peanuts in zone 6b?

has anyone had luck with peanuts in zone 6b?  any tips?

Here in New Mexico, they grow a lot of Valencia peanuts near Portales which is zone 6b.

I'm not sure about the specifics of how they grow them.  Also, I wonder how well the USDA hardiness zones will work in this case.  Even though Portales is zone 6b, the summers are hot, dry and there is full sun except for about ten days a year.


Here is a grower's web site that briefly discusses their growing conditions, planting time, etc.
http://www.sunlandinc.com/788/html/history.html

As a kid, I grew peanuts on the edge of zone 5/6. Only had a few plants, but I do remember eating he harvest. As far as the climate goes, it is doable. The USDA zone system is mostly based on minimum winter temperature, so it is not directly relevant to the peanut when grown as a summer annual - the big thing is the number of frost-free days or degree-days. Peanuts usually take 120 to 150 days between planting and harvest, and they like it fairly warm.

What kind of soil do you have?
Make sure to use inoculated seed (w/ Rhizobium).

Jonathan_Byron wrote:
What kind of soil do you have?

http://ourcalories.blogspot.com/2010/11/raised-beds-hugelkultur-style-part-3.html

A few years ago I found a peanut plant growing in my raised berry bed.  Apparently a squirrel had "planted" it for me (buried and forgot about it).  I feed squirrels raw peanuts in the fall.  However, I forgot about it, so I never got a chance to see if it actually produced "nuts".  I live in zone 5-6.

Does anyone know if peanuts will reseed if allowed to go "wild" without harvesting them? I know peanuts put out little shoots and spread, but I'm wondering if those new peanuts would become new plants in the spring or if they'd get hit by frost and never come back...?