Growing peanuts on the plot

Origin and distribution

It is believed that the name comes from the Greek word meaning “spider”. It seems that the name of the plant was due to the similarity of the net pattern of its fruit with the web.

The homeland of the plant is South America, it was from here that it migrated to Japan and India, and then to Madagascar and the Philippine Islands. Peanuts came to China thanks to the Portuguese in the 16th century, who founded a colony in Cato. This culture was brought to Africa in the 16th century with slave-owning courts. It is believed that for the first time peanut fruits were brought from Brazil to Guinea. Congo, Nigeria and Senegal are considered to be secondary genetic centers of the plant, the locals of which extract edible oil, and the areas of its sowing immediately increased significantly.

The first country that began to cultivate peanuts for export is Senegal. From China and India, culture reached Spain, Italy, France, where it received an interesting name - “Chinese Nut”. In the US, it appeared only by the 19th century after the Civil War. At that time, cotton was heavily damaged by a cotton weevil, and many farms switched to growing peanuts.

In Russia, peanuts first fell in 1792 from Turkey. Now the plant is planted in the territories of Central Asia, southern Ukraine, Transcaucasia, the North Caucasus.

Peanut general description

Peanut is an annual plant, presented in the form of a shrub about 75 cm in height, with small yellow flowers. In culture, there are two forms of peanuts: creeping and bush. This plant is characterized by a developed, branching root that penetrates the ground by 1.5 m. There are varieties with erect shoots, with others they creeping, in the third - and completely mixed. The stem of the peanut is branched, in creeping varieties it reaches 15–25 m, and in standing plants it is 60 cm. The branches of the bushes are slightly pubescent.

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Parotid leaves, their upper side is glossy, the bottom - slightly pubescent.

Flowers characteristic moth type, yellow-orange, self-pollinating.

Underground flowers of small size, not colored, also self-pollinating. Peanut beans have a cocoon shape with a fragile, dark or light brown, red shell. Seeds are elongated, oval or round.

Peanut Growing

This plant can be grown as a seedling method, and in open ground. For planting you need to prepare the seeds and pieces of beans.

• Seedling. Planting seeds begins in April in pre-cooked cups to a depth of 3 cm. The soil should be fluffed and loose, because the culture prefers soft soil. Cups of seeds are set on the sunny windowsill, and watered moderately. Landing is made at the beginning of June. But before it is produced, it is necessary to prepare the bed well in advance: it needs digging, drying, fluffing the ground and completely eliminating weeds and their rhizomes. When planting should observe a distance of 60-70 cm between rows and 15-20 between the plants themselves.
• Open ground. It is possible to plant seeds in open ground, when the temperature rises to 20 degrees, and the earth warms up to 15 degrees. Such conditions most often already exist in early May. DachaDecor.ru advises to pay attention to the looseness of the soil, because when the ovaries are formed, the fruits penetrate the ground and are practically buried there, ripening underground. After sowing the seeds and after the emergence of the first shoots, the peanuts must be carefully protected from ravens and thrushes, which can destroy all the sowing. The planting pattern is the same as in the seedling method.
• The choice of a place for landing. Peanuts are very fond of light, therefore, the site should be chosen well sunshine throughout the day. Although, after all, a little shading he can transfer calmly.

Peanut Care

Caring for this plant is the regular loosening of the soil, combating diseases and various pests, as well as thorough weeding. If the plot where peanuts are grown is overgrown with weeds, then one can hardly expect a good harvest. It is best to carry out weeding after watering or precipitation.

After the formation of the ovaries, peanuts, like potatoes, spud.

The best precursors for the plant will be cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers.

However, as for other legumes.

Watering should be moderate so that the earth does not dry out. Peanut loves moisture, but unduly moist soil does not suit him. However, when a plant blooms, watering increases - 3-4 times a month.

Peanuts react favorably to the application of mineral fertilizers, which is carried out three times per season, especially during periods of leaf ripening, fruit set and budding.

Diseases and pests

Like other legumes, peanuts are subject to attacks by caterpillars, aphids and thrips. Sometimes it also affects the following diseases: stem and root rot, viral diseases, fungal blotch.

Peanut Harvesting

The exact time of harvest is rather difficult to determine, since peanut beans ripen underground. Most often this is done at an air temperature of 10 degrees. To test, you can dig one bean and inspect it. Crop should be collected in dry weather, then the bush is easily pulled out of the soil, and the leaves on it are not yellowed. The shrub is picked up and removed from the soil. If the harvest time was missed, then more fruits will remain in the ground. It is better to place the drying bush in a sunny place or in a place with good ventilation.

Dry for 5 days. If the beans are well-dried, they will rattle quite loudly with shaking.

We grow peanuts on our lot (video)

Peanut Varieties

On sale is often found several varieties of peanuts, the range of which is quite often changing. In our country and in Ukraine, zoned varieties are most often used for growing, which have performed well in certain local conditions. For example, these include Krasnodar 14, Stepnyak, Valencia Ukrainian, Krasnodar 13, Valencia 433. The Klinskaya variety, intended for the steppe zone of Ukraine, is widespread.

Peanut use

Peanuts, or peanuts, are grown to obtain edible vegetable oil seeds, which are found in the seeds of the plant for about 53%. Peanut is second only to soy in its oil content. The oil obtained from peanuts is most often used in confectionery and canning industries. Ground seeds are added to chocolate. Toasted seeds are used as food, and in shredded form are often used in the preparation of confectionery. Botva and peanut cake goes to animal feed.