It was so full of grass and weeds that he had to hand dig them despite having a mechanical digger from his years of regular commercial peanut growing. It wasn’t worth trouble with the labor expense and poor yield due to the weeds.
A popular Virginia type of peanuts is Champs. Large sweet ball park peanuts good for roasting. In Virginia plant in May and dig the first week of October when at least 75 percent of nuts are mature. The runner type of peanuts are usually longer season and smaller nuts best for peanut butter or small nuts in a mix or Baby Ruth candy bars.
so, if I’m understanding you correctly, crown only types mature first and would be shorter season. is that right? If so do you recommend any other crown types like Texas Red & White?
I’ve only grown 2 crown set varieties, York is the other. Both are relatively small plants and can be planted closer together. I have grown them on 36 inch rows with 6 inches between plants. My suggestion is to get 2 or 3 varieties and trial them to see what you like. Personally, I like Black and Schronce Black and Bramling Pink. It might have something to do with my predilection for parched peanuts.
For what it’s worth tried the cocktail peanuts here in 3b, others local tried the jumbo ones. Same results. Shells formed, nuts just not finished. Just don’t have the heat units here I guess. (incl starting inside in peat pots)
A good friends father tried growing them about 50 mi SE of calgary, ab back in the 60’s. He figured had he another 2 weeks of august he could grow them there.
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