i'm not a peanut farmer so i can't give advice on harvesting. i can tell you this, though:

let them dry for a couple of days. peanuts have toxic chemicals in them when raw.

if you miss a single peanut, you'll have more next year. peanuts are about like some potatoes...once you get em in the ground, they're tough to get rid of.

before you harvest all of them, spot-check on a few of them. they actually DO turn yellow on the leaves a couple of weeks prior to ripeness, so if yours are still green-leaved, I'd be wary.

we planted in cardboard boxes and paper bags so we could shred the bag afterwards and harvest easily.

you don't need to worry about harvesting until we have a hard freeze. we're still probably a good 4-5 weeks away from any hard freezing action. (i hope)

Well they are up...I just had to get them out of there, they were taking over and smothering my strawberry plants. There were lots of peanuts!! and I'm sure that some were left behind *UGH*

But, as a whole I really dont mind them being there next year. I also pulled up some volunteer sweet potatoes that had intertwined into these. Nice little harvest of tators too!!

I didn't plant SP this year. I just didn't use as many as I thought I would so I didn't bother.

These peanuts came up pretty easily, they were the runner type and I just started from the outside and lifted each "branch" runner up and towards the main part of the plant, and then straight up as a whole bunch.

so I guess I can just leave them out on the lawn now? do they need to be laid out without any others on top of them? or just out of the ground with air circulation is enough?

Congrats on your peanut harvest! I really want to grow some
here's some info I found about after the harvest:
Harvest the peanuts when the foliage begins to yellow in late summer or early fall. Dig up the plants with a spading fork and carefully shake off the loose soil. Cure the peanuts by hanging the plants in a warm, dry shed or garage. Beware of mice. After the plants have dried for 1 or 2 weeks, shake off any remaining soil and pull the peanut pods from the plants. Continue to air dry the peanuts for an additional 1 or 2 weeks. Once dried, place the peanuts in mesh bags and store them in cool, well-ventilated place until roasted.

Well, I guess I was not clear on my request for info...thinking I've got a few weeks to dry these peanuts, then I spoke to my SIL (native Georgian) and we BOIL these peanuts, not roast them, so they must be picked and stored ASAP after pulling up. They get boiled for 3 hours in a salt brine, so they are then ok to eat.

Had I left them for 2 weeks plus, I would have been sadly disappointed that I would have ruined them for eating boiled.

lesson learned :)

rjinga, check out the video on boiling peanuts on our Plow Club site http://sites.google.com/site/countryboyplowclu/ It is a pretty decent video that explains boiling peanuts to the new folks. We didn't prepare the video but it is pretty good.

Boiled peanuts are a great southern tradition. After 3 hours or so, begin tasting your peanuts for your preferred saltiness and softness. When the peanut itself (not the hull) is reasonably soft, they are "done". If they aren't quite salty enough for your taste, leave sitting in the salt brine until they are salty enough. WARNING the longer the peanut sit in the brine, the more salt is absorbed into the nut through the hull. ENJOY

update on the final result...I put up 7 gallon bags of respectable sized peanuts, not huge ones, but really not too bad!!! This was just an experiment, next year!! watch out, I'll be planting many more plants, in a much more organized fashion.

thanks! that is very encouraging. I hope to plant roasting peanuts (I HATE boiled peanuts! Yech!!) and to make my own peanut butter someday. This is very helpful!

GGG, I will tell you that they were soooooo easy to grow, virtually no work at all. Much like growing sweet potatoes. The only thing I had to do was add the gypsum when they were flowering, they got watered with everything else and we had good bit of rain pretty regularly. I did plant them late I think, so next year they will do in earlier. They also did spread out like crazy, so next year they will have a space of their own. And I will seek out larger "starter" peanuts, as these were not quite as big as I would like, but again, they are a respectible size (even so for drying/roasting if that's how we liked them). Very worthwhile to me, definitely planting more next year

I have a HUGE amount of space, and will have lots of sun under the baby fruit trees I'm planting. Thinking that peanuts will make the perfect ground cover for many areas. Peanuts, sweet potato, squash and melons!

ground cover you will get!!! It does have a nice looking plant when it's growing.

rjinga,
You don't HAVE to boil 'em before they're dry.

Living in exile up here in the frigid northland(KY) where fresh, green peanuts are not readily available(yeah, I know I could grow 'em myself), I have to avail myself of the current year's crop when I go home to south AL to visit in December.
I usually bring back 40 or 50 pounds of fresh, dry peanuts and whenever I get the itch, I just boil up a gallon or so of 'em - they're just fine. I just put 'em in a big pot, add enough water to cover them(you initially have to hold 'em down to figure out how much water to add, since they float) then add salt to taste - and any other seasonings; I like to add some crab/shrimp boil concentrate, hot sauce, Cajun seasoning, etc. to make some tasty hot Cajun boiled peanuts. I usually boil 'em for 3 or 4 hours, adding back more water as it boils away, then I cut off the eye and let 'em sit in the brine overnight.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

In early spring, I was feeding raw peanuts in the shell to the Bluejays and Squirrels just to watch them. Having grown peanuts many many years ago to show the kids, I was familiar with what a peanut plant looked like. So, when I spotted a peanut plant in with my tomato plants, I was surprised and puzzled. As Spring slipped into summer, I started finding peanut plants popping up in various places all around the yard. It hit me like a ton of bricks. When I wasn't around watching, the squirrels became little gardeners and were burying the peanuts I was feeding them instead of eating them. I am still wondering, are they planting them knowing that they will develope into more food or are they burying them with the simple hope of finding that same peanut this coming winter. I am mowing around the plants for now with hopes of getting a chance to see the critter come back to harvest. How do they remember where they planted them all? Will I get squirrel attacked if I steal a few peanuts? It's all good!

I planted my peanuts in a small galvanized water trough. the plants are still lush and green, but the peanuts are coming to the surface. Should I wait till the plants turn yellow? Should I stop watering? First crop, know nothing

I spotted a bit of false information in the comments: " peanuts have toxic chemicals in them when raw." As one who has eaten bunches of raw peanuts, I can confirm that this statement is untrue. Perhaps the poster would like to direct us to some authoritative source to support his statement?