Peanuts

[reed]

I started a landrace of peanuts last year and despite setbacks am really happy with how it is turning out. I'm not sure how easily the cross, if I remember right Suzanne Ashworth in "Seed to Seed" describes them similarly to common beans in that regard. That is, they can but generally don't. I planted them last year with each plant of one variety immediately next to other varieties and of course in the first season did not see any obvious crossing. It was just a small patch but yielded a nice little harvest.

This year I planted some of those seeds and added in another variety and here in comes the major setback. My patch was attacked by rabbits. Actually, a single baby rabbit had gotten in the fence and taken up residence for several days over which it ate all the peanuts completely to the ground. This was just as they had started blooming.

It wasn't a total loss as the plants regrew and actually produced a good harvest. So, I learned some important things. They are quite resilient, being able to regrow and still produce. Probably also that I can add in longer season varieties to my mix and still get a good harvest. And that some are more able that others to recover from something like this than others. I'd say that 60% or more of those I've opened and eaten so far are of just one type and a different one makes about 30%, and just a few each of the others making up the rest.

Another thing is I have never seen such massive amounts of large nitrogen nodules on the roots of any other plant. Almost a good enough reason on its own to plant them.

Does anyone else grow peanuts or know much about them as far as crossing? Will I have to do hand pollination to get a good landrace started?

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Breed You Own Vegetable Varieties says that peanuts cross "occasionally", mediated by bees.

[Ocimum]

The following articles show the results of studies on the outcrossing rate of several varieties of groundnuts. If you can get your hands on the variety with the high outcrossing rate, it will probably be easier to achieve you diversity generation.

https://meridian.allenpress.com/peanut-science/article/19/1/29/108154/Possible-Reproductive-Factors-Contributing-to

http://oar.icrisat.org/1987/


I cannot access this paper or even abstract, but the title seems to suggest that using honeybees might be helpful.

[William Schlegel]

I asked John Sherck on Facebook. He attempted a grex a couple years ago. He said he saw minimal evidence of crossing.

[reed]

I asked John Sherck on Facebook. He attempted a grex a couple years ago. He said he saw minimal evidence of crossing.

Minimal, I'm fine with that as it's more than none!

I reckon beans might be described that way too, but they cross quite a lot in my garden. Seems to me once I had a few crosses in my beans all kinds started showing up. A lot I'm, sure is just segregations but at this point I have to wonder if there are varieties more prone to crossing and if recent crosses are even more prone to crossing again. 

I'm convinced that with perfect flowers that self-pollinate without opening it mostly depends on bumblebees. They can pull flowers open just by their weight when they land on a flower, and aggressive enough to push or even chew their way in. I'm not sure honeybees can do the job and I don't see a lot of them in the garden itself. 

[spacecase0]

I have been growing peanuts for about 7 years now,
but live in california where I can't import seeds.
so I grew the raw peanuts I found for sale at an indian grocery store.
very few plants did anything the first year,
my garden is at about 2000 foot elevation and has somewhat cool nights.
the second year they did better, but still only a few pods..
third year I got much more.
looking at the root structure they were varied
4th year they failed entirely.
5th year I got a real harvest
5th and 6th year I got increasingly better harvests,
this year(7th) I got 5 pods from 8 plants...
not sure if any of this helps at all...
I am wondering if I just plant the likely 7 seeds from the 5 pods, or if I should go back to last years seeds as well.
if mine were not crossing then it would seem as if they are super sensitive to weather in ways I have not figured out,
also I have read that they are perennial, but I do get freezing weather, but I guess that does not matter so much unless I make them a greenhouse.

[Tim DH]

A lot I'm, sure is just segregations but at this point I have to wonder if there are varieties more prone to crossing and if recent crosses are even more prone to crossing again. 

Hi Reed,
       Regarding recent crosses being more prone to out crossing. I'm sure I have heard that in wheat, which selfs at around 99%, the longer it has selfed the more likely it is to outcross. (Tho' still not at a high rate.) I've spent a while trying to find a reference for that, and failed! So I offer it as an anecdote.
       If true, in a wider context, it would be a useful strategy to avoid a population becoming too inbred.

Tim DH

[Ocimum]

Hi Reed,
       Regarding recent crosses being more prone to out crossing. I'm sure I have heard that in wheat, which selfs at around 99%, the longer it has selfed the more likely it is to outcross. (Tho' still not at a high rate.) I've spent a while trying to find a reference for that, and failed! So I offer it as an anecdote.
       If true, in a wider context, it would be a useful strategy to avoid a population becoming too inbred.

Tim DH

Here is an old article stating that for fava bean (Vicia faba)
https://sci-hub.st/https://www.nature.com/articles/177489b0

I am not sure though if the same applies to a plant with a much lower level of outcrossing

Spacecase0: it may also be about the Rhizobium not present in the first years. Here, on the other side of the big pond, this year we had such a bad weather that farmers didn't even harvest some crops

[William Schlegel]

Anyone have any success with Peanuts since we last talked about them?

[reed]

I'm still growing them and as long as I can keep the rabbits away, they are doing well. Still no indication that any crossing has happened. I've been looking for more varieties to add to my collection but there just isn't a lot available.

[William Schlegel]

How many varieties do you have?

[reed]

I'd have to look back at when I originally bought them, but I think I started with five. I'm not sure I still have five though, there was a small black one that seems to have disappeared. A red skinned one that has just two or three bigger nuts per pod is dominate.

[William Schlegel]

Here is some of what is out there:

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Carolina African Runner
Carwile's Virginia
Fastigiata Pin Striped
Jungle Striped, Sundance Striped
Schronce's Deep Black Peanut
Tennessee Red Valencia

J and L Gardens
La Mesilla Red Peanut

The Buffalo Seed Company
Sherck Composite (Thai, Fastigiata Pin Stripe, Tennessee Red Valencia, and Black)
Bolivian Landrace
Zambian Landrace
Uruguayan Landrace
Bolivian Escapee
Pintado de Chiquitos

The Seed Saver's Exchange
Argentinian White Valencia
Fastigiata Pin-Striped
Negrito Mandivi
Pre-Civil War
Purple Skin
Tennessee Red
Transkutuku

Amazon.com
Tennessee Red
Jumbo Virginia
Chuxay Garden
Wakefield Virginia
Early Spanish
Champ
Spanish
Black Brown

Gurney's
Wynne Virginia
Bailey II

[William Schlegel]

I have 9 peanut plants germinated and growing and perhaps more to come. Watered that area again this weekend. It needs weeded.