Hi,

The ideal PH of soil for peanut growth is between 6.0 and 6.5. This means that the ground were the peanuts grow best in is slightly acidic. The plant grows best in a clay-like ground. However, the clay will turn the peanut dark and that is not what the consumer wants. To satisfy the consumers need, the peanuts are mostly grown in light, sandy soil. The peanut will grow in light, sandy soil, but the crop yield will not be quite as high as in darker clay.
The firtilizer the peanut plant needs (if you want to make use of it), is the same fertilizer that is used for corn, cowpeas and cotton. The only recuirement a peanut plant has is that there should be enough lime in the ground.
As mentioned in one of the blogs, the plant is quite flexible with the amount of water it needs.

The peanut plant is autotrophic and makes use of photosynthesis. This means that the plant takes carbondioxide from the air, water from the ground and energy from the sunlight to make oxygen and glucose.

Water is drawn up the tree through the xylem to the leaves, where the photosythesis takes place. The glucose is transported down to the plant from the leaves. Once the glucose enters the phloem, some being used to sustain the plant and other for storage.
glucose is used to provide energy for the new seeds. The peanut is full of proteins and nutrients. This allows the new seeds to grow for themselves and start the photosynthesis process. However, most of the seeds will not get the change to do so, because they are harvested and sold.

A peanut plant, switches between the haploid and deploid stages during its life. A haploid cell has half the normal number of chromosomes. A diploid cell has a full set of chromosomes.

Peanuts are self-pollinating plants. They do not need help from other insects to carry pollen for example.

After the seed is planted, the first flowers begin to appear. This will take around four to six weeks. When the leaves are growing and become older, it drops closer to the ground. This is because when it is tome to pollinate, the ovary is close to the ground an makes it easier for insertion of the subterranean pod.
When it is time to start pollinating, one flower opens and releases its pollen. The fertilization of the seeds takes place bewteern eight and nine hours after the pollen is released. Eight to fourteen days after fertilization occurs, the ovary elongates into a peg. It is driven vertically into the ground and in the ground in turns horizontal. The peg matures into a pod and, after seven to nine weeks, it becomes a peanut.

Hello!

Today, we dig deeper into the peanut, by talking about the taxonomy. Taxonomy is classifying the plant by his own specie, this includes the terms kingdom, class, order, family, genus and species.
Kingdom: Plantae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Leguminosae
Genus: Arachis
Species: Hypogaea

The picture illustrates the various levels of the classification from the peanut. The tree shows also what other groups are close to the peanut plant.

The peanut used to grow in the wild, but in now primarily grown as an agricultureal crop. The plant is grown and eaten all over the world and is a staple food in Africa.
The peanut plant originated in South America. When the explorers from Europe arrived they took the peanut plant with them to Europe. After that, the peanut plant spread across Europe to Africa and Asia. It reached North America when the plant arrived with the slave ships.
The leading peanut producer is China, second place is India and third place in United States of America.

Peanuts can be used as food. The peanut is usually eaten whole, raw, roasted, as in oil, peanutbutter. The other parts of the plant can be used as animal-feed, shampoo, fertilizers.
However, in the USA the peanut is most produced into peanut butter.

Hi!

Today I will tell about peanut plant disease and insects on my blog. Diseases and insects can damage the peanut plant, which is way it is important to know about them.

The most common diseases are leaf spot. Leaf spot is a fungus that grows in areas where the weather is warm and moist. The plant leaves will have small spots with light centers. Eventually, the leaves will turn yellow and drop-off.
However, there are multiple ways to control leaf spot, for example crop rotation, remove damaged leaves, plant certified disease-free seeds and stay away from plants when they are wet. These methods are ways of preventing it and if the plants have leave spot, take action as soon as possible to prevent other plants from getting leaf spots as well.

The most common insect pests for the peanut plant are aphids. Aphids are small light green bugs and they multiply rapidly. Aphids suck sap that is within the plant and that can cause damage in a short amount of time. This insect can be prevented by checking the plants regularly and if these insects are present, you can spray with insecticidal soap sprays.

Other common insect pests are Nematodes, Thrips, Leafhoppers, Southern corn rootworm, White grubs and the Wireworm.

- Nematodes: Microscopic small and look like a worm. they kill root systems and cutting down yields. Moreover, they can also carry and spread diseases. How to prevent Nematodes is by crop rotation and add loads of organic matter before the seeds are put in the ground.
- Thrips: Microscopic pests that can transmit diseases. Thrips causes damage of whitish patches on the leaves. They can be controlled with insecticidal soap or destroy severely infested plants.
- Leafhoppers: Leafhoppers suck on the underside of the peanut leaves and spreading diseases. By sucking on the plant, the leaves will turn yellow. To prevent damage of the leafhoppers, control the weeds and cover the plants with floating row covers. If the leafhoppers are already on the plant spraying with pyrethrum can help.
- Southern corn rootworm: Rootworms can kill the entire peanut plant. Rootworms bore into young plants and feed on peanut pegs and pods in the soil. To control corn rootworms, treat the soil with beneficial nematodes.
- White grubs: They live in the soil and feed on the ground parts of the peanut plant. The way to control grubs is by growing green manure crops and by not planting peanuts where grass grew recently. The soil can be treated with beneficial nematodes or milky spore powder.
- Wireworm: Wireworms feed as well as grubs on roots and other underground parts of the peanut plants. To control wireworms there can be made use of beneficial nematodes.

the best chance of harvesting the most peanuts. If the diseases and/or insects occur, you can have a yield loss. This depends on the type of insect/disease and the rate of infected plants.

Take good care of the peanut plants and look good if you see anything unwanted. The faster you see it, the better you can take care of it!