A website from UGA Cooperative Extension

I’ve already gotten started on checking peanut maturity, and the crop is looking good. Even though we’ve had lots of rain, some dryland fields are spotty – rain on one side of the field and not the other. Everything I’ve checked so far is 06G. The profiles look good and uniform. The soonest to dig is in 10 days. This field is moving well and projecting 133 days. In 8 or so samples in the last two days, all other 06G need 2 to 3 more weeks. We wondered about them progressing faster with more rain this year. From what I’ve looked at so far, the 06Gs seem to be normal. Not many peanuts in the ‘black’ category. Again, the good news is that everything behind them is uniform. It’s good when we can make our decision off the leading edge.

Good, uniform profile. These need to gain a little more weight.

Another important factor is deciding when to dig is making sure peanuts are still hanging on in the hull. Every sample I’ve checked is hanging on real well. This is very good news. If the kernels are tight in the hull, whitish color, they are still feeding. If they are shriveled up and dark brown, they are no longer feeding and ‘turning loose.’ This happens under stressful situations and peanuts projecting a week to dig may need to be dug a little early.

Word of the day: Funiculous. This is Latin for “slender rope” and its the umbilical cord that connects the peanut kernel to the  pod and thus the peanut plant. We need it to be attached for the nut to progress in putting on weight. If it is detached, which happens through normal maturity or when the plant is very stressed then it’s over for that kernel.

Kernel still attached to funiculus is feeding and growing

Since I’ve written this post I’ve checked another 7 samples. Everything 06G is looking good still. Most are still projected to be 140 – 150 days until digging. Since Mr. Lee and Daniel have been pictured on the blog posts already, here is another picture of us Mrs. Sara Sercer took this morning:

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