Many people love peanuts, and their use in food has grown over the years, making their way into almost everything. There’s nothing this little thing can’t do. It can be eaten raw or mixed with chocolate and other sweets. It can also be used in a lot of savory dishes and make tasty butter.
What many might not know is that peanuts are not nuts. In fact, they’re not even fruits but versatile legumes, like lentils or beans. These unusual plants have special growing habits and interesting biology.
We’ll talk about everything peanut today, from how they grow and are picked to how you can grow them in your garden.
Peanuts are a fascinating crop. When many people think of peanuts, they imagine the delicious roasted peanut snacks or rich peanut butter. But few realize that peanuts are not actually a nut at all! Peanuts are a legume, related to beans and peas. And they have a very unique growing process that results in the peanut pods forming underground. So what does a peanut plant actually look like? In this article, we’ll explore the peanut plant lifecycle and provide a visual guide to the growth stages of this unusual crop.
Peanut Plants Above Ground
Let’s start with the visible part of the peanut plant, the section growing above ground. A peanut plant has a bushy growth habit, with multiple branches growing along the ground away from the central stem. The plants reach a height of about 1-2 feet tall and spread out about 3 feet wide
The leaves of the peanut plant are oval-shaped, usually about 4 inches long. The leaves are arranged in pairs along the stem, and are a light green color. Young peanut plants just emerging will have smooth, hairless stems and leaves. As the plants mature, they develop fine hairs on the stems and underside of leaves.
After growing for about 4-6 weeks, small yellow flowers begin blooming on the peanut plant. The flowers emerge in the leaf axils, which is where the leaf stalks join the stem. The peanut flowers have a 5-petaled corolla shape, similar to flowers in the pea family. Once pollinated, the peanut flowers drop off.
Pegs and Pods Form Underground
Here’s where it gets interesting! After the peanut flowers are pollinated, the fertilized ovary starts to elongate into a structure called a “peg.” The peg grows down toward the ground, sort of like a vine. Once it reaches the soil surface, it extends into the ground. This is a key stage in peanut development, as the peg tip will form the peanut fruit pod.
The peanut pod develops underground, attached to the tip of the peg. Inside the pod, the seeds or peanuts will form and mature A single plant can produce 40 or more pods The pods are usually 1-2 inches long and may contain 2-4 peanut seeds.
As the pods enlarge underground, the interior lining of the pods changes from white to yellow, orange, brown and finally black. This color change indicates the pod and peanut seeds are reaching maturity.
Digging Up the Peanut Plant
So when do we actually see the peanuts? The pods and seeds remain hidden underground until harvest time. Peanut plants are ready for harvest about 120-160 days after planting. Harvesting peanuts requires digging up the entire plant. This exposes the peanut pods so they can be collected.
The best time to harvest is just after the peanut plant foliage starts to yellow and wilt. The pods need to be mature, but the soil can’t be too dry or pods may get detached during digging.
Commercial peanut harvesting uses specialized equipment to invert and shake plants. But garden-scale growing can be dug by hand. After digging the plants are laid upside down for a few days to dry and loosen the pods for removal. Then the peanuts are cured indoors for 2-3 weeks at warm temperatures to complete the drying process.
From Flower to Feed: The Peanut Plant Lifecycle
- Seedling emerges above ground about 1-2 weeks after planting
- Plant grows leaves, stems, branches over 4-6 weeks
- Yellow flowers bloom on above ground stems
- Fertilized flowers form pegs that extend into soil
- Pegs develop into peanut pods underground
- Pods and seeds mature for 120-160 days
- Entire plant is dug up to reveal mature peanuts
So while the most delicious part of the peanut plant is hidden from view as it grows, the above ground foliage and flowers are interesting to observe as the peanuts develop. Getting to dig up those maturity peanut pods at harvest is like discovering buried treasure!
Do Peanuts Grow on a Vine or in the Ground?
They grow in a ground plant and develop below ground. When the fruits or pods start to form, they are pushed underground and grow there. The plant’s rest grows above ground, which is why peanuts don’t grow on trees.
How Are Peanuts Harvested
Due to their unusual growing habit, harvesting peanuts is different from other legumes. To get to the pods, the plant has to be pulled out of the ground instead of being picked from it.
Combines are used on large farms to lift the plant off the ground, shake the roots, turn it over, and leave it in the soil for three to four days. This allows the pods to dry before they’re thrashed. After that, heat and air flow are used to get them to the final, curated/dried state. They are then safely stored.
If you want to grow peanuts at home, you can do all of these steps by hand instead of using machines. You should do them the same way that big peanut growers do them.
Full – 90 Days Growing Peanut – Time Lapse – Seed to Peanuts
FAQ
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