many folks that i've talked to here in ohio are a bit surprised when i tell them that you can
successfully grow peanuts here now historically peanuts have been thought of a bit more as
a southern type crop and there certainly are varieties that take too long to mature and would
not do well in our climate but you can pretty easily grow 100 or 120 day variety here in ohio
in zone 6. now i am by no means an expert this is not a crop that i grow regularly in fact it's been
years since the last time i grew them but i found some really cool varieties from southern exposure
seed exchange that i wanted to try out this year so i just threw some in a raised bed where i had
a little extra space and today i wanted to share with you kind of my process of growing
some lessons that i learned as well as the harvest and while i don't have a huge yield i also didn't
have a ton planted it does go to show that you can grow mature peanuts here as i mentioned
i had three varieties from southern exposure seed exchange that i was trying out this year
tennessee red valencia shronce's deep black and texas red and white all 110 day varieties
which is relatively short season for peanuts i started them indoors on april 11th to get a jump
start on the growing season the first step was to shell the peanuts southern exposure
sells their peanut seeds in the shelves to preserve seed freshness
next i filled peat pots about two-thirds full with potting soil i used pro-mix and thoroughly
moistened the soil in general i'm not a big fan of peat pots but they did work really well for
the peanuts then we placed the peanut seed on top and covered with about another half inch of soil
not right
and spritz that with enough water to moisten
everything was labeled though it didn't matter because i lost track of everything
after i transplanted it and then to speed germination i placed a heat mat underneath
my pots covered them with a humidity dome and placed the tray under grow lights
after about four days the seeds germinated and after they were a few
inches tall i started adding a low-dose natural fertilizer each time i watered
by mid-may they were ready to transplant into the garden the general rule of thumb is to
wait a month after your last frost or until your soil has warmed a 65 degrees fahrenheit
i transplanted on may 19 which was about two weeks after my last frost
but i transplanted into raised beds where the soil warms much more quickly than my in-ground beds
planting in a raised bed also allowed me to give the peanuts the kind of soil they prefer
which is loose sandy loamy soil versus the clay soil of my in-ground beds
i set my transplants approximately 18 inches apart and buried them at the same depth they had been
growing in the peat pots i also fed them with an all natural 454 vegetable food when transplanting
everything got watered in well and then i mulched around the plants with grass clippings
one thing i discovered very shortly after transplanting is that chipmunks and rabbits love
peanuts the chipmunks kept digging up my plants and the rabbits mowed the greens to the ground
so after almost losing all of my plants i had to fence the entire bed in one thing i didn't do was
to hill the plants you are supposed to mound dirt up around the plants when they are about eight to
twelve inches tall and have just begun flowering so that the plants can set pegs which is where the
new peanuts will form down into the soil pegs are a unique trait according to the national
peanut board once the flowers self-pollinate the peanut ovary begins to form and that budding ovary
is called a peg the peg enlarges and grows down and away from the plant forming a small
stem that extends to the soil the peanut embryo is in the tip of the peg which forces its way
into the soil and begins to form a new peanut you also want to make sure the soil stays soft and
doesn't crust over so that the pegs can easily push down into the soil even without hilling i
saw peg and peanut development but perhaps i would have had higher yields had i healed
once flowering begins at about 40 days peanuts prefer one inch of water per week which mine
didn't always get you then want to taper off watering towards the end of the growing season
another mistake i made was not paying attention to calcium levels in my soil peanuts need to have
adequate calcium available in the soil near where the peanuts will be forming or about the top three
inches of soil so if your soil is low in calcium consider working some into the top layer of soil
sources can include gypsum or lime and application timing will depend on the source and form you are
using as some are best applied at planting time and while others are best applied at early bloom
when the foliage starts to yellow it is typically time to harvest you may want to pull up a few pods
and open them just to be sure the peanuts inside are filled out before pulling the whole crop
i loosened the plants with a pitchfork and pulled the peanuts off
many sources suggest pulling up the whole plant foliage peanuts and all and hanging the plant
to dry for about a month i noticed that my peanuts start to mold when i try to do this
most likely due to humidity levels that are too high so instead i just rinse them off and
pop the whole pods into the dehydrator to dry them out after they've been dried you
can store them roast them or make them into whatever kind of peanutty goodness you want
so i'm going to go inside and get these roasted a tip if you've not grown peanuts
before despite the temptation don't eat them raw they kind of taste like raw lima beans
and i'm also not a big fan of boiled peanuts so these will be salted and roasted and i'd
love to hear from you if you are an expert peanut grower particularly if you live in
a bit more of a northern area drop a line in the comments below and let me know your best
tips and advice for growing big yields of peanuts thanks for watching and i'll see you next time