As mentionned in the cowpeas thread, we had last summer in britanny a mediterranean-like climate. So I wonder if arachis would grow., even with small productivity.
Has any of you aver cultivated arachis ? I would love to know how you proceed, what difficulties you faced, what results you got.
I never tried that crop, so I am a complete beginner !
I’m in zone 8b in Florida and when I’ve grown arachis the biggest issues I’ve had were animals. First moles ate many of the seeds I planted, then deer and rabbits ate most of the adult plants. The ones that made it stood up despite the pressure and I ended up with a few plants making it and they grew about two feet tall by the end of the year. Otherwise, they love our heat and rainy summers.
If you don’t have animal issues I think they’re definitely worth growing. (I love peanuts)
When you say arachis, are you talking about peanuts, or are you talking about other species in the same genus, too? I’ve seen mention of there being other plants in the genus that are edible, and I’m curious about whether any of those are easy to grow and taste good.
are there other species than peanuts in the arachis family ?
OK, thank you for the details about animals. Yes I noticed that deer love fabaceas… our garden is enclosed. so we should be OK from deer. For the rest, I shall see.
One question : do you say they NEED a lot of water to produce or just that they stand rainy conditions ? I thought they were drought -resistant …
Loads!
Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea) are the only ones I know anything about, but I’ve seen the perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata) being sold as a garden plant, and I suspect there are more that may be useful. I just don’t know anything about them except that they exist!
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I’ve been wondering about their water needs, too!
I just barely watched an MIgardener video in which he kept on saying peanuts need very moist soil and lots of water, yet I keep reading online that peanuts are a great crop for deserts because they’re more drought tolerant than most crops. I’d be inclined to trust the latter, because there are multiple academic sources, but I don’t know personally.
Anyone here know how drought tolerant peanuts can be?
We’ve only tried them once and that was in the greenhouse. Pretty plant but unfortunately that year we had a relatively short season so we got only a few peanuts. I have been wanting to try again but it’s been too cool and wet. Perhaps next season
well I did say I was a complete begginner ! so yes I am talking about arachis hypogaea , peanut, cacahuette in french !
Cool! And no worries about being a complete beginner. We all start that way! I was a complete beginner less than two years ago. I’m happy you’re here! 
I started growing peanuts three or four years ago, they do very well here in SE Indiana. Rabbits love them, so that is a problem. The plants are resilient though, once they were about ready to bloom and the rabbits ate them to the ground, but they grew back and surprisingly managed to produce peanuts. I think they have great potential here which I intend to explore when I can devote more space to them.
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Yepee, I had a call yerterday with a french Biologic Resource Center and the scientist I talked to , although a bit surprised that I would like to try arachis in britany, fully understand and supports the project once explained. So she is going to go round her collegues and compose a grex for me with varieties most susceptible to grow in non-tropical conditions, which is not the case for the peanuts I bought in grocery store.
She is interrested in folllowing my project and see my results for the next 3 years.
She gave me the recommended date of sowing (end of april) which confirm what I had imagined.
I am going to get about 10 seeds per variety
Now a few questions for those who have already grown this species
- do I grow them half outside, and half in the greenhouse ? (for higher temperatures)
- do I germinate them before sowing and if yes how ? (since I have few of them, I would like to monitor the germination closely)
- how many seeds per hole do you put ? what distance ?
thank you !
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From rareseeds.com Peanuts list page. This is pretty much how I plan to grow them. I didn’t get my seed from them.
(Arachis hypogaea) Peanuts are an annual plant that originated in South America. The pods can be direct seeded into the garden after danger of frost. In northern gardens with shorter growing seasons, they can be started in the greenhouse several weeks before last frost and carefully transplanted out. Although it is best to remove the peanut seeds from the hulls, it is not necessary. Sow seeds 1 inch deep. Seeds germinate in 7-14 days. Ideal germination temperature is 68-75 F. Do not plant peanuts into soil until it averages 68F; they don’t like excessively cool soil. Plants prefer loose, well-drained soil. Provide significant sunlight, as these plants love heat. Do not use nitrogen fertilizer. Plant seeds 6 to 12 inches apart but thin the final stand to 12 inches. Cultivate the soil around base of plant when flowers first emerge. The peanut plant sends out a vegetative “peg,” which protrudes into the soil where the nut forms. Harvest the entire plant by digging or pulling when the leaves have yellowed. Remove excess soil by shaking and hang the entire plant upside down in a cool environment suitable for drying. When adequately dried, the shells can be pulled free of the pods and used or stored for future use.
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Based on my experience with them the Rareseeds info is correct, especially about not using fertilizer, not that I do that anyway. The reason I say especially about it is because I have never seen such large and numerous nitrogen nodules as on peanuts, they certainly do not need any additional.
Also, about the loose soil, they need that to make it easier for the “pegs” to penetrate down three or four inches, seems the deeper they get the better, and the loose soil also makes it easier to harvest, just pull the whole plant up and the roots and pegs, with the peanuts all come out together.
I’m trying to encourage cross pollination, so I’ve planted a bit more crowded. Flowers of the different ones being very close together makes a better chance the bees will move back and forth between them rather than visiting all the flowers on one plant before moving to the next plant.
I’m in zone 6 in SE Indiana and don’t see any need to start them for transplant, I just direct seed about mid to late May. ***Rabbits LOVE them, you will have no peanuts without protection from rabbits.
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Hey, I have a question about peanuts! Can I use deep mulch, or would that get in the way of the flowers being able to bury themselves in the ground? I’m thinking that a deep mulch of autumn leaves would probably be fine, and I suspect wood chips may not be. Do any of you have experience with this?
I don’t know how they might do with deep mulch. A little bit of green grass clippings didn’t seem to hurt anything. Maybe deep mulch would be beneficial, maybe not. Sounds like an experiment worth doing, I might give it a go on a small part of the patch this year and find out.
I’d venture a guess that you might have to pull it back during the stage that they send down tendrils? This will be my first year trying them so just a guess.
That would be cool! I’d love to read about your results!
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that’s what I intend to do. Deep mulch until flowering stage, and then instead of moving the soil arround, which I don’t like to do, because it triggers adventices, just remove the excess mulch and keep a thin layer.
update in my peanuts project : I received seeds from the GENcenter specialized in tropical crops. They selected the most likely to adapt to my soil and climate. But I have only 26 shells, so I will be very carefull with them. First year, no direct seed. I will start them in the green house for heat and humidity, half of them shelled and half not shelled.
I also started an experiment with raw peanuts bought in an African store. I soaked them for two days, and they almost doubled volume, so I guess there must be some life in them. Since I have a lot, I will be able to direct-seed some later when temperatures are ok.
I know this in not (yet) landracing, but this community is so encouraging will all sorts of experiments (thanks) !
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