If possible, purchase peanuts from local plant nurseries or hardware stores to obtain certified disease-free seeds for your garden. Photo by Kathryn Fontenot

When you think of spring and summer gardens in Louisiana the most popular vegetable crops that come to mind are tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, melons and peas. This year I was walking through the plant nursery, and like most years, I was dreaming about my garden and all the things I would try. A large bin of peanut seeds caught my eye. I’ve been contemplating growing peanuts for years but always held back because I knew they would take some time (100-120 days) from planting to producing. Also, because Don Ferrin, a former plant pathologist at the LSU AgCenter, used to tease me about how I was good at growing disease. He said that if bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) was in the soil, peanuts would not only be affected by the bacteria but would also help grow the bacteria populations even higher by providing a great food source for it.

But before this scares you off, another good friend and former LSU horticulture professor Charlie Johnson said that when growing peanuts, you don’t have to worry much about disease. He noted that when you harvest peanuts, you are going to remove the entire plant, pulling even the roots with nuts out of the soil.

With that being said, I couldn’t help myself. Scoops of dry peanut shells and seed fell into that brown paper bag before I could stop myself. Before planting them into my own garden, I called Charlie to get his take on how to best plant peanuts since he had more than 30 years of experience in doing so himself. Below are questions I asked to be best prepared for this new crop in my garden.

What type of garden location do peanuts thrive in?

Peanuts thrive in full sun but need a minimum of four to six hours of direct sunlight a day. They are in the legume family and are related to beans and peas. And while they bloom above ground, the crop is actually produced below ground. Prior to planting, check your soil pH. Peanuts do best in slightly acidic soils with a pH of 6.0-6.5. Primary peanut growing areas are in Alabama and Georgia. Farmers located there keep the soil at 6.5 and apply a small amount of lime right before the peg goes through the ground to prevent pod rot, which is similar to blossom end rot. The peg is the small vine that emerges from the flower and eventually forms the peanut below the soil. Adding lime at this time also helps keep the soil a little pliable and allows the pegs to better penetrate the soil. If you have a super heavy clay soil, this is not an ideal crop unless you are heavily adding organic matter. Loam or sandy soil are more ideal for pegs to penetrate and make nicely formed nuts. Peanuts take less water to produce than tomatoes. Since they have a fairly deep main tap root and root system, 1 inch of water per week is more than sufficient.

What kind of peanut would do best for an amateur gardener?

If possible, it is best to purchase seed from a reputable dealer such as a local plant nursery or hardware store. These companies only sell seed from certified, clean, disease-free fields. You can also plant raw peanuts from a grocery store, though these peanuts were really grown for human consumption and not for replanting. Doing so risks carrying disease into your garden. There are many peanut cultivars, and all should do fine in a Louisiana home garden. But the cultivar you’ll most frequently find is Virginia White Fancy.

How and when should I plant my peanuts?

Many gardeners follow spring crops such as tomatoes and peppers with peanuts as a cover crop in the summer to add nitrogen to the soil. Peanuts won’t make as much nitrogen as clover but provide a tasty snack. Peanuts will extract extra fertilizers put into the garden with all of their vines, suppress weeds and add a good source of green manure. If you are growing this crop for optimum yields of nuts, then plant as early as mid-May to late June when the soil and air temperatures are warm. Production will take about 100 days to develop mature nuts. Before planting, apply fertilizer in a moderate amount using 5-6 pounds of 13-13-13 per 100 linear feet or 0.5-3/4 pound for a 10-foot row as a preplant fertilizer.

Plant raw, shelled nuts in the ground about 4 inches apart in a raised bed or row. Only plant them 1-1.5 inches deep. In hot and moist weather conditions, it takes about seven days for the seedlings to emerge from the soil.

Can I plant peanuts in containers? What size pot would be best?

Peanuts will thrive in a container with about a 15-to-20-inch top diameter. Only plant the seeds in the center of the container. Three seeds per container is plenty, as they need space to send their pegs out and develop nuts.

While my peanuts are growing, should I be doing anything special to keep them thriving?

Don’t add extra nitrogen as they are growing because this increases vines and delays flowers. Like other legumes, you don’t need a huge amount of fertilizer to be successful with peanuts.

Pests of peanuts are limited, but gardeners should watch out for skunks and other animals that burrow in the ground. Sometimes southern blight can hurt peanuts as well. There isn’t much a home gardener can do about southern blight other than pull the plants and throw them in the trash (not the compost pile) as soon as you see the white cottony growth symptoms forming at the base of the plant.

How do I know when to harvest my peanuts?

First, wait at least 100 days after planting. Usually, gardeners lift a vine to see the maturity of peanuts. Peanuts mature from the crown of the plant outwards towards the ends of the vine where the least mature nuts are. The shells of the peanuts should start looking wrinkly and have indentions and raised parts. Smooth shells are an indication of immaturity. Towards the end of maturity, the skin of the nut becomes rougher. However, if you want to boil the peanuts you should pull them early. Vines also indicate mature nuts when the plant foliage lightens a few shades of green. The vines should also be very thick. Lift an arm and see what you have before harvesting.

Remove shells from peanuts prior to planting for a more uniform germination. Photo by Allen Owings

I hope other gardeners take the plunge with me this year and try something new — maybe peanuts, maybe a new cultivar of tomatoes or peppers, or a cut flower you’ve never tried. The point is you’ve got to keep trying new things in the garden to stay current. Life is all about learning and growing and becoming the best version of ourselves and our garden.

Happy gardening!