Peanut Harvest Equipment Considerations
By Simer Virk and Scott Monfort
Soon Peanut harvest will be in full swing across most of the state. Along with proper timing
consideration for digging peanuts, proper setup and operation of peanut harvest equipment is
also an important consideration to minimize harvest losses and to ensure peak equipment
performance and efficiency during harvest. Here are few considerations for growers to keep in
mind when digging peanuts to prevent any mechanically induced yield losses due to improper
digger setup and\/or operation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Using an RTK Guidance system\/Auto-Steer on the tractor while digging peanut helps in
maintaining the digger path directly over the row center or over the planting path and
results in approximately 10% reduction in yield losses compared to when digging
peanuts with a tractor without an auto-steer system.
\u2022 Before beginning harvest and making any adjustments specific to the harvest conditions,
inspect the digger carefully for any broken, bent or missing parts as well as the
sharpness of the blades. Dull blades fail to cut the tap root resulting in dragging roots or
dislodging pods from the plant.
\u2022 Adjust the digging angle (and therefore depth) by adjusting the length of the top link on
the digger. Digger blades should be set at a slight forward pitch and at the depth where
they cut the tap root just below the pod zone. Both an excessively shallower and deeper
depth of the digger blade can result in significant digging losses.
\u2022 Blade angle\/depth is also dependent on soil type and texture. Any considerable change
in soil type within or among the fields will also require a change in blade angle\/depth
adjustments as clay soils usually need a more aggressive angle whereas sandy soils
require a less aggressive blade angle.
\u2022 Digging speed should be optimized based on the prevalent in-field conditions at harvest.
Generally, the optimal ground speed for digging peanuts is between 2 and 3 mph.
Speeds above 3 mph can result in an increase in digging losses and therefore should be
avoided.
\u2022 Set the conveyor speed to match the forward travel speed of the tractor while digging
peanuts. Conveyor speeds slower or faster than the tractor speed can both result in
increased pod losses.
\u2022 The conveyor depth should also be adjusted where it picks up vines with its teeth just
clearing the soil. Additionally, if needed, adjust the knocker wheels up or down to
regulate the amount of shaking where is enough to remove the soil from the vines.
Remember, properly dug and inverted peanut plants will form a uniform, fluffy, well-aerated
windrow with very few pods touching the soil so make sure to keep a close eye on the digger
operation in the field and adjust settings accordingly as and when needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peanut Harvest Equipment ConsiderationsBy Simer Virk and Scott Monfort Soon Peanut harvest will be in full swing across most of the state. Along with proper timingconsideration for digging peanuts, proper setup and operation of peanut harvest equipment isalso an important consideration to minimize harvest losses and to ensure peak equipmentperformance and efficiency during harvest. Here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":234,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/benhillcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/benhillcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/benhillcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/benhillcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/benhillcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/benhillcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":781,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/benhillcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions\/781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/benhillcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/benhillcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/benhillcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}