When to harvest film-mulched peanuts? Master the best harvest period

Lihe film-mulched peanut cultivation is an important measure to promote high-quality and high-yield peanuts, but how to achieve a bumper harvest? Correctly mastering the harvest period of film-mulched peanuts is particularly important. Practice has proved that correctly mastering the harvest time of film-mulched peanuts is mainly based on five points: 

1. Determine the harvest period by cultivated variety 

There are many film-mulched peanut varieties, but most in the Haicheng area use “Haihua No. 1”, the Luhua series, Baisha 131, etc. Among the above varieties, Baisha “131” has a shorter growth period, generally 135-140 days in normal years; the Haihua variety has a longer growth period, generally 140-150 days in normal years; the Luhua variety is in between. Thus, the harvest date must be determined according to the variety. 

2. Determine the harvest period by sowing time 

Taking the Haihua variety in the Haicheng area as an example, the sowing date is generally from April 15 to May 10, and those sown before “May 1” can be harvested around “October 1”. Those sown after “May 1” can be harvested from October 5 to October 10. 

3. Determine the harvest period by frost period 

The first frost period comes earlier or later, and varies greatly due to climate change. In normal years it is from October 5 to October 8, but in some years the first frost appears in late September. Thus, the harvest date should be determined according to the great differences in weather changes, and peanuts should generally be harvested 3-5 days before the arrival of hard frost. 

4. Determine the harvest period by growth at the fruiting stage 

Film-mulched peanuts begin to shed leaves as they approach maturity. When 70% leaf drop appears in the field plants, that is, when each plant has only 3-4 leaves left, it is the best harvest period. If harvested too late, it will cause a large number of pod losses, wasting labor and also bringing losses to the harvest.   

5. Determine the harvest period by soil temperature 

From many disaster-resistance practices in Haicheng, in years with heavy autumn rain and high soil moisture content, film-mulched peanuts find it difficult to achieve the goal of a bumper harvest. Therefore, when peanuts enter maturity  one should carefully observe weather changes and understand the soil moisture  content. If the weather is rainy during this period and the soil temperature is also high, one should mainly harvest early while the plants are still alive. Farmers' experience is: harvest at eight-tenths ripe, harvest at nine-tenths ripe, and lose three-tenths at ten-tenths ripe. Therefore, every year from late September  one should watch the sky and the ground to determine the harvest date.