Planting dried beans, and where to get peanuts

Two good questions. I don't know the positive answer. BUT _ I would buy the beans you want, and raw peanuts in the grocery, and test them to see how well they will sprout. Our method to do this is lay a couple paper towels in a pie pan. Lay some seeds on the towels and soak the towels with water. Put plastic wrap over the whole thing and place it on top of your refrgerator. Have the towels very wet so the seeds are in contact with the water, but not submerged. They should sprout within a few days. If nothing happens in two weeks look elsewhere for seed.

 

Hi Misty,
Beans, Peas and Peanuts from the grocery store are fine. Remember the classroom projects where each student sprouts a bean plant to take home in a paper cup? Those come from the grocery store. If you soak your peas overnight in warm water you may notice them sprouting little tails in the morning.

For peanuts get the ones in the shell, not roasted or salted, just dried peanuts in the shell. I planted some last year and ended up with more peanuts than I knew what to do with.

Have fun!
SBJ

 

I dont know about the raw peanuts sold at store (do peanuts need to be planted in shell?), but I have planted pinto and black beans from store with good results. Seems like I tried chickpeas and lentils one year. Chickpeas produced, lentils needed different climate but did sprout.

 

The short answer is no, don't try it from the store. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. And you won't know the variety of seed in the store for that matter. Details like that do matter.

I ordered peanuts from Gurney's a few years back.

 

I've been growing beans and peanuts from the grocery store for years and find that only occasionally do I get a bag of beans that have low germination rates. Do the testing just as "Uncle Will" suggests and you will know in just a couple of days if you have to buy a different bag of beans. As far as getting an unknown variety of bean goes I think a visual inspection of the bean or the name on the package will give you a pretty good clue as to what the bean is. Plant the "raw" peanut in its shell because if you try to shell it you run the chance of damaging the seed----they split. Also the shell will absorb the ground moisture and provide the seed with the best conditions for germination-----Mother Nature plants them whole. I have grown pinto beans as my main dry bean crop and black-eyed peas as a cover crop. The raw peanuts are usually the "Virginia" but I have never seen raw "Spanish" in the store---I like the fresh roasted Virginias best anyway. This year I found a source of the ancient "Anasazi" beans at a health food store and my germination test showed a good 60% germination. For $5 I bought an amount of "Anasazi" that would have cost around $100 if I had bought them from a seed distributor. What do you have to lose????? 29 cents a pound versus $2 an ounce.
Bill

 

the problem with grocery store beans is age in storage. If they are fairly fresh (we're talking about up to two years or so) they're fine. Longer than that, they become too dry, and "die". If you cook em a couple of hours after soaking overnight and your dentures fall out they're too old!! :haha:

 

I used pintos and black eyes from the grocery with no problem. Don't know about peanuts.

 

We ordered the peanuts from Henry Fields last year and they did great; lots of nuts. We hope to plant more this year too.

 

A few weeks ago I ran my test with some grocery store beans.
Stuck 10 seeds in and around another house plant.
ALL 10 sprouted.

 

I notice you are in Zone 6. If you ever come to Paris, the cheapest place I have found for peanuts is Trolinger's (my husband worked there for 12 years). They sell roasted/salted and raw peanuts in bulk. I was going to plant some of the raw ones last year but ran out of room in the garden. I was assured by an "old timer" that frequents the store that they (the raw ones) grow just fine. He always buys them to plant in his garden every year. They have a website but I can't remember what it is and can't find it when I search. I'm sure they would be happy to tell you what is it if you give them a call: 731-642-8667. You may be able to order what you need from the website if you don't get to Paris.
Heather