companion plants for groundnuts

[oldleo]

This is my first time trying to go organic. I am trying to grow groundnuts and wish to know what other plants may be helpful to the groundnuts in attracting good insects or to repel enemies of the groundnuts. Is there any plant that should not be grown near groundnuts? Please help.

[Susan W]

Please tell me more!
What ARE groundnuts? they are mentioned frequently as a food source for native americans. Now we are lost!
Don't want to sound ignorant, but where are you?
Susan

[oldleo]

Please tell me more!
What ARE groundnuts? they are mentioned frequently as a food source for native americans. Now we are lost!
Don't want to sound ignorant, but where are you?
Susan

Sorry, they are also called peanuts as explained here, (I'm from Kuching, Malaysia).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut

[applestar]

It's usually advised that you don't plant any alliums near legumes (such as peanuts). Which is too bad because garlic and onions are often recommended to repel squirrels and rabbits (though I'm not certain that they work). I think carrots might make a good companion since they also like lloose sandy soil, but would utilize deeper root zone, and the carrot tops would not excessively shade the low-growing peanuts. By the same token, anything that overshadows shouldn't be planted where they might block the sun, and aggressive spreaders like curcurbits probably should be avoided.

OK I realized I was concentrating on growing conditions. Hmm what are typical peanut pests? I think coriander/cilantro would be a good companion since they readily flower and the tiny flowers attract beneficial insects that prey on aphids and whiteflies, as well as others that prey on moth/butterfly caterpillars.

[oldleo]

Thank you applestar, I'll plant some carrots and coriander/cilantro then. But I think rats or mice may be a problem when the nuts are formed. What should I do then?

[applestar]

I have trepidations about that too... in my case, chipmunks and squirrels.
Last year's peanuts were undiscovered except for a very few that I missed myself -- I found them dug up and shells left on the ground, but that was AFTER harvest.

IF I have real problems this year, then, for next year, I'll probably resort to an idea I saw for protecting tulip bulbs from voles, which is to plant them in a box made of wire mesh (it's called hardware cloth around here). I would bury the box 1/2 in and 1/2 out of the ground so the forming peanuts will be protected. Foliage can grow out of the box, you just have to make sure that the flower stems don't grow outside because they may not be able to get back in and dig into the ground.

I *could* probably keep the squirrels out of an area where I run a light duty electrical fence during apple season, but I think chipmunks may find a way around that.

[Sage Hermit]

get a cat and plant catnip and catmint. they will eat the rodents.
A cat will catch more than one rodent everyday and in some cases many rodents everyday.

[oldleo]

Thank you again applestar, your wire mesh idea is good but I can't apply it this time because my peanut plants are already 3 weeks old.

[oldleo]

get a cat and plant catnip and catmint. they will eat the rodents.
A cat will catch more than one rodent everyday and in some cases many rodents everyday.

True, it is good to keep a cat to catch the rodents. Thank you.

[thanrose]

Thank you again applestar, your wire mesh idea is good but I can't apply it this time because my peanut plants are already 3 weeks old.

Actually, you can. You wouldn't be planting them in the wire mesh box, but you could put one over your peanut plants, maybe pegging it into the ground with stakes.

My peanuts have all already been moved by my sharecropping squirrels. I'm finding them growing in the oddest places, but that's okay with me. Most of my peanuts were sprouts I just dug up from where the squirrels had planted them, so they've moved them again. I have no idea who planted them originally, but I truly don't believe any of my immediate neighbors did. I could believe that someone put them out for feeding the squirrels, though.