How to Grow Hydro Peanuts

If you get bored with the same old herbs and vegetables, there are a number of ways you can go with your hydroponics garden to get going with all sorts of strange and delicious water-grown delicacies.

What about that humble nut evoking associations with historical characters from George Washington Carver to Jimmy Carter? That stuff that's in your sandwich spread and tends to make a mess in your refrigerator?

Contrary to what you might think, it is possible to grow peanuts hydroponically. Here are some steps to succeeding with this kind of cultivation.

Adjust for size

Peanuts grow on a bush type of plant and require a significant amount of room to grow. You may not be able to fit this crop into the same gardening structure used for some of your greens and herbs. Make sure you have enough room to cultivate peanuts well.

Dress peanuts up for antifungal health

Expert growers recommend using additives containing a substance called trichoderma that you might call a fungicide. Without this, fungal pathogens can devastate peanut plants. Apply this substance strategically to help them thrive.

Get good draining growing media

The peanut plant is going to need grow media that lets water drain to prevent root rot. Some growers use a mix of coco coir and perlite, or other items like vermiculite. Some clay pellet types can also provide good drainage. Some growers even use items like gravel.

Look for peanut biology

You're going to want to look for the yellow flowers that go along with healthy peanut production. You also have a peg, a long stem that leads to where the nut grows. The actual peanut will be down in the grow media, so think about how you will harvest it from there.

Adjust reservoir size

Expert growers suggest that the average peanut plant with 30 to 40 pod needs at least 3 gallons of grow media and a good bit of water. In addition to having big enough plant pots, make sure that you have enough irrigation water.

Settle in for a long growing season

Peanut plants require about 140 days to maturity. Think about what you'll be doing during that time to nourish plants.

Dry peanuts well after harvest

When you harvest the nuts, you want to have good strategy in place in order dry them out enough so that they store well. This is an important part of the end of the cultivation process.

For more about growing anything hydroponically, keep an eye on the Dealzer website. We offer thousands of pieces of lots of good advice for beginning growers. Let us help you to get not only the hardware and gear that you need, but the knowledge that will help you achieve.