How to Grow Peanuts for High Yield? Twelve Practical Methods

Everyone should not underestimate this little peanut, for it actually contains great nutritional value. Whether boiled, stewed, or made into all kinds of snacks, peanuts are very sweet and delicious, and peanuts can also be pressed into peanut oil, and pure peanut oil is also deeply loved by everyone.

Twelve High-Yield Methods for Growing Peanuts

1. Careful fertilization. For the base fertilizer, adopt a one-time fertilization method: apply 1000 kg of decomposed barnyard manure per mu, 50 kg of peanut-specific compound fertilizer or 75 kg of compound fertilizer, plus 40-50 kg of superphosphate, 10 kg of potassium chloride, and 1 kg of borax, spread evenly over the full layer before plowing.

2. Skillful seedling control. From 40-50 days after the peanut begins flowering, that is, the early pod-setting stage, when the plant grows to 30 cm, promptly spray the leaves with a 70-100 mg/liter ppm aqueous solution, using 50-75 liters per mu. This can dwarf the peanut plants and prevent excessive growth and lodging. If growth is still too vigorous after spraying, spray once more after about 10 days to ensure the plant height stays at 30-40 cm.

3. Spraying leaf fertilizer. For foliar topdressing after the pod-setting stage, spray a 1% urea solution and a 2%-3% superphosphate solution 1-2 times; alternatively, use 50 g of ammonium molybdate per mu, add 50 kg of water, and spray, then spray once more after 10 days.

4. Skillful application of calcium fertilizer. Peanuts have a high calcium demand, needing more calcium than phosphorus and close to potassium, especially during the pod-filling stage. Applying gypsum in calcium-deficient or sulfur-deficient soil helps the formation of peanut shells and increases the pod-setting rate.

5. Skillful application of trace-element fertilizers. Although peanuts need only small amounts of boron, molybdenum and the like, the effect is great. At the seedling stage and flowering stage, spray the leaves once each with 50 kg of a 0.2% borax aqueous solution per mu; during the growth period, spray the leaves once with 50 kg of a 0.1%-0.2% ammonium molybdate aqueous solution per mu, which can increase yield by up to 20% per mu.

6. Pruning. When peanuts begin to form flower buds, use scissors to cut off diseased branches and upward-growing branches without flowers. When cutting flowerless branches, keep 3-4 branches per hill for small, short plants, and 2-3 branches per hill for tall, large plants, so as to achieve plump, large pods.

7. Removing the main stem. The apical dominance of peanuts is very pronounced; removing the main stem 10 days after the full flowering stage has an obvious yield-increasing effect, increasing yield by about 15% per mu, while removing it too early or too late has no significant effect.

8. Treading down the peanut seedlings. During the peak growth period of peanuts, artificially treading down the seedlings can control top growth and promote bottom growth, encouraging the pegs to penetrate the soil, increasing the number of effective pods per hill by 3-5 and raising yield by 20%. The method is: generally from late July to mid-August, choose a sunny day after 3 p.m., use your feet to tread the upright peanut seedlings down, shortening the distance between the pegs and the ground, prompting the pegs to enter the soil early, thereby controlling top growth, promoting bottom growth, and increasing pods and income.

9. Scraping soil to bury pods. When a large number of peanut pegs are entering the soil, there are always some pegs that have difficulty entering the soil. If you first hoe once between the peanut rows, then use your hands to scrape soil around the seedlings to bury the pods, this can increase the peg-soil penetration rate and the pod-setting rate, generally increasing yield by about 15% per mu.

10. Ringing the whole plant. Ringing the whole plant during the full flowering stage of peanuts can improve the crowded conditions among plants within the hill, make full use of space and light, shorten the distance between the pegs and the ground, expand the pod-setting range, and help the pegs to set into the soil early, set more pods, and set full pods. The method is: at the full flowering stage, make a ring from willow twigs 30-35 cm in diameter, press it onto the central part of three peanut seedlings, so that each peanut hill occupies 1/3, and the stems and branches lie as prostrate on the ground as possible.

11. Timely pinching off the growing tip. Timely pinching off the growing tip of peanuts can effectively suppress apical dominance and promote the elongation and pod-setting of the second pair of lateral branches. After the main stem of the peanut is removed, yield can increase by about 10%. The best time for pinching peanuts is from the beginning of flowering to before the full flowering stage.

Precautions:

1. When pinching, the cut should be flat:

2. The pinched-off tips should be gathered and taken out of the field as feed or for composting;

3. After pinching, a small amount of nitrogen fertilizer and phosphorus fertilizer can be applied as topdressing according to the seedling condition, to promote branch growth;

4. Fields with weak seedlings are not suitable for pinching.

12. Pest and disease control.

1. Red spider mites. The damage period of red spider mites is from June to August, and they break out severely in dry years. You can choose 1.8% abamectin emulsifiable concentrate 3000 times dilution, 15% pyridaben emulsifiable concentrate 1000-1500 times dilution, 40% dicofol 1500-2000 times dilution, etc. for spray control.

2. Aphids. Aphids are the main pest damaging peanut leaves, causing leaves to curl and deform and growth to suffer. At the same time, aphids can also transmit a variety of viral diseases. Therefore, during the aphid outbreak period, you can choose 10% imidacloprid wettable powder 5000 times dilution for control.

3. White grubs. These are underground pests that affect peanut germination, fruit setting, pod setting, yield and quality, and can cause damage throughout the entire growth and development period. To control white grubs, the following methods can be adopted: 1. Larval stage: use 0.25-0.3 kg of 40% chlorpyrifos emulsifiable concentrate and 0.25-0.4 kg of 40% phoxim emulsifiable concentrate per mu, mix with 20-30 kg of soil, and spread evenly around the peanut hills; 2. Adult stage: take 3-5 fresh twigs 60 cm long of elm, poplar, or willow, tie them into a bundle, soak them in a 50 times dilution of 75% phoxim emulsifiable concentrate or a 50 times dilution of 45% phoxim-cypermethrin emulsifiable concentrate for 5-6 hours, insert them in the field in the evening, inserting 10-15 bundles per mu to trap and kill; 3. Manually catch adults: every evening use a flashlight to manually catch adults on poplar, elm, willow, black locust and other trees near the peanut field. Feed the captured adults to poultry or dispose of them in a centralized way, which can both reduce the pest source and ensure the tree leaves are not damaged.

4. Beet armyworm. According to the living habits of the beet armyworm, the best period for chemical control should be the peak hatching stage of eggs and the peak occurrence stage of 1-2 instar larvae, and the application time should be in the morning and evening, with the front and back of peanut leaves evenly covered by the pesticide. You can choose 5% flufenoxuron (Cascade) emulsifiable concentrate, 5% teflubenzuron (Nomolt) emulsifiable concentrate, 5% hexaflumuron emulsifiable concentrate, 5% chlorfluazuron emulsifiable concentrate, using their 1500-2000 times dilutions for field spray control; you can also choose 10% chlorfenapyr suspension concentrate 1500-2000 times dilution, 2.5% cyhalothrin 2000-3000 times dilution, 4.5% beta-cypermethrin emulsifiable concentrate 1500-2000 times dilution, etc. for spray control.

Peanut Yield-Increasing Techniques  

1. Foliar fertilizer spraying to prevent premature aging. Spraying foliar fertilizer on peanuts has many benefits: low cost, quick results, and easy operation. To prevent premature aging, about one month before harvest, according to plant growth, spray 1%-2% urea solution plus 0.4% potassium dihydrogen phosphate, generally spraying 2 times with an interval of about 10 days.  

2. Spraying hormones to control excessive growth. In peanut fields with relatively high soil fertility and good water and fertilizer conditions, scientifically spray hormones for control under the guidance of agricultural technicians.  

3. Effective pesticide application to control pests. The main disease of peanuts is leaf spot, which occurs more and more severely in the rainy season. Generally, in the middle and late growth stages, spray with 40% carbendazim 600 times dilution and 50% mancozeb 500 times dilution, once every 7 days, for 2 consecutive sprays. The main pests of peanuts are aphids and white grubs. When aphids occur, organophosphorus or pyrethroid pesticides can be used for control. For white grubs, 500-700 times dilution of phoxim can be used for root drenching, with better effect before rain.

Peanut Planting Prospects  

Peanut is an important oil crop, cash crop, and export-earning agricultural product of our country. By summarizing and analyzing the current production, processing, and export trade status of our country's peanut industry, the main problems existing in the development of our country's peanut industry are put forward; and based on the current situation, the development prospects of our country's peanut industry are forecast.  

Our country is also the largest consumer and exporter of peanuts. Peanut production in our country covers a wide area, and it is grown in all provinces and regions except Tibet, Qinghai, Ningxia, Hong Kong, China and others. It is mainly concentrated in the North China Plain in the north, the coastal areas of the Bohai Bay, the coastal areas of South China in the south, and the Sichuan Basin. It can be divided into two major production areas, namely the northern production area and the southern production area. The northern peanut production area accounts for 60% of the national area and 65% of the total output respectively. Domestic peanut planting is mainly in 7 provinces: Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Guangdong, Sichuan, Jiangsu, and Anhui. Peanut area accounts for 72% of the country, and total output accounts for 79% of the country, among which Henan and Shandong are the largest provinces, and the combined peanut planting area of the two provinces accounts for about 45% of the country.  

Although growing peanuts looks like a relatively simple matter, if you want to do it well and grow high-yield peanuts, you still need to pay attention to many techniques. First of all, you need to understand the growth habits of peanuts, reasonable fertilization, pruning, and so on, in order to increase peanut yield and obtain higher profits.