Table beet is considered traditional from the swan family, which we everywhere and quite successfully cultivate in vegetable gardens, use in cooking as a healthy and tasty ingredient. The plant is unique, not only its roots, but also the tops are suitable for food. Borscht, vinaigrettes are prepared from it, used in soups and vitamin salads.
The vegetable is a biennial plant. Its root crops are large, their weight reaches one kilogram. Color - maroon. Outwardly, the fruits look rounded or flat. The foliage is broad and green. After planting in the ground in the second year, the period of flowering and the formation of seed material begins.
The period of planting and harvesting is different, depending on the climatic zones of cultivation of the plant, lasts from two to four months.
According to the formation of the crop, table beets are divided into four categories:
- early ripening (from 65 to 80 days);
- early maturing (up to 100 days);
- mid-season (up to 130 days);
- late-ripening (from 130 days).
The vegetable contains a large amount of proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, beneficial vitamins, carotene, acids, and mineral components.
Beets are rich in vitamins and nutrients
Homeland and regions of growth of table beets
The well-known garden culture appeared about two hundred years ago. Its ancestor is considered to be chard, growing wild in Western Europe, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The plant was first mentioned in the fifth century BC. Mangold became the founder of today's beet varieties - table, sugar and fodder. From him, modern species have adopted the main advantage - the content of a large amount of iodine.
To date, agricultural technicians have bred a large number of varieties. But most often gardeners prefer the following:
- cold resistant. The variety is early ripening, root crops of medium shape, ripen in two and a half months. The fruits are round, slightly flattened, their upper part is located above the soil surface, which makes it easy to harvest. The pulp is tasty, cherry-colored, juicy. The average weight of the fetus reaches two hundred grams. When growing this species from a ten-meter plot of beds, you can collect from forty to seventy kilograms of vegetables, which will be perfectly preserved. The plant is unpretentious, able to tolerate cold, rarely gets sick with fungal formations. Beets are recommended for cultivation in the northern regions;
- fortune. Unpretentious beet plant of medium ripening, reliable, with a small rosette of leaves, gives stable yields. It is recommended to grow it in the gardens of the Urals. Suitable for all types of cooking, canning, bookmarking for long-term storage. Vegetables differ in large forms, their weight reaches three hundred and fifty grams. Productivity is high, reaches from forty to sixty kilograms from ten square meters;
Variety cold-resistant Variety fortune
- crimson ball. Beets are round, medium early. Full maturation occurs in three to four months. The weight of vegetables ranges from three to five hundred grams. The plant resists diseases well, does not undergo flowering, yields up to ninety kilograms from ten square meters. It is considered the best variety for any kind of processing. It is stored without waste for six to eight months;
- Pablo. The variety is high-yielding, to be harvested three months after germination. Vegetables weigh up to one hundred grams, in the autumn season their weight reaches five hundred. The pulp is dark red, juicy and with excellent taste. The vegetable practically does not crack, rarely subject to stalking. The hybrid gives stable yields of six to seven dozen kilograms per ten squares, and is successfully used in cooking.
Loose fertile soils should be selected for this crop. Preference is given to loamy chernozems and peat bogs with a neutral or slightly alkaline reaction. Acidity is very important for beets, otherwise the root crops will be affected by diseases and cannot be stored for a long time.
It is forbidden to sow beets on beds in which fresh manure was introduced.
The best predecessors for this crop are cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes and onions. Although seedlings are able to survive light frosts, you should not take risks with this - it is better to wait a bit.
The step-by-step instruction for sowing in open ground is as follows - the bed is loosened to a depth of five centimeters, grooves are made at intervals of thirty centimeters. The seeding depth should be about three centimeters. Seeds can be sown dry or pre-soaked in water. The soil before this definitely needs to be moistened. The interval between seeds is from three to four centimeters. After planting beets, the furrows should be sprinkled and watered. Shoots will appear in about a week.
Sowing beets in open ground
At the initial stage of growth, beets should be fed with nitrogen, then potassium compounds are preferred. Further use of nitrogen fertilizers can lead to voids and cracks in the vegetable.
To support the plant with potassium, it is best to use wood ash to improve the resistance of the vegetable to diseases.
Beetroot needs constant watering, loves moisture. But waterlogging is not recommended for her, as it can cause disease.
On a bucket of water during watering, you can add a spoonful of salt. This will protect against disease and improve sugar levels.
The soil in the beds must be loosened almost from the moment the sprouts form a second leaf. At the same time, weed grass is removed, seedlings are thinned out. By the way, the beets transplant perfectly and quickly take root in a new garden bed.
The second thinning is best done at the end of July, leaving up to ten centimeters between the beetroots.
Beet shoots Harvest and storage
Mass cleaning falls on the first frosts. It is important not to miss this moment, otherwise the frozen root crops will not be well preserved.
Beets should be carefully removed from the ground, cut off the tops with your hands. Then the vegetables are left in the garden to dry their wounds. Beets that have damage and disease are discarded and not stored for storage. The whole crop is put into clean boxes and stored at a temperature of one to two degrees Celsius.
I would like to note that beets are best preserved, the growing season of which does not exceed five months. If the plans are to preserve the crop for a long time, then varieties of early ripeness should be used, sowing them in mid-May. But for early planting, beet varieties are suitable, which will be eaten daily.
Increasingly, amateur gardeners complain that the beets are not sweet, the pulp is woody and do not find the reasons for such a change. The reasons are caused mainly by low-quality seeds, the purchase of fodder varieties instead of table varieties, violation of agricultural technology and growing conditions. Therefore, before moving on to table beet farming, let's get acquainted with its requirements for growing conditions.
Beet requirements for growing conditions
Temperature regime
Table beet belongs to the group of heat-loving crops, but it is quite cold-resistant. Sowing it in open ground begins with the establishment of a constant soil temperature in a 10-15 cm layer not lower than +8 .. + 10 ° С. With early sowing with the return of cold weather, the beets may, after germination, go into the arrow and not form a quality crop. Root vegetables will be small with dense woody tissue, insipid or with a grassy flavor. An ambient temperature of +4..+6°С is sufficient for the emergence of seedlings. Early shoots can withstand short-term frost down to -2 ° C, but the roots will be small. Do not rush to sow beets or sow in several periods with a break of 7-10-15 days. One of the crops will fall into optimal conditions and form the crop of the expected quality you need.
woodley wonderworksLight regime for table beets
In order to obtain high-quality high yields of any crop (not only beets), it is necessary to know its biology, including its attitude to the light regime. Beets are a typical long-day plant. Beet cultivars at the level of genetic memory have fixed this biological feature, and the maximum yield is formed when cultivated with a daylight hours of 13-16 hours. A change in the duration of daylight by 2-3 hours mainly causes the growth of the aerial part, and the development of the root crop slows down.
Remember! The shorter the ripening time of the culture, the less the beets react to changes in the length of daylight hours.
Old, resistant beet varieties are more strongly attached to the light regime than young ones and react negatively to changes in the length of light illumination. To obtain high-quality yields, it is more practical to buy modern zoned beet seeds, which are most adapted to the length of the light period of the region and react little to the duration of illumination. In addition, breeders have now bred varieties and hybrids that practically do not respond to longitude of illumination. Therefore, it is better to buy modern varieties and hybrids (F-1) of table beets.
The ratio of beets to moisture
Beets are sufficiently able to independently provide themselves with moisture. But with insufficient rainfall, it needs watering. Irrigation rates should be moderate, since excess moisture at a rarefied standing density forms large root crops, often with cracks.
Ollie Wilkman Requirements of beets to soil conditions
Beetroot is a soil plant with a neutral reaction. On acidified soils, the crop is formed insignificant with low taste qualities of the root crop. The culture prefers floodplain soils, light loams, chernozems. Does not tolerate heavy clay, stony, saline soils with high standing water.
The requirement of beets to predecessors
The best predecessors are early-harvested crops, including cucumbers, zucchini, early cabbage, early potatoes, early varieties of eggplant and sweet pepper, early tomatoes. The time of harvesting the predecessor is especially important during the winter sowing of table beets. The soil must be fully prepared for sowing.
Features of agricultural technology of table beets
Selection of beet seeds for sowing
As a botanical plant, the beet is interesting in the way the fruit is formed. The beet fruit is a one-seeded nut. When the seeds ripen, the carpels grow together with the perianth and form a seed-glomerulus, which also has the second name “beet seed”. Each glomerulus contains from 2 to 6 fruits with seeds. Therefore, during germination, several independent, easily separated sprouts appear. When sowing seedlings of beet seedlings need thinning. Reception is usually carried out manually, which is accompanied by high labor costs and, accordingly, an increase in the cost of products when cultivated in large specialized farms.
Breeders bred single-seeded(single-sprout) varieties of table beets. In terms of their economic features, they do not differ from the varieties that form seed seed clusters. Their main difference is the formation of 1 fruit, which excludes thinning during care. Seedlings at home are ground with sand before sowing. When grinding, the seed is divided into separate seeds.
Of the single-sprout (single-seeded) varieties of beets, the most famous and used in home cultivation are Single-sprout G-1, Bordeaux single-seeded, Virovskaya single-seeded, Russian single-seeded, Timiryazevskaya single-seeded. The above varieties of beets are mid-season, high-yielding. The pulp of root vegetables is tender, juicy. They are distinguished by good keeping quality, long-term storage. Used fresh and for winter preparations.
Joolie It is more convenient to buy beet seeds for sowing in specialized stores of seed companies. In this case, there is no need to prepare seeds for sowing (treatment, loitering, drageeing, etc.). When buying beetroot seeds, be sure to read the recommendations on the package. Sometimes treated seeds do not need pre-soaking. They are directly sown in moist soil. In other cases, seeds are germinated in wet wipes, which speeds up germination.
Soil preparation
After harvesting the predecessor, it is necessary to provoke autumn shoots of weeds by watering, followed by their destruction. If the site is depleted in organic matter, then mature humus or compost is evenly scattered at 2-5 kg per square meter. m. plot area. To neutralize acidified soil, fluffy lime is added 0.5-1.0 kg per 1 sq. m and mineral fertilizers - nitroammophoska 50-60 g per 1 sq. m. Instead of nitroammophoska, you can prepare a mixture of mineral fertilizers. Ammonium sulphate, superphosphate and potassium chloride, respectively 30, 40 and 15 g / sq. m. is mixed, scattered over the site and dug up by about 15-20 cm. In spring, the soil is loosened by 7-15 cm, the surface is leveled with a rake and lightly rolled. Rolling is necessary for uniform sowing depth.
Dates of sowing table beets
Beets are sown in the spring when the soil warms up in a 10-15 cm layer to +10°C. Approximately sowing in warm regions and the North Caucasus is carried out after April 15. In the Volga region, other non-chernozem and central regions, in Kazakhstan, beets are sown in open ground in the first half of May. In the Far East - in the last decade of May-first decade of June. The above sowing dates are more suitable for early beet varieties. Medium and late varieties of beets are sown in warm regions at the end of May. Part of this crop is laid for winter storage.
In the Urals and in the Northern regions, late beets are usually not sown in open ground. In central Russia, due to the temperate climate, it is possible to grow all sortotypes of table beet - from the early ones with obtaining root crops in technical ripeness in mid-July to the latest varieties with harvesting in September-first half of October. In these regions of Russia, including non-chernozem, winter beet sowing is widely used (late October-early November, November-December) with cold-resistant varieties that are resistant to bolting. During the winter sowing of beets, an early harvest of root crops is harvested at the end of June.
Andrew Quickcrop Technology of spring sowing of table beet seeds
Sowing beet seeds in spring can be done with dry and more practical germinated seeds. Seeds are sown in furrows on a flat surface of the field. Sprouted seeds are sown in moist soil. In dry soil, almost all sprouts die.
Furrows are cut through 15-30 cm. Sowing on heavy soils is carried out to a depth of 2 cm, on light soils - 4 cm. It is impossible to deepen crops. The distance in the row is 2-3 cm, which, when thinned, is increased to 7-10 cm, which ensures the production of standard (10 cm in diameter) root crops. On single-seeded crops of beet, thinning is combined with harvesting a beam crop, and when sowing with seedlings, two thinnings are carried out.
Technology of planting beet seedlings
Table beet seedlings are usually grown in short summer conditions, combining the initial development in greenhouses and hotbeds with further development in the open field. Beets can be grown on warm ridges, covering with 1-2 layers of spandbond from early cold weather. Seeds are sown in greenhouses or a greenhouse in prepared soil 10-12-15 days before the period of planting in open ground. Sowing ordinary. To obtain more seedlings, sowing is carried out in glomeruli. The distance in a row is 12-20 cm, depending on the variety, and between the rows is 30-40 cm. In the phase of 4-5 leaves (about 8 cm in height), a pick is carried out, leaving 1-2 plants in the nest. Dive plants are planted in the ground or in separate peat-humus and other containers for growing, if the weather has not settled. When transplanting beets, it is necessary to treat the central root as carefully as possible. Damage to it will retard the growth of the transplanted plant. With the onset of stable warm weather, young plants are planted in open ground. Peat-humus immediately planted in the ground with plants. If the pots are reusable, transplantation is carried out by transshipment. With this method, only a small number of non-standard root crops (deformed) are obtained. When transplanting, the following rules are observed:
- beet seedlings no more than 8 cm in height are transplanted to a permanent position. The older the seedlings, the more non-standard root crops in the crop,
- to prevent shooting, it is impossible to deepen beet seedlings when transplanting,
- leave a distance in a row of at least 12-15 cm, and between rows, to reduce shading, up to 25-30-40 cm.
Karen Jackson Winter beet sowing technology
For winter sowing, the ridge method of planting is most suitable. It provides better warming of the soil in spring, and hence obtaining an ultra-early harvest of root crops and early beam production. Podzimny sowing of beets is carried out in October-November, or rather, when a steady cooling is established, without the return of warm days. At the tops of the ridges, the seed is sown in furrows to a depth of 4-6 cm, to protect against sudden frosts. The seeds in the furrows are sprinkled with humus soil by 1-2 cm, slightly compacted and additionally mulched on top by 2-3 cm for warming.
Compacted beet crops
If the garden is small in size, but you want to have a large list of vegetable crops, then beets can be grown in compacted beds, that is, several crops can be combined on one bed. This technique is especially good in the southern regions, where during a long warm period, 2-3 crops of various early ripening crops can be harvested from one compacted bed. Spring crops of beets can be combined on the same bed with carrots, onions for greens, radishes, radishes, spinach, salads, including cabbage, leaf, watercress. When harvesting early beets in the first decade of July, the vacated area can be occupied by repeated crops of onions for greens, radishes, lettuce, dill. After harvesting the greens, peas or other crops can be sown as green manure.
rachael gander
Beet care
Beetroot care consists of:
- in keeping the site clean of weeds, especially in the initial post-emergence period (before the appearance of the first 2 pairs of leaves). At this time, the beets develop very slowly and do not tolerate clogging;
- in the maintenance of row spacing free from soil crust, to ensure free gas exchange;
- carrying out timely top dressing;
- maintaining the optimal humidity of the site.
Beetroot begins to germinate at soil temperatures of +8..+10°С and +5..+7°С of the environment. However, seedlings at this temperature appear late and very unevenly. The optimum air temperature is +19..+22°C. Shoots appear on the 5-8th day and by the 10-12th day the culture enters the fork phase. In the next 10 days, there is a powerful development of the aerial part of the culture (leaf apparatus), and then the development of the root crop begins.
Soil loosening
The first loosening is carried out 4-5 days after germination. Loosening is carried out very carefully, gradually deepening the treated layer from 2-4 to 6-8 cm. Timely destruction of young weeds slightly injures beet plants and provides the culture with optimal conditions for growth and development. Loosening is stopped after the leaves close.
aaron_01m Beet thinning
Thinning is carried out when sowing table beets with seedlings (balls). From seedlings 3-5 seedlings develop. Single-seeded varieties generally do not need to be thinned unless tufting is provided. Thinning is carried out in cloudy weather after preliminary watering. It is easier to pull out a plant from moistened soil without damaging the neighboring one. Thinning beets is carried out twice.
The first time a breakthrough is carried out with the development of 1-2 leaves, removing the weakest and underdeveloped plants. A gap of 3-4 cm is left between plants. Beets are negatively related to greater sparseness. When thinning multi-seeded crops, 1-2 seedlings are left in place. In this case, thinning is carried out in the phase of 2-3 leaves. Pulled plants are used as seedlings, planting plants along the edges or in the sides of high ridges.
The second thinning is performed, with the development of 4-5 leaves. In this phase, a 3-5 cm root crop is already formed in the beets. In the second thinning, the tallest, most developed plants are removed. They reach beam ripeness and are used for food. At the same time, the state of plants is monitored and diseased and twisted plants are removed along the way. The distance in a row for the normal development of the root crop is 6-8-10 cm.
Beet top dressing
During the growing season, at least two top dressings of medium and late beet varieties are carried out. Early beets, with good autumn dressing with fertilizers, are usually not fed. Gardeners, especially beginners, find it difficult to calculate the right amount of fertilizer. The culture is often overfed, and it has the ability to accumulate nitrites, which determine the carcinogenicity of the culture and nitrates.
The first feeding is carried out after the first thinning or rooting of seedlings. You can carry out top dressing with nitroammophos - 30 g sq. m or a mixture of mineral fertilizers at the rate of 5-7 g / sq. m, respectively, sodium nitrate, superphosphate and potassium chloride.
On depleted soils, it is better to carry out the first top dressing with a solution of mullein or bird droppings in a ratio of 1 part mullein to 10 parts, and bird droppings to 12 parts of water. 5 g of urea can be added to the solution. The solution is applied at a distance of 6-10 cm from the row of beets in a 3-4 cm furrow. Use a bucket of solution for 10 running meters. Watering is carried out from a watering can close to the soil, so as not to burn the leaves. After making the solution, it is covered with a layer of soil, watered and mulched. Top dressing with liquid organic matter is carried out only in the initial period of beet development. Later, not having time to process the mineral form into an organic one, plants accumulate nitrates in root crops. The first sign of the accumulation of nitrates and nitrites in the root crop when overfed with nitrogen is the appearance of voids in the root crop.
The second dressing of beets is carried out after 15-20 days or after the second thinning. For top dressing, superphosphate and potassium magnesia or potassium chloride are used at a dose of 8-10 g / sq. m (1 teaspoon with top). Mineral fats can be replaced with wood ash, spending 200 g per square meter. m of area, followed by embedding in a 5-8 cm layer of soil.
Leonie Foliar top dressing
Microfertilizers boron, copper and molybdenum are best applied in the form of foliar liquid top dressing by spraying. Above ground mass. You can buy a ready-made mixture of microfertilizers or replace it with infusion of ash.
In the phase of 4-5 leaves, it is good to sprinkle the beets with a solution of boric acid. Dissolve 2 g of boric acid in hot water and dilute in 10 liters of water. This technique will protect beet roots from heart rot. The finished preparation of microfertilizers is diluted according to the recommendation and the plants are treated.
If there are no ready-made microfertilizers, they will be successfully replaced by an infusion of wood ash. Ash infusion can be carried out 2 foliar top dressing: in the phase of 4-5 leaves and in the phase of active growth of root crops (August). An infusion of 200 g per 10 liters of water must be filtered before spraying.
Approximately 25-30 days before harvesting beets, it is advisable to spray the plants with a solution of potash fertilizers, which will increase their keeping quality.
Do you want beets to be sweeter? Do not forget to salt it with ordinary table salt. Dilute 40 g (2 tablespoons without top) of non-iodized salt in 10 liters of water and pour over the beets, spending a bucket of solution per square meter. m of plot area. To reduce the amount of top dressing, combine the salt solution with a solution of trace elements, and spray in June and early August.
Watering the beets
Juicy root crops with tender pulp are obtained with regular watering, especially in arid regions. The first watering is carried out with mass shoots. Water the culture 3-4 times a month. During the period of intensive development of root crops, watering is increased. The first sign of a delay in watering is the wilting of beet leaves. Beets are very fond of watering on the leaves. The culture does not tolerate an increase in soil temperature. From overheating, constant mulching is necessary until the leaves close. Watering is stopped 3-4 weeks before harvest.
williambilhall2000 Protection of beets from diseases and pests
The most dangerous beet diseases are fungal and bacterial damage to the root system and root crop. The disease usually affects weakened plants and mechanically damaged roots and roots. The fight against rot (fusarium, brown, dry) is complicated by the fact that all plant organs are used for food - root crops, petioles, leaves. This means that the use of chemical means of protection is excluded. The fight is carried out by agrotechnical measures and treatment with biological products.
- Sowing is carried out only with healthy seed treated with bioprotectants. It is more expedient to buy ready-made seed, processed and prepared for sowing.
- Remove from the field all the remains of the crop, weeds, in which fungi, bacteria and other sources of diseases overwinter.
- Timely lime acidified soil, providing normal conditions for the development of culture.
- They constantly monitor the state of the crop and remove diseased plants from the field.
- They provide the culture not only with macro-but also with microelements, which protect plants well from diseases.
Of the biological preparations for combating rot, planriz is used for tillage, and with diseases of the aerial parts of plants - phytosporin, betaprotectin, phytodoctor, agrofil.
The most common pests of table beets are leaf and root aphids, beet and mining flies, beet shieldworm, beet flea, etc. Biological preparations against pests are bitoxibacillin, dendrobacillin, entobacterin, lepidocid, etc.
Dilution of biological products, doses and period of use are indicated on the packaging or on the accompanying recommendations. Biological products can be used in tank mixes after a preliminary compatibility check. Despite their safety, when processing plants with biological products, personal protection measures must be observed. Be careful! Biological products can cause an allergic reaction (mostly dusty forms - powders).
Phil Bartle Beet harvesting
Root crops must be harvested before the onset of frost (end of September - first half of October). Start harvesting beets when the leaves turn yellow. Frozen root crops are poorly stored and in storage are affected by fungal rot and other diseases. After harvesting, the root crops are sorted, separating absolutely healthy ones. The tops are cut, leaving stumps up to 1 cm. Healthy root crops are dried and stored for storage. Storage temperature is +2..+3°C. Storage methods are varied: in boxes with sand, sawdust, dry peat; in polyethylene bags, in bulk, etc.
- Part 2. Agricultural technology for growing beets
Beets are widely used in the preparation of various dishes - a very healthy, tasty vegetable.
Almost all gardeners are engaged in the cultivation of beets in the open field in their own area.
The culture is completely unpretentious and gives a good harvest. It is well cultivated throughout our country.
Depending on the variety, it can be of different shapes and shades. Let us consider in more detail what the agricultural technology of growing beets includes.
Each gardener independently chooses certain varieties.
When buying planting material, he focuses on the purpose of growing beets and his preferences.
Beets happen:
sugar; dining room; stern.
All varieties differ in terms of ripening, shape and color of root pulp.
From this classification, you can plant any beets in the garden, but it is important to familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the variety.
Root crops in a culture ripen at different times, and depending on this, it is early-ripening, mid-ripening and late-ripening.
The first variety is grown in order to be used for cooking in the summer.
To keep beets for a long time, you need to choose medium or late-ripening varieties. The maturation of such varieties occurs no earlier than after 3 months.
Important! When buying seeds, pay attention to the maturity of root crops.
You need to choose a variety that is suitable for growing in your area. Otherwise, you may not get fully ripe vegetables in the fall.
Beet seeds can be purchased at the market or store.
BordeauxThe best varieties for open ground among early ripe varieties can be distinguished:
- Red ball;
- Bordeaux 237;
- Bulk;
- cold resistant;
- Egyptian.
Such beets are suitable for eating when they grow more than 2 cm in diameter.
Fresh young leaves are used for salads, soups.
Mid-season varieties:
Mulatto- Detroit;
- Bohemia;
- Mulatto;
- Bona.
The maturation of such varieties occurs after 90-130 days. Mid-season is more resistant, it does not tolerate temperature changes so well.
Any of these varieties are suitable for winter storage of root crops.
Mid-season varieties are chosen in those regions where it is not possible to grow late-ripening varieties due to adverse weather conditions.
Beet CylinderLate-ripening is not suitable for growing in the northern regions, because it takes 130-150 days to fully ripen.
Not in all regions of Russia there is suitable weather for five months in a row, therefore, such beets are grown only in hot climatic zones.
Among the late-ripening varieties, Cylinder and Renova are the most popular.
Site selection
This issue needs to be approached carefully. It is recommended to choose a new place for culture every year.
If this is not done, you can get a bad harvest. Also, the culture can be affected by many diseases when grown in the same place every year.
The best predecessors beets will become cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, legumes, eggplant.
The choice of a new place on the site every year will help to avoid crop problems and crop diseases.
Lighting
Therefore, it is desirable that the bed is not shaded; beets need a lot of sunlight.
What kind of soil does beets like
The crop should not be planted on acidic soils. Areas where moisture stagnates for a long time are also not suitable.
To grow tasty and juicy beets, it is necessary to provide them with abundant watering, sunlight.
The soil should be light, slightly alkaline. Sandy and loamy non-acidic soils are also suitable.
When and how to plant in open ground
Planting beets is an easy process. The main points here are the timing of landing and the technology itself.
Landing dates
Sowing beets in the spring should occur when the soil warms up. At the same time, there should be no night frosts on the street.
The optimum soil temperature at the time of sowing is +7-10°C.
As for the timing of planting beets, they differ depending on the region.
In the southern regions, they are sown already in March-April, in the middle lane it is still cold at this time.
The culture belongs to heat-loving plants, so it begins to be sown from the beginning of May.
Regions with short summers and cold springs are distinguished by even later plantings of the crop.
Siberia and the Urals are distinguished by cold and short summers; landing there is usually carried out no earlier than mid-May-June.
The plant variety also affects the timing of planting. Planting time also depends on the rate of ripening of root crops.
Of course, you can ignore this. For example, if you plant an early-ripening variety too late, you can get a rough root crop.
The lunar calendar comes to the rescue for determining the timing of sowing.
According to the 2019 calendar, each month has favorable and unfavorable days for planting. You can get acquainted with them by looking at the table:
Preparing seeds for planting
If you look at the planting material of the culture, you can see several pieces of seeds under one shell.
During germination, from 1 to 5 sprouts can form. Thus, one seed is placed in each well.
The seeds are quite large, wrinkled, their color can be brownish, sandy.
If the seeds are green or bluish, this means that they have already been treated with fungicides, growth stimulants.
Such planting material is already ready for sowing.
It must be dry immediately placed in pre-prepared holes.
Before planting, beet seeds need to be processed, if they have not previously undergone a special processing procedure.
You can do it this way:
- First of all, they need to be soaked. Pour warm water into a glass or bowl.
- Put the seeds in there. Wait a while until the seeds begin to sink to the bottom of the container.
- Floating seeds are removed, as they will give a poor harvest or not germinate at all.
- The remaining seeds are placed in a growth stimulant solution.
- Then they are kept in warm water for 2 days for germination.
- The hatched seeds are ready for planting.
Advice! You can prepare your own growth stimulator. To do this, mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 5 g of superphosphate, 4 g of nitroammophoska, 2 g of boric acid, you can add a little wood ash. Everything is thoroughly mixed and poured with water, the seeds are placed in the solution for 30 minutes.
Soil and garden preparation
The soil for beets is dug up right before planting. Thus, moisture will be stored there more, the seeds will germinate faster.
The soil is loosened, beds are formed with a rake. If the soil is too dry, it must be moistened.
When the weather is warm without frost, you can plant beets in a permanent place.
If the earth has a high level of acidity, it needs to be adjusted. To do this, make lime, dolomite flour or wood ash.
Pay attention not to overdo it with fertilizers during planting and in the future, as their excess leads to the accumulation of nitrates in root crops.
In addition, the beets begin to crack, voids appear in it.
Fertilization
As a rule, beds for planting crops begin to prepare in the fall. Fertilizer for vegetables during planting is applied at this stage. Add rotted compost.
In the spring, you will need to add 2-3 kg of humus per square meter to the soil. m, as well as 100 g of nitrophoska, 30 g of nitroammofoska.
If the soil is heavy, adding wood ash and sawdust will help make it lighter and more breathable.
Some gardeners practice planting beets before winter. To do this, they sow planting material no earlier than November.
This will allow the seeds to get hardened by frost. In the spring, the sprouts will sprout early, they will be strong and healthy.
However, with this method there is a risk of destroying all landings. Sometimes a short-term thaw occurs, the seeds germinate, and upon the arrival of sudden frosts, they freeze out.
Planting process
Experienced gardeners recommend planting beets in open ground with seeds along the edge of the garden.
With this method, the heads grow large, regular beautiful shape. Landing looks like this:
- The bed is being prepared.
- Beet planting scheme: make holes at a distance of 3-4 cm from each other, leave at least 20-30 cm between rows.
- Germinated or dry seeds are placed in holes.
- Fall asleep on top of the earth, watered.
- To create a greenhouse effect and accelerate seed germination, a film is used. They cover the bed with it.
- When the first shoots appear, the film is removed.
on a note! Furrows can be easily made with a board. It is placed upside down on the bed, pressed into the ground. You need to deepen up to 2 cm. Retreating 20 cm, make a second groove. By the same principle, they walk with the board throughout the garden.
Sowing seeds for seedlings
As for the question of whether it is possible to plant beets with seedlings, the answer will be in the affirmative. Usually this method is used in regions with a short summer.
At first, at home, gardeners are engaged in growing beet seedlings, and when it becomes warm, they transplant it to a permanent place.
First, seeds are planted in containers with nutrient soil. Then dive into separate containers when 2-3 true leaves appear.
Beetroot seedlings are ready for planting in open ground when the soil warms up to +10°C.
Transplanted along with a clod of earth. They take containers with seedlings and carefully transfer the plants.
Transshipment provides seedlings with a quick habituation to a new place.
Thus, plants get sick less, adapt faster.
Agricultural technology for growing beets after planting in open ground
Caring for beets, like all other crops, includes regular weeding, abundant watering, and removal of weeds.
To increase the yield and increase resistance to diseases, plants are fed, treated with special preparations.
thinning
This procedure is necessary in order to remove all poorly developing and densely growing plants. Carry out thinning in cloudy weather.
For all the time of growth, beets need thinning twice.
The first time when shoots appear and grow a little. It is necessary to remove small weak plants if they sprout too often.
The second thinning is done at the stage of formation of 4-5 leaves, while the height of the plant should be about 6-9 cm.
When thinning, the sprouts are carefully examined, the weakest are removed. If they grow too close, also thin out.
This is done in such a way that the distance between individual seedlings is 5 cm.
If there is a lot of space on the site, remote seedlings can be planted there.
Watering
Growing beets in the country is not complete without watering. The vegetable loves moisture, so it is important to provide it with abundant watering.
You need to water in the morning or in the evening, when there is no scorching sun. The plant can get burned if watered in hot weather.
As a rule, beds with beets are watered once a week. However, this is all approximate.
You need to focus on weather conditions. Do not allow the formation of an earthen crust on the surface of the beds.
You can also check whether the crop needs to be watered by touching the ground. Adult plants need watering less often, and the closer to autumn, the less often watering.
Experienced gardeners mulch the beds with cut grass. This is necessary so that the moisture evaporates less. This will allow you to water the beds much less frequently.
Mulching also helps to reduce the growth of weeds.
Late-ripening varieties finish watering 2-3 weeks before the expected harvest. Early ripe beets are watered regularly, plucked as needed.
top dressing
Caring for beets in the open field, as well as the timely and correct application of dressings, helps to increase the yield and improve the taste of the crop.
For fertilizing use different fertilizers. Their choice depends on the stage of plant formation.
At the beginning of development, the culture requires nitrogen. It is necessary for the growth of foliage.
When roots begin to form, then potassium, boron, and phosphorus are needed.
At this stage, you can water the beds with mullein infusion. Only it must be diluted 1:10 before watering. A solution of urea, nettle is also well suited.
You can also carry out foliar top dressing. Nutrients are quickly absorbed by the leaves.
To carry out such top dressing, you need to water the tops with a solution of boric acid. 2 g of acid is diluted in 10 liters of water.
What can be planted after beets and what can be combined with its planting
The secrets of growing crops lie not only in proper care, regular feeding, but also in observing the rules of crop rotation.
In addition, joint planting of vegetables will also save space on the site.
For example, you can plant beets along the edge in the same bed with cabbage, onions, lettuce and garlic.
Beets grow well after onions, garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers.
As for what to plant after beets, there are practically no restrictions. Any crop will grow well after this vegetable.
But still, potatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and tomatoes will be best.
Diseases and pests
Agrotechnics for growing beets is simple. Providing all the necessary conditions, you can get a rich and tasty harvest of healthy vegetables.
Beetroot is one of those plants that rarely suffer from diseases. Most often it can affect:
To preserve the crop, it is necessary to follow the rules of crop rotation, constantly get rid of weeds, and also spray the plants with copper-containing preparations.
The most common pests that threaten the culture:
- Root eater;
- beet fly;
- Flea.
You can get rid of pests with the help of folk remedies, one of which is an infusion of onion peel.
Also good results in pest control are shown by dusting with ash, tobacco dust.
Harvest and storage
Start harvesting depending on the variety. Early-ripening varieties are ready for eating already with a length of root crops that have reached more than 6 cm.
Late-ripening varieties are usually grown for winter storage. Thus, they are collected much later.
When the leaves begin to turn yellow, dry, fall on the garden, after about 7 days you can harvest.
Root crops need to be dug up in dry weather. Beets are dug up with a pitchfork, harvested and left to dry. Next, cut off the petioles, leaving a length of 2.5 cm.
After the root crops are sorted, put away for storage in the cellar or cellar.
For better preservation of the crop, wooden boxes are used. Beets are sprinkled with chalk or sand.
Growing beets in our country is possible in any way.
When buying seeds, it is important to focus on the climatic features of the region and the timing of the ripening of root crops of a particular variety.
Caring for the culture is not difficult, even a beginner can handle it.
CherryLink plugin not foundThe best predecessors of beets are cucumber, early potatoes, cabbage and other crops that have been subjected to organic fertilizers. A good predecessor is a tomato. Repeated sowing of beets for beets is unacceptable - while already in the second year there is a sharp decrease in yield and damage to the root beetle. Beets are returned to their original place in the crop rotation not earlier than after 3 ... 4 years. Do not sow beets on acidic and waterlogged soils.
Soils rich in organic matter are most suitable for beets - loamy chernozems, cultivated sod-podzolic, floodplain loamy, as well as peat bogs with a neutral reaction (after liming). Light sandy and sandy loamy soils for beets can only be used after applying high doses of fertilizers. Acidic soils are unsuitable for growing beets. Beets also do not tolerate excess moisture in the soil and the close occurrence of groundwater.
Beets require well-cultivated, fertile and weed-free soil. Therefore, basic tillage is of decisive importance in creating favorable water-air and nutritional regimes for plants. Before sowing, when digging a site on fertile soils, mineral fertilizers are applied: 15 ... 20 g / m 2 of ammonium nitrate or 20 ... 30 - ammonium sulfate, 30 ... 40 - superphosphate and 10 ... 15 g / m 2 potassium chloride. Humus or compost is used at the rate of 2 ... 3 or 3 ... 4 kg / m 2, respectively. To neutralize excessive soil acidity, 0.5 ... 1 kg / m 2 of lime is added.
Seeds are sown in spring and before winter. In spring, sowing begins when the soil at a depth of 10 cm warms up to 8 ... 10 °, in autumn - in late October - early November. During autumn sowing, the earliest production is obtained already at the end of nursery.
To speed up germination, seeds are soaked 2–3 days before sowing in warm water (40 °) or in a solution of trace elements (0.1–0.2% boric acid, 0.01 manganese sulfate or 0.005 copper sulphate, 0.05 ... 0.1 - zinc sulfate).
In spring, seeds are sown on a flat surface, in autumn - always on ridges. With early spring sowing, the yield increases significantly and the yield of standard root crops increases. The seeding rate for spring sowing is 1.5 ... 2 g, for winter sowing - 2 ... 3 g per 1 m 2.
In most cases, beets are sown according to a single-row pattern with row spacing of 45 cm. Two-row sowing is also used with distances between lines of 25 cm and between tapes of 50 cm. The wide-band sowing method is used on well-cultivated soils. Seeds are sown in wide strips of 8...10 cm. At the same time, plants oppress each other less in rows, develop better, which ensures higher yields. The quality of the products is also improved. The seeding depth is 3.5…4 cm. Seedlings appear on the 8…12th day. The best growth of seedlings is facilitated by mulching the row-spacing with peat or humus.
Beets can also be grown in seedlings. To obtain seedlings, seeds are sown in greenhouses 7 ... 10 days earlier than in open ground, at a distance of 15 ... 20 cm with a row spacing of 30 cm. Three balls are placed in each nest, and when the seedlings rise to 4 ... 5 cm, they are thinned out , leaving one in each nest. Seedlings are planted with a height of no more than 8 cm. From overgrown plants, root crops are deformed. Plants should also not be buried too deep, this can lead them to shoot. The row spacing should be 30 cm, the distance between plants in a row should be 16 ... 18 cm, or 18 plants per 1 m 2.
Caring for crops of table beets is in many ways similar to caring for carrots, with the only difference being that watering beets, as a more drought-resistant crop, is carried out at lower rates. Although beets form strong roots and are able to absorb water from great depths, they respond well to watering and fertilizing. The first dressing is given to her after thinning or after rooting seedlings, the second - after 4 weeks. The fertilizer used should be dominated by nitrogen and potassium.
The first watering of plants is carried out with well-developed seedlings. At the same time, it is taken into account that relatively little water is consumed in the first period of plant development. The main need for moisture is the phase of root crop formation. Watering is stopped 15 ... 20 days before harvesting. In dry weather during the period of intensive growth of leaves and roots, crops are watered 1 ... 2 times up to 10 ... 20 liters per 1 m 2. Table beet responds well to refreshing watering with small amounts of water. It is necessary to water so that the water reaches the root system of the plant at a depth of 15 ... 20 cm. With a lack of moisture, the leaves wither, turn yellow and stop growing. After each watering, the soil is loosened.
Bark control is the first priority after sowing. To alleviate it, beets are sown with an admixture of seeds from lighthouse crops.
The next work to care for beet crops is a breakthrough plant. The peculiarity of this culture is that its seed is a seed, in which there are two or three seeds. Therefore, seedlings have two or three sprouts and breakthrough is inevitable, since the thickening of seedlings and the shading associated with it lead to excessive stretching and weakening of plants. Most of the weakened shoots die, and the rest do not recover and give ugly root crops. Therefore, the earlier the breakthrough of dense seedlings is carried out, the better.
The first time is thinned out simultaneously with weeding in the phase of the first pair of true leaves (5-10 days after germination). This work must be completed no later than the formation of the second pair of true leaves. Between plants in a row there should be a distance of 2 ... 3 cm. The second time the beets are thinned out when it has 4 ... 5 true leaves, leaving a distance between plants of 4 ... 6 cm, and the largest plants are chosen to use them for food. The third thinning should be carried out before mid-August, leaving the plants in a row at a distance of 6 ... 8 cm. It is better to thin out after watering or rain.
In addition to thinning, weeding and loosening of row spacings are carried out. Weeding in rows is carried out immediately after the emergence of beet shoots. Late weeding will require a lot of labor, and most importantly, its efficiency is significantly reduced. In addition, with belated weeding, many beet shoots are removed along with weeds. Sometimes, with late weeding, especially in dry weather, there is a mass death of beet seedlings.
This is explained by damage to the root system of plants when large weeds are removed by the fact that the underground part of the beets after weeding is exposed to the scorching rays of the sun and the drying effect of the wind and the plants dry up. If weeding is late, then it is better to carry it out in the evening or in cloudy weather. Sometimes the crops are watered beforehand.
The first loosening is carried out to a depth of 4 ... 4.5 cm, the second - to a depth of 6 ... 8 cm, leaving a protective zone of 8 ... 10 cm.
I would like to devote this article to such a topic as growing beets. Often beginners make many mistakes in caring for this vegetable. We will tell you how to properly plant beets with seeds or through seedlings, prepare the soil and what fertilizers to use for the growth of root crops.
In ancient times, beets were grown as a leaf crop. Later, they turned their attention to root crops. According to some sources, Babylon is considered the birthplace of the beet, where it was called "silkva". It was later that we turned it into a “beetroot”. Beets have been known in Russia since the 10th century.
Growing beets: care features
Beetroot is a biennial plant of the haze family. Unlike other root crops, beets are more demanding on heat. Beets are valued for their content of many nutrients and active substances. The beet roots of proteins contain 1, 3 - 1, 8% of proteins, sugar 8 - 14%, as well as salts of calcium, potassium, magnesium, iodine, iron, manganese, phosphorus, coloring matter - betanin, vitamins P, PP, B1, B2, B9, C.
Beetroot is a dietary food for people who suffer from cardiovascular diseases, it is very useful for anemia, as well as diabetes. Beetroot also contains strong alkaline substances that increase blood circulation in the kidneys and liver.
Beetroot is used fresh, boiled, dried, dried for the preparation of many dishes and beetroot drinks. Young petioles and beet leaves are also widely used for food.
Soils of light and medium mechanical composition are well suited for growing beets. It does not tolerate acidic, cold and waterlogged soils. You can sow beets in spring and before winter.
How to prepare beet seeds for planting outdoors
Beet seeds germinate very slowly. And so you can speed up this process by lowering the seeds for one minute in hot water. In comparison, soaking seeds for 12 days at 35-40°C can speed up germination by 5-7 days.
To increase the resistance of seeds to diseases, they are soaked in a solution of baking soda (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water) or copper sulfate (0.2 g per liter of water) and kept in the solution for 10-15 minutes.
Preparing the soil for growing beets
Soddy soil, 1 bucket of humus, superphosphate and potassium are added to the sandy soil, a tablespoon per square meter.
In heavy clay, plus to the above, you need to add 1 bucket of peat and 0.5 buckets of sand or rotted sawdust.
Important: in no case should fresh manure be introduced, otherwise the beets will accumulate nitrates.
When to sow beet seeds outdoors
It is advisable to sow beets when the soil warms up to 10 ° C. The sowing depth is 3 cm, the grooves are made every 25 cm, and the distance between the seeds is 9-10 cm. 2-4 days after sowing, it is necessary to carry out shallow loosening. Loosen the earth only in the aisles.
From the seed glomeruli of the seed, usually 2-3 seedlings appear. In this case, thinning should be carried out, leaving one of the most developed.
It is carried out in the presence of 1-2 true leaves. Attention: late thinning can significantly reduce the yield. Winter sowing is carried out at the end of October.
How to care for planting beets in the open field
The main care when growing beets is to break the soil crust, thinning seedlings, weeding, loosening row spacing, watering top dressing and protection from diseases and pests. Beetroot consumes nitrogen and potassium in large quantities.
Given this, at the initial stage of plant development, they are fed with slurry diluted in water 1: 10 in the grooves of row spacing.
You need to feed the beets after watering. And after top dressing, shed again with water. The second feeding is carried out using 1 tsp. urea, 1 teaspoon of superphosphate and 1 tsp. potassium sulfate or 1 tbsp. l. potassium chloride. Such top dressing can be carried out every 20 days.
Sometimes such top dressing is used: 1 tsp. salt in a bucket of water (norm for 1 m2) so that the beets are sweeter. Watering is important for growing beets, especially during the formation of root crops.
If you plant beets with seedlings, sowing can be done in the spring in April, in a greenhouse or at home. The seedling method allows you to get the first root crops 18-25 days earlier than after sowing beets immediately into the ground.
Planting beet seedlings has some advantages over sowing in open ground. Beets are more demanding on heat than other root crops, their seedlings do not tolerate frosts, and a prolonged decrease in soil temperature to +4 ... + 5 ° C leads to flowering.
For this reason, beets are sown in open ground at a later date, only when the soil warms up to + 8 ... + 10 ° С.
In the middle lane, in the North-West, in the Moscow region, in the Urals, this is usually mid-late May. But if you plant beets with seedlings, sowing can be done in the spring in April, in a greenhouse or at home.
The seedling method allows you to get the first root crops 18-25 days earlier than after sowing beets immediately into the ground.
When to sow beets for seedlings at home
Some articles advise sowing early in the spring, in March. But keep in mind that beets do not like frost very much. In the Urals, in Siberia in the middle lane, it will still have to be planted in the garden no earlier than mid-May.
With prolonged cultivation at home on the windowsill, beet seedlings are drawn out, and the yield of future plants is reduced. Therefore, for planting in open ground, it is better to sow beet seedlings in mid-April.
If you have free space for beets in a greenhouse or greenhouse, you can grow some seedlings a month earlier. Beets for greenhouses are sown at the end of March, and planted in a permanent place around the end of April.
Sowing beets for seedlings: step by step instructions
Let's take a closer look at sowing beets for seedlings and how to do it right. You can grow both fodder and table beets in this way.
Seeds can be sown dry, but germinated seeds will sprout faster, in addition, unsimilar ones can be immediately discarded.
- Fill the bowl with the soil mixture, compact it with a plank and spread the treated seeds on the surface.
- From above, cover the crops with a soil mixture with a layer of 1-1.5 cm. Level, compact the surface so that the soil does not erode during irrigation.
- Water the crops, making sure that the seeds do not get on the surface of the soil.
Sprinkle some more soil on top if necessary. Cover beet crops with glass or put in a plastic bag and put in a bright, warm place.
The temperature of the content of beets before germination is + 18 ... + 20 ° С. After seedlings appear on the soil surface, it is desirable to reduce the temperature to + 14 ... + 16 ° С.
Dive beets in the stage of cotyledon leaves.
- So that beet seedlings do not stretch.
Beets are a very light-loving plant, so when growing a house on a windowsill, especially at high temperatures, it stretches.
If you have the opportunity, then a week after picking, it is advisable to place the box in a greenhouse, covering it from direct sunlight for the first time.
Top dressing. Once every 2 weeks, feed beet seedlings with liquid fertilizers for seedlings (Fertika, Weaving, Krepysh)
Video: growing beets through seedlings in diapers (without land)
When to plant beet seedlings in open ground
Planting seedlings in the ground is carried out from mid-May at the stage of development of seedlings 4-5 leaves. A prerequisite is soil warmed up to 8-10 ºC at a depth of 8-10 cm, which is possible only if the place under the beets is well lit by the sun.
How to plant beets in open ground. The size of the beet root depends on the planting density: the larger the gap between the seedlings, the larger the beet root will be.
But too large root vegetables are inconvenient to use, in addition, they accumulate more nitrates in themselves and are not as tasty as medium-sized root vegetables.
To get juicy, sweet root crops, seedlings are planted on a cloudy day in rows at a distance of 4-5 cm from each other, the row spacing should be about 25 cm. When transplanting, the central root of the seedling is shortened by a third of the length.
After transplanting into open ground, seedlings are watered with a solution of humate for early rooting and protected from the sun with non-woven material, erected over the beds along the entire length of the arc, so that the shelter laid on them does not damage fragile seedlings.
After the young beet is accepted, gets stronger, and its root crop acquires a diameter of one and a half centimeters, it will be possible to thin out the seedlings to an interval of 8-10 cm between them, and by July, when the leaves of the tops almost close, the shelter is removed, and the site is mulched for protection. beets from weeds and conservation of moisture in the soil.
The best top dressing for beets
Do beets need nutrition to grow? Beets (another name for a vegetable is beetroot) - although an unpretentious plant, unlike other root crops, it must be supplied with the right amount of mineral components.
But if the day before the soil was well fertilized and prepared for planting cultivated plants, you can safely do without top dressing.
By the same analogy, green manure is used, in other words, plants, which, after mowing, fully enrich the soil with minerals.
This situation is more an exception than a rule, and the land plot is mostly in need of mineral elements.
They may be missing a few or just one. In any case, it is necessary to use various fertilizer complexes that differ in their composition.
These funds are divided into specialized complexes and folk methods. In the first case, fertilizing is easy and convenient. Whereas in the second case, you will need to make an effort to make the composition yourself.
But the result will be worth it, since the complex will turn out to be environmentally friendly and safe for humans and the environment. But, even better, it's practically free when compared to the original purchase option.
Timing of fertilizing beets
The choice of fertilizers for feeding beets depends on the acidity, fertility and type of soil. When growing this root crop on sandy and sandy loamy soils, they will need both autumn and spring refueling with mineral fertilizers and organic matter, in the form of nutrient solutions.
Chernozems will only need mineral top dressing introduced in early spring. Heavy soils will require top dressing with increased amounts of potassium, as well as the introduction of limestone and sawdust.
During growth, beets need 3 meals a day:
- the first - in the phase of 4 sheets, as a standard it is brought in after the first thinning. As fertilizers, you can use organic matter rich in nitrogen. Due to the high nitrogen content, organic fertilizers are used in the cultivation of beets only during the period of intensive growth of seedlings. Its introduction in a later period contributes to the increased growth of tops and the loss of quality of root crops;
- the second - 3 weeks after the first;
- the third - during the period of pouring root crops, but no later than 20 days before harvest.
Mineral nutrition for beets
The first mineral recharge occurs immediately after thinning the beet beds. To do this, 15 g of ammonium nitrate, 15 g of potassium sulfate, 15 g of superphosphate are diluted in 5 liters of water.
This solution is enough to process 5 linear meters of beds. Potassium phosphate fertilizers are added to the second mineral top dressing.
There is a wide range of supplements available for sale. Important! Excessive enthusiasm for organic fertilizers leads to an increase in green mass, root crops do not develop.
Organic beet nutrition
Do you want to do without "chemistry"?
- Then make the first top dressing after thinning out small plants, using "green" fertilizer for it.
For him, you will need weeds and a barrel of water. Grind the weeds and pour into a barrel of water, let them wander there for a week. And add a liter of such an unpleasantly smelling liquid to a bucket for irrigation and mix with water. - Diluted mullein is suitable for the second dressing (one part to ten parts of water), and the right time for it is at the moment the tops close between the rows.
- In August, scatter ash under the plants and salt the soil (a tablespoon of salt goes per square meter).
Mineral complexes that are suitable for top dressing of beets - Mortar, Agricola-4, Kemira-universal.
On acidic soils, with stagnant moisture and with a deficiency of boron, fungal diseases (peronosporosis, cercosporosis, phomosis, fusarium rot) "cling" to beets.
And if suddenly a white (grayish or purple) coating, specks, black dots, traces of rot are noticed on the plants, then treat them with Bordeaux liquid, fungicides.
Do not forget that after two weeks it is necessary to re-treat. Those parts that are damaged must be removed immediately.
How to feed beets for the growth of root crops
After the first shoots have appeared, thinning must be done. Otherwise, the sprouts will begin to drown out each other and the result will be poor: the setting of root crops will be minimal, their growth will be limited.
The first top dressing can be done after the formation of 4 true leaves. Phosphate fertilizers are used, because the elements contribute to the rapid formation of the fetus and the growth of green tops.
Moreover, the nutrition will be evenly supplied and distributed in the plant, in contrast to fresh organic matter, which only enhances greenery. It would be correct to feed phosphate and potash fertilizers in the complex.
To do this, shallow furrows are made between the rows, phosphorus is poured into one, and potassium granules into the other. Then, you need to cover them with earth and pour water over them.
Calculation of proportions:
- Superphosphate is enough 5 g per 1 sq. m.
- Potassium chloride can be the same or twice as much (10 g per 1 sq. M.).
But it is better not to use chemical fertilizers too often and too much. Because beet fruits are able to accumulate nitrates, and, say, nitrogen fertilizers only provoke this process. In addition to chemicals, you can use more affordable, cheaper and equally effective folk methods.
When to dig beets
After 40-50 days, beet leaves can be cut for food. Only the extreme leaves are torn off, the young leaves in the center are not touched.
Harvest beets begin after the full formation of root crops, but before the onset of frost.
Mistakes when growing beets in open ground
Do not rush to sow beet seeds in the ground. Let the weeds grow first in the garden. You loosen them and leave them to dry in the garden, because weeds are only vulnerable with cotyledon leaves, and then any piece of root left in the soil will sprout.
If a "second tier" of weeds appears, do the same. When warm weather sets in, sow beets without digging, but only loosening the topsoil.
Otherwise, pull the weeds back into the top layer. Beet seeds can be soaked in water before sowing, but not more than an hour or two.
It is necessary to plant piece by piece, immediately according to the 9x9 cm scheme. Then thinning is required (pinch off excess seedlings). And where is the "rake"? Yes, here they are: young beet plants are afraid not only of frost, but even of a short-term drop in temperature to 4 ° C.
Plants will "leave" in color or give small hard root crops. Therefore, beets sown early should be covered with lutrasil, and even in two layers.
So do not rush to sow beets. In the Northwest, the best time for sowing this crop into the ground, like late carrots, is early June.
If you want to get an early harvest, then grow beets through seedlings - either at home or in a greenhouse, additionally covering them with a second film.
But even here there are "traps". With thickened crops, beet seedlings are drawn out, their root collar dries up and turns black. This phenomenon is called root beet seedlings.
This fungal disease manifests itself not only with thickened seedlings, but also with high soil moisture. Such seedlings are not suitable for planting in the ground. Therefore, seedlings should be thinned out or planted in a timely manner, or at least piled up, raking the soil to the rows from both sides.
It is impossible to delay the planting of seedlings in open ground, otherwise small and hard root crops cannot be avoided.
It is necessary to plant seedlings before tying the root crop. When transplanting seedlings, it is usually recommended to pinch off the tip of the root from it, then it will branch well, and the root crop will tie faster. Will not tie until there are enough leaves.
And why do you want the root to grow in all directions? The root system will be superficial. So you shouldn’t do this if you don’t want to run with a watering can all the time later.
If the tip of the root is not cut off, then the root will begin to grow intensively down following the moisture that goes deep into the soil. We don't need a "dependent", let him get his own water.
