How to sow spring peanuts under plastic film mulching for high yields?

When planting spring peanuts, using plastic film mulching cultivation technology has the advantages of allowing earlier sowing, increasing temperature and preserving soil moisture, suppressing weeds, defending against the low-temperature damage of late spring cold, promoting peanut growth and development, bringing earlier harvests to market, increasing returns, and raising the rate of full pods; it can both increase yield and improve quality. To better promote peanut plastic film mulching cultivation technology and achieve high quality and high efficiency in peanuts, the key techniques for sowing peanuts under plastic film mulching are introduced below:

?I. Do a good job of pre-sowing preparation

1. Variety selection. Good seed is the key to ensuring full stands and strong seedlings from a single sowing, and is an economically effective measure to increase yield and improve quality. For peanut varieties, choose high-yield varieties with strong yield-increasing potential and good market quality, such as Jihua 4, Jihua 5, Jihua 2, Luhua 14 and others.

2. Seed treatment. Peanut seeds are generally best shelled about 10 days before sowing; shelling too early or too late is not conducive to seed germination and emergence. Sunning the seeds for 2-3 days before shelling can kill pathogens and effectively increase the seed germination rate.

3. Field tillage and preparation. Choose sandy loam or medium loam fields with medium fertility and good drainage and irrigation conditions. When preparing the land, use 1.5-2 kg of phoxim per mu, mix with 0.5 kg of water and 20 kg of fine soil, and apply evenly into the soil to control overwintering white grubs. To ensure mulching quality, shallow plow and harrow finely 2-3 times when preparing the land, achieving level ground, a loose surface and firm subsoil, and no visible or hidden clods.

4. Formula fertilization. In conjunction with land preparation, apply more than 3 cubic meters of coarse manure per mu, 40 kg of calcium superphosphate, 15 kg of potash fertilizer, and 500 g of large-granule boron, or 50 kg of 45% special high-quality compound fertilizer and 500 g of large-granule boron, evenly applied into the soil.

5. Choose good plastic film. Use ultra-thin film with a thickness of 0.05 mm for the plastic film, with a dosage of about 3.5 kg per mu.

?II. Sowing and film mulching techniques

1. Sowing time. In determining sowing time, a 5 cm soil temperature stably passing above 12°C should be taken as an important basis for sowing peanuts under plastic film mulching. In Gaoyang County, the sowing period for spring film-mulched peanuts is around April 20.

2. Seeding rate. Seed dosage per mu: about 25 kg of large and medium shelled peanuts (equivalent to about 16 kg of peanut kernels).

3. Sowing method. Appropriate close planting is the foundation and guarantee of high peanut yields. Sow in wide and narrow rows, with narrow row spacing of 30 cm, wide row spacing of 55-60 cm, and hill spacing of 18 cm; use hill sowing, with 2 seeds per hill and a sowing depth of 3 cm. Ensure a density of 8,000-9,000 hills per mu.

4. Post-sowing weed control. After sowing and before covering with film, use 100-150 g of 50% acetochlor herbicide per mu, mixed with 50-60 kg of water, and spray evenly.

5. Lay the plastic film flat. When mulching by hand, be sure to pull it straight and tight, and press the edges firmly with soil; when mulching mechanically, ensure the mulching quality. If there are holes in the film, press them firmly with soil to prevent strong winds from lifting the film, so as to accelerate the increase of soil temperature and promote early and full emergence of seedlings.

6. Breaking the film to release seedlings. Generally, peanuts will emerge one after another 10-15 days after sowing. When the cotyledons emerge from the soil and open, or when the cotyledons have not emerged but true leaves are visible, use a finger or blade to cut a small cross-shaped opening in the plastic film directly over the seedling, guide the seedling out of the film, and then seal the opening tightly with fine soil to prevent moisture loss. When opening holes to release seedlings, listen to and watch the weather forecast; if the outside temperature is relatively high, breaking the film to release seedlings should not be too late, and especially prevent strong sunlight from causing high temperatures inside the film and burning the seedlings.