Monday, April 9, 2012

Peanut Plant Update - A Sad Turn of Events


Looking back through the past posts, I realized it's been more than a month since I've made mention of our peanut plant project.

At the beginning of January, we sprouted peanut plants from raw Spanish peanuts left over from our Christmas peanut brittle.


After about ten days, the peanuts had sprouted roots and leaves, and we transplanted them to a pot of sandy soil.


A week later, two of the plants were growing nicely, but the third was not showing any signs of life.



By the middle of February, with sunshine and a glass of water every other day, the two plants were growing well, and about seven inches tall.



Sadly, plant "B" took a sudden turn for the worse in the middle of March, and despite the sunshine and water, that continued to keep its brother plant growing strong, it withered, dried up, and died. We dug it out, just in case it had run its course, and produced peanuts, but there were no peanuts, only a dead plant.


Oddly enough, plant "A", receiving identical care to plant "B", continues to grow and flourish. It is now nearly 10 inches tall, and has a secondary "shoot" growing up next to it.


After loosing two of our three plants, I'm less than optimistic that we'll reach a peanut harvest, but keep checking back, and I'll let you know.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Linked with Science Sunday at Adventure's in Mommydom.

5 comments:

Ticia said...

I didn't know you got a peanut harvest from roots. I learned something new.

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Ticia - They don't exactly grown on the roots, but on streamers shot down from the plant.

Phyllis said...

You know, this is so interesting because I have always seen farmers (the old fashioned type, before mechanization) plant three seeds in each hill. After seeing your peanut plant update, I am thinking that this is because 1/3 of plants survive to maturity.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

I found Phyllis's comment interesting - perhaps this is the fate of peanuts? I am curious to see if your last survivor produces peanuts.

learningtable said...

We just read two picture books about George Washington Carver, so my kids were interested to see your plants. I hope the survivor makes it!