# A Peanut Thread



## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

I've never grown peanuts before so this year's "crop" will be a learning experience for me....and I'm looking for any tips along the way. 

The variety I'm growing is the "Jumbo Virginia" peanut. The first decision I faced was whether or not to remove the "seeds" from the shell before planting. Based on some reading, I decided not to do so...and I regret now not trying both ways to see which was best. Lesson 1: if in doubt try both ways

Germination was very slow and somewhat sporadic. Part of that I'm sure was the cold spring. Lesson 2 : wait to plant until soil is reliably warm.

The plants, once they finally get going, do tend to spread out and take up room. I guess the poor germination worked somewhat in my favor as Nature has provided plenty of space for the plants to grow. Lesson 3: give them plenty of room.

Of course, what really counts with peanuts is what is going on under the soil where the nuts are forming. I'm seeing lots of blooms...but won't see the actual product for a good while now. 

More to come...


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

I'm interested. I know 0 about growing them so please keep us informed. Seems like you would need to grow a bunch of them. I'm sure you have to cure them right. So, when they start blooming you then know there growing the actual nut I guess.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

I can't help with any tips, but I do appreciate the post & picture. Looking forward to pictures of the 1st dig.


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

My Grandpa use to plant goobers for his own use,but being a field crop,I never paid much attention to what was going on.He planted the Virgina Jumbo too for eating,but planted Spanish goobs for hay mostly.We did pick out all we could in the bails.Me and my twin brother would set in the barn for hours picking out the still kinda green peanuts and eat till we were full.Talk about scouring out down behind the hog pen.That was funny times and you can't get more ******* than that.


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

OOPS,just thought of something Mr.Lark! I was in Tractor Supply a few days ago,and they had fried peanuts and I gotta say,they are fantastical good.There were a couple flavors,one being BBQ,but I went with salted.Says you can eat shell and all,so I did,and wasn't bad at all.They're a little oily,but I eat the whole bag with some cold beer in my man-cave room in the barn.The ****-asses can have their boiled goobers,I'll take fried if I'm gonna eat'em other than roasted.I got the love of peanuts from my grandpa.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

*Harvest time*

The peanuts have progressed to the point where some of them appear to be ready to harvest.

I'm going strictly by the appearance with some of the plants beginning to yellow as shown. I dug the yellowing ones and have them laying out to dry now. It can take 2-3 weeks, or so they say, for the drying to complete...but I don't believe I'll wait that long.

Fried peanuts....and East Texas tradition boiled peanuts are on the upcoming menu.

Some of those goobers are pretty good sized...but the test will be in the taste.

Very fun plant to grow...but takes a good while to mature.


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## whistech (Jul 25, 2005)

WOW Meadowlark. Looks like you were very successful growing peanuts. Congratulations sir.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

I don't really know anything about peanuts, but that looks like a really nice bunch from one plant. Now I can see why you said "give them plenty of room"

How do you go about getting that bunch out of the ground all still connected, and how deep in the ground are they? Are the shells soft when you 1st dig them up?


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## donaken (Nov 25, 2010)

Yes, congrats! Remember my grandfather growing them in east Texas as a child...x2 what Peckerwood said about the scours  
Did you germinate prior to planting or straight in the ground? Have only had the raw, boiled and roasted....but could eat anything fried! Dang, that brought back some old memories...thanks.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Dick Hanks said:


> I don't really know anything about peanuts, but that looks like a really nice bunch from one plant. Now I can see why you said "give them plenty of room"
> 
> How do you go about getting that bunch out of the ground all still connected, and how deep in the ground are they? Are the shells soft when you 1st dig them up?


 Dick,

They are surprisingly sturdy. I ran a shovel blade a few inches under the soil...the peanuts are just under the surface....and then simply lifted the plant out. All of the peanuts came out well attached to the plant. The nuts are pretty soft and have a high moisture content. Hence, the required drying period.

Very interesting plant to grow.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

donaken said:


> ...Did you germinate prior to planting or straight in the ground? ....


 I planted them straight into the ground...still in the shell.

However, I don't think I would do it that way again. I would shell the nut, at least, and possibly germinate in a small pot and transplant.

It was pretty clear to me that they really do not like cool weather...each of those late fronts this spring really set them back.

A lot of write-ups say to plant direct...but after trying that, I'm inclined to do it differently.

Thanks for your comments.


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## Red3Fish (Jun 4, 2004)

I don't know about now, but decades ago you had to have a "peanut allotment" from the government to sell them commercially. I had a couple of great uncle that had several hundred acres of "allotment". Those allotments weren't being issued any more, and if you had one, you could sell it....for a lot of money! Evidently growing peanuts was very profitable.


Every fall they would come around my grandmas' house and drop off a couple of tow sacks of goobers. At the first cold blowing Norther, the family would roast cookie sheet after cookie sheet of them in the oven and sit around eating them with home made wine, while the cold wind whistled and moaned outside! LOL Roasting peanuts will fill the house with that roasted peanut flavor! As I recall, they were the little Spanish peanuts. This was somewhere in the 50s'.

Later
R3F


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Great story...home made wine and roasting peanuts.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

That is a great story R3F. I'll bet that kitchen smelled like a fresh made giant jar of peanut butter. Good times / good memories.


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## Red3Fish (Jun 4, 2004)

Thanks guys. We always had to wait for a cold front, because no A/C then and grandma wouldn't want the stove on long while still hot or warm outside.

It was kind of a simi event, with quite a few relatives, all who are gone now!

Later
R3F


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## JoeD (Feb 15, 2006)

The way to test for maturity is to dig up a few nuts and scrape lightly with a knife in the middle between the kernels. Dark brown to black color is mature. orange or light brown nuts are not mature and will not have full flavor.
When planting always shell the nuts first-all commercial plantings are using shelled nuts.
Dry to 13% or less moisture in shelled nuts or they will mold.

How do I know-spent 25 years running a shelling plant.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Good advice JoeD...but I don't expect mine to be around long enough to mold. They will be eaten quickly. I love peanuts. 

This first time is a learning experience for me. Thanks for your help.


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

Eat'in green peanuts sure brings back memories.Just couldn't wait for them to dry.Wish I had sandy land!


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## fish-r-ride (Jan 5, 2009)

I remember riding on my grandfathers peanut thresher holding a flashlight on the hopper so he could see how full it was while threshing. You could run until the dew set in. This was in Oct, spanish peanuts didn't get ready for digging until then. Sometime he would run until 1 or 2 in the morning. All the dryers would be open waiting for you.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

I just searched U-tube for peanut thresher videos. They have videos of equipment that was used back in the 30s and they are still using it today. I tried to attach a link to the best one, but it didn't attach. There was another video of a peanut sheller from about the 30s as well. Cool stuff.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

If you have a good link, Dick, post it up. Would like to see that.

Oct. sounds about right for peanuts. They seem to take a long time to mature. I've got a bunch in drying right now...and looking for a good boiled peanut recipe.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

I'm trying to attach a link to You Tube. Try clicking on the address.

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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Man that was terrific...whether you ever raised peanuts or not. That was Americana. I just enjoyed the heck out of that video. 

When I was little, our old family popen johnny we called it, John Deere, had a belt drive on it....but not on any modern day tractors. 

It looked like it must have been in the fall also cause everyone had jackets on. 

Sure was fun to watch that. I had heard that they bailed the peanut "straw" but never had seen that before either. 

Thanks Dick.


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## fish-r-ride (Jan 5, 2009)

A bale of peanut hay is about the heaviest there is. It took two of us , of course we were small, to pick one up to load in the truck. Wasn't too good for horses though, it had too much sand in it. It did get cold riding on that thresher, and very dusty.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

Meadowlark... "popen johnny" is a perfect name for those old John Deere tractors. When I was a kid, We all helped with bailing hay and straw. We were free labor, but the adults would let us drive the tractors in the fields some times. We used a John Deere, 3 Olivers (66, 77, and a diesel 88), and an old Farmall. We could always tell when the John Deere was coming by the pop pop pop of the exhaust.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

Dick Hanks said:


> Meadowlark... "popen johnny" is a perfect name for those old John Deere tractors. When I was a kid, We all helped with bailing hay and straw. We were free labor, but the adults would let us drive the tractors in the fields some times. We used a John Deere, 3 Olivers (66, 77, and a diesel 88), and an old Farmall. We could always tell when the John Deere was coming by the pop pop pop of the exhaust.


"Popping Johnny" was a John Deere "B". We had one years ago for shredding and gardening. When we bought it it had a cultivator on it. I completely rebuilt the transmission in 1975 at our Ag shop in high school. One cool thing was you could take the steering wheel off and on the clutch cover you pulled a round plate off and there was a hex socket on the end of the shaft. To start the engine you engaged the steering wheel into the socket, under the cylinder heads there were pet-cocks, you opened them to release compression. Switch the magneto on and roll it over past top dead center and have somebody on the choke and throttle and spin it over. If you were lucky she would catch and you dove under it and shut the compression releases. POP POP POP SNORT and away it went, raw power. That clutch also ran a flat belt to all kinds of stuff. Some of the B's were hand start only, they had a heavy flywheel with finger notches in it all exposed. I started ours with the wheel and one of the other types also. Cool tractors. My grandfather was a peanut farmer in Frio County Texas up until 1970 something. I rode on thrashers when I was a kid. If I remember they sacked the peanuts on the machine as they thrashed. If you got within a hundred yards of a peanut rake you got yelled at, a terrible looking contraption that would stab you looking at it. The best part of peanuts was besides eating them roasted was hunting jackrabbits. My grandfather would wreck his truck to hit one and evenings were dedicated to rabbit disposal. Right now the peanuts are ankle high on the fields around our place in Pearsall, all irrigated of course. When I go there next week I will shoot some pictures if I remember to.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

*Peanuts in Frio County*

I forgot my good camera so I had to use my phone. We went to a farm where there were some people I know dove hunting and they had some peanuts growing there.


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## Rockin'2 (Sep 26, 2008)

*peanut hay*

Wado,

If you know anyone that sells peanut hay, please contact me. I would appreciate it. Thanks


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