by johnah on November 23, 2020
Container grown peanuts are popularly known as container peanuts or simply peanuts. They are cultivated in containers, which are usually plastic pots with holes drilled into them for drainage. These containers have been used since the beginning of time. However, they were not always easy to use because they required constant attention to keep them clean and healthy. Nowadays, there are several methods of growing peanuts in containers. One method uses hydroponics, where plants are grown inside water-filled plastic tubes called “grow bags”. Hydroponic gardening requires less care than traditional soil gardening. Another method is to grow your own peanuts from seedlings (called germinating) in the ground. Finally, there’s the method of conventional cultivation, which involves using soil and fertilizer to cultivate plants indoors.
What Are Container Grown Peanuts?
Controlled environment agriculture (CEA), also known as container grown peanuts, is a type of farming practice in which crops are grown in containers rather than on farms. A number of factors contribute to the popularity of CEA. For one thing, it allows farmers to save money on labor costs; another reason is that it provides a way for small growers to produce larger quantities at lower cost. And finally, it’s a great way of ensuring the highest quality product.
Container grown peanuts can be grown using several different types of containers. The most common type of container grown peanuts are those that use peat or coir fiber as a growing medium. This peat-based material works very well due to its ability to maintain a perfect balance between moisture and air.
History Of Container Grown Peanuts
The first attempts at producing container grown peanuts involved growing plants in plastic bags filled with soil. This method worked well, but it had one major drawback: the soil needed to be frequently replaced due to the rapid depletion of nutrients. As a result, there was a high demand for plastic bags which, unfortunately, weren’t very environmentally friendly.
Eventually, various substitutes for soil were developed and implemented into container grown peanuts. This included materials such as perlite, vermiculite, sand, and wood chips. Although each substitute has its own strengths and weaknesses, the most commonly used material is a kind of porous clay known as perlite.
Perlite is capable of holding large quantities of water without becoming too heavy for the plants to carry. In addition, it can be easily disinfected and reused.
How Are Container Grown Peanuts Grown?
Whether container grown peanuts are grown with soil or another substitute material, the process is almost always the same. First, containers (such as plastic pots) are filled with a growing medium. Then a small seedling is planted in each container and nutrients are added to the soil or substitute material. The containers are placed in a well-lit area and watered on a regular basis. As the plants grow, more nutrients are added to the soil or substitute material as needed.
Container grown peanuts are usually grown hydroponically (in water) or aeroponically (in air). In hydroponic growing, the plants’ roots are continuously bathed in water that contains all of the necessary nutrients. In aeroponic growing, the plants’ roots are suspended in air and misted with a nutrient solution.
Both methods allow for faster growth than soil-based growing and also result in a higher yield.
What Are The Benefits Of Container Grown Peanuts?
Many see container grown peanuts as the future of farming. Not only are its methods more environmentally friendly than traditional farming, but it also saves money and produces fresher, higher quality food.
Container grown peanuts allow for greater control over the nutrients that the plants receive. This means that they can be given just the right amount of water, sunlight, and nutrients to produce the highest quality product possible. They can also be grown year-round, unlike their soil-grown cousins.
Because container grown peanuts don’t need to use the vast amounts of land that soil-based peanuts require, they don’t have a negative effect on the environment the way that traditional farming does. Although soil-based farming is needed to continuously replenish the nutrients taken from the soil by growing peanuts, many worry that this process is not enough.
Container grown peanuts can be grown in densely packed containers which require less space than soil-based plants. In addition to simply using less space, container grown peanuts also do not need to use valuable land for growing and can be placed in areas where soil has been rendered unusable by pollution, contamination, or degradation.
The fresher peanuts grown through container methods do not need to be shelled before cooking and eating, so they eliminate one unnecessary step. They also taste better and have a higher nutritional content.
Whether growing peanuts in containers with soil, substitute materials, or water, the container method is quickly becoming a vital part of the farming industry throughout the world. Even large-scale farms are converting to container growing in order to improve their crop yields and meal quality.
Tips To Container Peanut Farming
It is important to keep a few key things in mind when container growing peanuts for optimal results.
The biggest concern is the soil or substitute material you use in your containers. If it isn’t ideal, you won’t get the best results. Peanuts, like most plants, need the right balance of nutrients in order to grow properly.
A high-quality soil or substitute material will contain all of these nutrients, while a low-quality one won’t. You may need to test the soil to see what adjustments need to be made to it before you can plant your peanuts.
You should also place your containers in an area that gets at least eight hours of direct sunlight daily. If this isn’t possible, then you should place them as close to a light source as possible. Make sure that the containers are placed at least six inches away from any walls or other objects.
This will allow air to flow throughout the container and the peanuts won’t become “stuck” under the soil where they’ll rot instead of ripening.
When it comes to watering, peanuts are a little more demanding than some other plants. You will need to make sure that the water you provide them is near room temperature. Using hot or cold water can shock and damage their roots.
Also, peanuts don’t like “wet feet.” You should never allow the soil in their containers to become waterlogged. Drainage should be good at all times.
You should check on your peanuts daily, making any necessary adjustments before the problems get out of hand.
When it comes time to harvest your peanuts, you will need to dig them up. Unlike regular garden peanuts that can be easily pulled from the ground, container peanuts have become somewhat “woody.” You won’t be able to pull them out of the ground as you would regular garden peanuts.
Use a trowel or other narrow tool to dig them up.
If you’ve grown your peanuts using a wooden container or another material that can be easily detached from the root, then it should come out of the ground whole. If not, you will need to cut or break it apart so that you can carry the peanuts away to be dried and shelled.
Now that your peanuts are free of their containers, they still need to be dried before being shelled and eaten.
Sources & references used in this article:
Iron fertilizers applied to calcareous soil on the growth of peanut in a pot experiment by H Chen, Z Hu, X Li, F Zhang, J Chen… – Archives of Agronomy …, 2016 – Taylor & Francis
Nitrogen concentration, ammonium/nitrate ratio and NaCl interaction in vegetative and reproductive growth of peanuts by M Silberbush, SH Lips – Physiologia Plantarum, 1988 – Wiley Online Library
Identification of peanut genotypes with improved drought avoidance traits by KS Rucker, CK Kvien, CC Holbrook, JE Hook – Peanut science, 1995 – peanutscience.com
Discrimination in carbon isotopes of leaves correlates with water-use efficiency of field-grown peanut cultivars by GC Wright, KT Hubick, GD Farquhar – Functional Plant Biology, 1988 – CSIRO
Relationship between root characteristics of peanut in hydroponics and pot studies by T Girdthai, S Jogloy, T Kesmala, N Vorasoot… – Crop …, 2010 – Wiley Online Library
Nutrient uptake and yield responses of peanuts and rice to lime and fused magnesium phosphate in an acid soil by CS Chang, JM Sung – Field Crops Research, 2004 – Elsevier
The remedy of lime‐induced chlorosis in peanuts by pseudomonas sp. siderophores by E Jurkevitch, Y Hadar, Y Chen – Journal of Plant Nutrition, 1986 – Taylor & Francis
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