Determining Harvest Maturity

Determining when to dig is highly important because peanut maturity determines grade and yield. Over-mature peanuts can quickly lose peg strength, resulting in significant yield loss. There are many practical considerations which effect digging date such as vine health, weather forecast, total acreage, and combine capacity. A sound disease management program in the critical 60-105 DAP interval provides the vine health needed later in the season to leave the crop in the ground to build grade, weight, and crop value. Late season storms may also require leaving the crop in the ground longer than planned. If a large acreage is planted late, some fields may have to be dug before reaching maximum grade to reduce overall risk. It is seldom practical to dig every field at optimum maturity, but there are some useful guidelines to determine when to start digging, and which fields are most mature.

For more information, see the Production Guide.