Beetroot is a sweet root vegetable that is ubiquitous - not only grown in Antarctica. Although fresh leaves are also edible. Vegetable growers appreciate the plant both for taste and for medicinal properties. To provide your family with such medicine throughout the winter, you need to provide it with proper care. Planting beets in the spring is one of the stages of its cultivation.
Choosing a bed and preparing the land in spring
To grow good harvest beets, it is necessary to prepare for planting not in the spring, but in the fall. The first step is to choose a bed. Planting beets is recommended after:
- carrots;
- potatoes;
- Luke;
- cucumber
Do not expect a rich harvest if beets, tomatoes or cabbage grew here before. It must be remembered that the vegetable loves sunny places with fertile loamy soil. He doesn't like acidity.
The next concern will be related to soil preparation. Contrary to popular belief, we will not clear the land of plants. And as soon as we harvest vegetables, we sow green manure. When the green fertilizer reaches 15-20 cm in height, cut it off and leave it in the garden for the winter. The fertile soil layer will be provided with natural nutrition.
Growing beets will be productive if you fertilize the soil with the following green manures: mustard, rapeseed, oilseed radish or rapeseed. It is not advisable to sow corn, vetch, alfalfa, lupine, beans, sweet clover, clover, and peas in front of root crops.
If you didn’t have time to sow “live” fertilizer, you can apply mineral fertilizer. If the soil is acidic, add lime.
Before planting beets in the spring, you need to loosen upper layer soil. Do not disturb the fertile system by deep digging. For gentle processing, a Fokina flat cutter is suitable.
Sowing
Sow useful plant In spring there are two ways:
Seeds into the ground.
Everyone wants faster and more friendly shoots. To do this, soak the seeds in water with growth stimulants for a day. After this, we wash them and let them dry.
We make small grooves in the beds; 3 cm deep will be enough. Leave at least 20 cm between the strips. Before planting the beets, water the grooves with water.
Do you remember what kind of seeds beets have? Large, round, with small pits. From each such “hole” one plant can appear. Therefore, it is correct to plant - one by one. We thin out the seedlings. Careful owners do not throw away excess sprouts, but plant them along the edges of other beds to strengthen them.
A seeder will make it easier to plant beets. This device will be a vegetable grower’s salvation if the planting area is rather large. With the help of a seeder, sowing occurs evenly at minimum costs effort.
It is important to choose the right time for sowing. If spring is early, then beet planting can begin already in the first ten days of May. If it’s late, it’s a week later.
Growing beets with seedlings.
Experienced gardeners practice growing root vegetables from seedlings. For what? This is a guarantee of large, even fruits and an early harvest. In this case, growing in a greenhouse is the optimal solution. You can do what you love there when it’s still cold outside.
There is 1 month left before planting the seedlings - which means we are sowing the seeds. The seeding rate in a greenhouse will be higher than when planting in the ground. After all, there is not much space here. We draw a grid – 5-6 cm by 3 cm. We plant the seeds at the “crossroads”. After the emergence of seedlings, we also thin out. Be sure to harden the sprouts by ventilating the greenhouse.
When the seedlings have 4 leaves and frosts are behind us, we plant strong seedlings outside. Leave a distance between seedlings of at least 10 cm.
Methods for planting sweet root vegetables will depend on the time and capabilities of the grower. The secrets of growing it are quite simple.
Rules of care
After planting the beets, we provide them with proper care. Although its growing conditions are simple. We take three timely actions if we want to get a high yield:
- we weed;
- loosen;
- we fertilize.
This way we ensure the supply of oxygen to the root and provide nutrition. The plant needs to be fed at least twice during the summer.
The most the best fertilizer Agronomists call beets sodium nitrate. We fertilize it for the first time in the spring. The second time - during the growing season. You can pour ash solution or mullein infusion.
Do vegetables need to be watered regularly? Usually the root crop has enough natural precipitation. But if the sun is bright in the spring, the summer is dry, water once a week warm water.
Varieties for planting
All varieties of vegetables can be divided into 3 groups:
The name of each variety speaks for itself. For food, we usually plant table beets, the planting dates for which were described above. A special feature of the stern is its larger size. Therefore, they plant it at a greater distance. With high-quality care, the yield of fodder beet per 1 hectare can reach 172 tons! For planting sugar varieties, soil mixed with sand and peat is suitable. It is a mistake to assume that sugar beets are used only for sugar production in the southern regions. Growing such varieties for food in the Urals is also possible. The conditions for caring for it are almost the same as for the dining room.
Cleaning
Spring and summer have passed. Autumn has come. Smooth, round beets have grown, cultivation and care are completed. When should you harvest beets from the garden? Before frost sets in, root vegetables should be kept in the vegetable storehouse.
It is better to start harvesting beets in dry weather. We clear the soil, cut off the leaves, leaving a centimeter petiole. Large fruits are suitable for storage - at least 7 cm in diameter. To prevent them from becoming flabby, we store them in boxes with sand.
To get a high yield of vegetables, you need to start taking care of them in the spring. Then the plant will provide a good supply of quality food and natural medicine.
From this article you will learn a lot useful tips on planting beets in the spring, namely: sowing seeds in the ground, beet seedlings from seeds, as in open ground, etc.
Beetroot is a root vegetable that grows in the ground and has a fleshy root. Sometimes it peeks out slightly from the soil. It is of great benefit to humans, as it contains organic acids, especially fiber. Diabetics, hypertensive patients, people with kidney stones and other abnormalities also add beets to their menu. Freshly squeezed beet juice is especially beneficial.
Which beets to choose for planting
The beet variety should be selected depending on its further use. So, for example, fodder beets are planted for domestic animals, if any. Fodder beet seeds are initially treated and then added to soil enriched with fertilizers. It is important to understand that these beets grow large sizes, so it is planted at a distance of 25 cm from each other, and up to half a meter between rows.
Table beets are used for human consumption. All varieties need good lighting. The Bordeaux 237 variety, approved for cultivation throughout Russia since 1943, has been adopted as the standard in domestic selection for this crop.
But sugar beets are much more finicky than others; soil with the correct structure, constantly enriched with fertilizers, is suitable for it.
Sowing seeds in the ground
Before planting seeds in the ground, you need to stimulate their germination by first soaking them in cold water for 24 hours, or pour warm water no more than 40 degrees for only half an hour. After this procedure, you can already proceed to planting seeds. In spring, beets are planted in late April - early May.
Seeds are sown in the soil to a depth of no more than 3 cm, and a distance of 8 cm is maintained between rows for small fruits; large root crops will need a distance between rows of up to 35 cm. Despite the cold resistance of this crop, spring sowing should begin no earlier than the air temperature warms up to 8 ºC, and its further development will occur only at temperatures from 15 ºC.
Due to the fact that beet seeds are connected into several fruit clusters, timely thinning is required. This should be done as soon as the first leaves grow. After this event, the distance between the seedlings should be approximately equal to the length of a matchbox.
Thinned sprouts can be planted in another row. After thinning, weed and sprinkle the soil with organic fertilizers. The second time the rows are thinned out when the diameter of the fruit reaches 2 cm, after which an interval of up to 10 cm is left from each other. This procedure is best done after watering.
Beet seedlings from seeds
Almost all varieties of beets can be grown using seedlings. Seedling boxes are best suited for this; they can be installed both at home and in greenhouses.
They contain a high content of vitamin C and carotene, and many other bioactive substances. Early beets are on a par with early vegetables such as lettuce, for example. First, you need to soak the seeds for three days to hatch, then place them in boxes on prepared moist soil, sprinkle soil on top and keep them in greenhouses.
Seedlings germinate three weeks after sowing in open ground. For a good harvest and optimal size of beets, seedlings should be planted at a distance of 5 cm from each other, and row spacing should be up to 27 cm. When the transplanting is completed, you can water it with a humate solution.
When caring for seedlings, you need to maintain soil moisture and periodically ventilate. For early date When beets ripen, areas under the film are sown, usually at the end of April.
1. Before sowing beets in open ground, you need to select a suitable area and loosen the soil.
2. The soil should be warmed to 10 ºC.
4. It is good to plant beets in the place where tomatoes, cucumbers, and all legumes previously grew. Places where beets or cabbage previously grew are not suitable, as they take all the nutrients from the soil.
5. To reduce acidity, you can enrich the soil with wood ash. The site needs to be prepared and fertilized in the fall.
6. The size of the final fruit depends on the planting density. Large root vegetables require space. But you need to take into account that fruits that are too huge are impractical to use and are not so sweet.
Decide on the variety you want to plant, do not forget about the importance of properly prepared soil. Plant beets with both seeds and seedlings, depending on your region of residence, following the growing recommendations. Then the beets will delight you with good, tasty harvests.
We invite you to watch a video on how to properly plant beets in the spring:
One of the common vegetable crops among gardeners is beets. And to receive great harvest of this vegetable in the spring season, it must be sown, taking into account special conditions. To avoid crop loss, certain days are chosen for sowing. To plant beets on a spring morning, you should familiarize yourself with some recommendations that will favorably affect the quality of the harvest.
Planting beets in the spring will be successful if you follow some rules
The process of preparing land for planting
This is the initial stage, which is done in the fall. Residues from other plants are removed from the beds. When this action is completed, the soil is saturated with organic matter. The soil is dug up to a depth that is equal to the length of the metal part of the shovel. If the soil is not saturated with minerals, it is better to add organic fertilizers, full of minerals. Very often the soil is acidic, so you should add a little lime, which has beneficial properties.
Planting beets in the spring will give good result in a place where potato bushes or cucumbers previously grew.
The place for choosing a bed is chosen on the light side. Otherwise, the fruits will be unsaturated, since the formation of shade occurs only under the influence of sunlight.
When the preparation for choosing a place for the bed is completed, before sowing the beets, the soil is subjected to a loosening procedure with a rake. On the same days you can add some of the dolomite flour.
When the soil is ready, all that remains is to wait for the moment to plant the beets. The soil temperature should be at least 5 degrees; this soil temperature occurs in April. If this condition is not taken into account, the seeds will not germinate and, as a result, root crops will not appear.
Before planting seeds, you need to crush the clods of earth with a rake.
Planting and caring for beets
In order to plant beets, two methods are used. The first method involves planting using seeds. For quick germination of seeds and for seedlings to appear on them, they are soaked and settled for 24 hours. These actions will be beneficial for the beets. To do this, use a special stimulator designed for growth. You can also use a solution of wood ash. The seeds are soaked in outdoors during the day. When the time is up, the seeds are washed with warm water and wrapped in a dry piece of cloth. All these actions will only have a beneficial effect on developing fruits.
Before planting beets, the soil should be moistened. To do this, lines are drawn on the bed, the depth of which is 4 cm. The lines are located at a distance of 20 cm from each other.
When the grooves are ready, they are watered. Once the liquid is absorbed, you can plant the beets in open ground. Since the seeds are relatively large in size, they can be sown individually. There is no need to worry about the seedlings, since one seedling produces several bushes. Therefore, the seedlings are still thinned out. Sprouts that have been thinned out can be used to compact the soil. The planting pattern for planting beets is a lattice with the plant located at its intersection. These conditions will become favorable for further growth.
If you sow seeds in open ground, then planting can be schematically divided into:
- One-liner. One furrow is made in which seeds can be sown at a depth of 4 cm. The distance between adjacent grooves is 45 cm.
- Two-line. The pattern consists of two grooves, the distance between which is 25 cm.
The days for planting seeds are selected based on certain conditions. The soil must retain the moisture that remains from the melted snow. Usually such days are issued in early April.
Beets should not grow too close to each other
Caring for beets planted with seeds involves periodic loosening and weeding. When the beets begin to grow, you should fertilize them a couple of times. The first feeding includes small amounts of organic fertilizers in the diet. And the next fertilizing is carried out by adding the mixture to the soil mineral composition which does not contain nitrates.
Planting beet seedlings
The advantage of this method is that there is no need for thinning. The grooves are located at a distance of 5 cm from each other. Seedlings should be planted one month before final planting.
The main signal indicating that it is time to plant seedlings in the ground is the appearance of 4 leaves. Before planting the resulting seedlings in open ground, they must be watered abundantly.
For this purpose, a specially prepared clay solution is used, into which the roots of each sprout are lowered. This planting method is carried out in the spring, preferably in April. Do not forget that the April days chosen to plant beets should bring warmth and light.
Planting beet seedlings is very convenient
Types of beets for planting
There are three main types that can be planted in open ground:
- dining room;
- stern;
- sugar
When there is livestock at the dacha, it would be an advisable solution to plant a stern type of beet. To grow it, the soil is prepared in advance. All the necessary mineral components are added, which will have a beneficial effect on the development of the plant. The seeds are selected and pickled. If desired, you can use a stimulant solution. It is strictly forbidden to plant seeds of this species without careful preparation.
If you need it as food, then the best type of beetroot is suitable. To grow this species, you should remember that it needs a large number of daylight and planting is best done on warm days or days that are saturated sunlight. Weeding and timely watering are included in the list of favorable conditions for growth and development.
A popular species among gardeners is sugar beets. She, like the stern one, sits on warm days. This will be a favorable condition for further growth. It is worth considering that for this type of beet, soil that does not contain peat or sand components is best suited.
Beetroot of this type should be fertilized throughout the entire development period. In particular, the best fertilizer is one that contains nitrogen. After the development of root crops begins, fertilizers are added, which mainly contain potassium and phosphorus. Also, favorable fertilizing, due to the addition of wood ash, will minimize the risk of a poor harvest.
Using the listed methods and precautions, the gardener will ensure favorable conditions for plant development. The days on which beets should be planted should be warm and cloudless. To get a good harvest, you need to respect the sowing time. And in order to plant beets in the spring, it is worth preparing the soil for it in advance. Compliance with these rules will give the gardener a harvest that one can only dream of.
Plant beet (lat. Beta) belongs to the genus of one-, two- and perennial herbaceous plants of the Amaranth family, although not so long ago beets, which in Ukraine are called beetroot, and in Belarus beetroot, were classified as members of the Chenopodiaceae family. The main representative of the genus is the common beet, which has three varieties: table beet, fodder beet and sugar beet. The beetroot vegetable grows on all continents except Antarctica. The ancestor of cultivated plant species, wild beets were used both as food and as medicinal plant even in ancient Babylon. The most interesting thing is that at first only the leaves were eaten, and the beet roots were used for medicinal purposes.
The ancient Greeks sacrificed beets to Apollo as one of the most valuable plants for them. Cultivated forms of root beets appeared only at the beginning of our era, and in the 10th-11th centuries they were already cultivated in Kievan Rus. Fodder beets were brought to XVI century in Germany, and the selection of sugar beets began in 1747, when it turned out that the sugar contained in cane was also found in beets. Today, beet sugar is used more often than cane sugar in many countries, and beetroot (Beta vulgaris) has become an essential crop known to be rich in essential antioxidants, potassium and folic acid.
Planting and caring for beets
- Landing: Sowing seeds in the ground is carried out before winter or in spring, when the air warms up to 8-10 ˚C. Early varieties are sown for seedlings in April, and the seedlings are transplanted into the ground three months later - in early or mid-May.
- Lighting: bright sunlight.
- The soil: peat bogs, loams, medium loamy chernozems of neutral or slightly alkaline reaction. Carrots should not be grown in soil that has been amended with fresh manure or compost.
- Predecessors: Undesirable: carrots, beets, chard, potatoes, all types of cabbage and other cruciferous crops. Good: grains and legumes, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, peppers.
- Watering: regular (3-4 times per season), as soon as the top layer of soil dries out, in dry weather - abundantly. The best way is sprinkling. Water consumption per 1 m² of plot is 20-30 l. Three weeks before harvesting, watering is stopped.
- Feeding: after the first thinning - with solution bird droppings(1:12) or mullein (1:18), using 12 liters of fertilizer for every 10 m² of plot. When the beet tops close, ash is scattered over the beds at the rate of 1 cup per 1.5 m², after which the area must be watered.
- Reproduction: seed.
- Pests: leaf miners and beet flies, aphids, cutworms, flea beetles and honey beet flies.
- Diseases: red rot (or felt disease), fusarium (or brown rot), root beetle, peronospora, cercospora, fomoz.
Read more about growing beets below.
Beet plant - description
The root of the beet, the so-called root vegetable, is juicy, thick and fleshy. In most varieties, when growing in the ground, it is not completely immersed in the ground, but slightly protrudes above the surface. In the first year of growth, beets, like carrots, develop only a rosette of large, bare, ovoid, basal leaves on long petioles, as well as a root crop.
Sometimes by the end of the first year, but usually on the second, an upright, highly branched, faceted stem appears from the middle of the rosette, reaching from half a meter to a meter in height, with small alternate, almost sessile leaves, in the axils of which bunches of small, dim, also sessile flowers appear, arranged into complex ears. The beet fruit is a compressed single seed.
Diverse beneficial features beets, due to the presence of organic acids, iron and fiber in the roots. Because of this, beets are often used in diets to treat hypertension, kidney stones, diabetes, scurvy, and other conditions. Fresh beet juice has great healing power.
Growing beets from seeds
Sowing beet seeds
Growing beets in open ground provides for sowing seeds both in seedlings and without seedlings. Despite the fact that beets are a cold-resistant crop, they need to be sown in open ground no earlier than the air warms up to 6-8 ºC, but the full development of the plant begins only when the temperature rises to 16 ºC. In addition, if early sown seedlings are exposed to frost, they will be killed instead of growing root crops. To stimulate germination, beet seeds are soaked for a day in cold water or for half an hour in warm water (35 ºC).
The seeds are planted in the soil to a depth of 2-3 cm, and the distance between the rows is maintained depending on the variety - from 7 cm if you are growing small beets for canning, and up to 30-35 cm if you need large root crops. The distance between specimens in a row in the first case is 5-6 cm, and in the second – up to 10 cm.
Since many varieties of beets have seeds collected in clusters of 2-3 pieces, the sprouts appear in a cluster and require thinning early stage development, in the phase of formation of the first pair of true leaves. As a result of the procedure, the distance between the shoots should become 3-4 cm. The removed shoots are transplanted to another place: at this stage of development they easily take root.
Simultaneously with the first thinning, the area is weeded and then mulched with fine organic matter - sawdust, for example.
The second thinning is carried out when the seedlings acquire two pairs of leaves, and the root crop reaches a diameter of 1.5 cm - the interval between seedlings after the second thinning should be 6-10 cm. Thinning with simultaneous weeding is carried out after watering or rain in cloudy weather.
Growing beet seedlings
Grown by seedling method early varieties beets, which are rich in vitamin C and carotene, as well as betanin, calcium, iron, phosphorus salts and other biologically active substances. Young beets are the same valuable early vegetable as radishes, lettuce, green onions. Choose flowering-resistant beet varieties for growing seedlings - K-249, Polar flat, Cold-resistant 19.
The cultivation of beet seedlings begins three weeks before its planting in open ground with pre-sowing seed treatment. The seed for disinfection is soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, then the seeds are kept for 2-3 days in a humid environment for pecking, and finally they are laid out in a box on a damp, light soil pickled with Phytosporin to avoid black leg disease, lightly sprinkled with the same substrate and placed in greenhouse
Caring for beet seedlings is no different from caring for any other seedlings - it requires slightly moist soil, constant temperature and daily ventilation.
Picking beet seedlings
How to plant beet seedlings, and when to do it? Picking is carried out according to the same principle, with the same characteristics and at the same intervals as when thinning seedlings in open ground. Seedlings dive only once, but if you sowed the seeds not in a box, but in cups, then you can not dive, but plant the seedlings in open ground directly in the cups.
Planting beets in open ground
When to plant beets in the ground
Beetroot is planted in the ground from mid-May at the development stage of seedlings with 4-5 leaves. A prerequisite is soil heated to 8-10 ºC at a depth of 8-10 cm, which is only possible if the place for beets is well lit by the sun.
Soil for beets
Before planting beets, you need to choose a site for it and prepare the soil on it. Most of all, beets love fertile, loose soils - peat bogs, medium-loamy chernozems with a slightly alkaline or neutral reaction - the pH value should be no lower than 5 and no higher than 8 units. In acidic or too alkaline soil, beets get sick. Do not plant beets in soils that have been amended with fresh manure or compost; it will take at least 3 years before beets can be grown in such areas.
You can plant beets in areas where onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, grains, eggplants, peppers and legumes grew before; undesirable predecessors for beets are chard, carrots, all types of beets, potatoes, rapeseed and any cabbage.
In early spring for digging, 20-30 g of ammonium sulphate, 15-20 g of ammonium nitrate, 10-15 g of potassium chloride and 30-40 g of superphosphate per 1 m² are added to the site. If the soil on the site is not fertile, then add 2-3 kg of humus per unit area, and to neutralize acidic soil, add half a kilogram of fluff lime per 1 m².
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 root vegetables that are too large are inconvenient to use; in addition, they accumulate more nitrates and are not as tasty as medium-sized root vegetables. To obtain juicy, sweet root crops, on a cloudy day, seedlings are planted 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 its length.
After transplanting into open ground, the seedlings are watered with a humate solution and protected from the sun to ensure rapid rooting. non-woven material, building an arc over the beds along the entire length of the arc, so that the shelter laid on them does not damage the fragile seedlings. After the young beets have taken root, become stronger, and its root crop has acquired 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 have almost closed, the cover is removed and the area is mulched for protection beets from weeds and maintaining moisture in the soil.
Planting beets before winter
Winter beets are planted in late October or early November. In a previously dug and fertilized area, furrows are made at a distance of 15-20 cm, into which seeds are scattered at the rate of 2-3 g per m², or as described in the section on sowing beet seeds in open ground. The seeds are planted to a depth of 3-4 cm. Planting beets in the fall requires mandatory mulching of the area for the winter with humus or peat.
Beet care
How to grow beets
Caring for growing beets requires removing weeds from the area, regular watering and loosening the rows. If you have mulched the beds, then you will have to weed, loosen the soil and water the beets much less often. Loosening row spacing to a depth of 4-6 cm is necessary to destroy the soil crust, which impedes the aeration of root crops. The crust is especially harmful to plants during the development of the first two pairs of leaves, since it is at this time that the root sheds, retarding the growth of the plant and forcing it to be more demanding of growing conditions.
Beet processing
Weeds can choke young plants, the growth of which is very slow before the appearance of 4-5 leaves, so their timely removal is very important. important condition beet care. Before the emergence of seedlings, to control weeds, spray the area with tractor kerosene at the rate of 35-50 g of kerosene per m². And when the seedlings have 2-3 pairs of leaves, the area is treated to remove weeds with a solution of sodium nitrate. Then, when the beets come into force, the weeds will not be able to harm them.
Watering beets
Beets can easily tolerate short-term drought, but if you need a high-quality and rich harvest, watering the beet beds should be regular, and this is especially important in hot, dry weather. You need to water the beets as soon as the top layer of soil dries out, preferably in the evening, and The best way watering - sprinkling, since with this method the leaves of the plant are refreshed and washed. If there is no mulch on the site, the next day after watering it is necessary to loosen the rows to a depth of 4 cm.
To increase the sugar content of root vegetables, before watering the beets, dissolve a tablespoon of kitchen salt in a bucket of water for watering. Too frequent and abundant watering is just as harmful to beets as insufficient moisture, since it causes fungal diseases. On average, beets are watered 3-4 times per season, the norm of water per 1 m² is 2-3 buckets. Two to three weeks before harvesting, stop watering completely - this measure also helps to increase the amount of sugar in root crops and also improves their keeping quality.
Beet feeding
Beets love organic matter very much, and mineral fertilizers cracking and voids may form in root crops. How to fertilize beets in this case? At the beginning of growth, after the first thinning, it needs nitrogen fertilizers, for which you can add a solution of bird droppings in a consistency of 1:12 or mullein (1:8) at the rate of 12 liters liquid fertilizer per 10 m². It is most convenient to make grooves at a distance of 5 cm from the seedlings and pour them with fertilizer solution. When the tops on the rows close together, it is time to apply potash fertilizers, which can be scattered over the beds with wood ash at the rate of 1 cup per 1.5 m², followed by watering the area.
Foliar feeding of beets has a number of advantages:
- firstly, nutrients applied to the leaves are absorbed faster than with root feeding;
- secondly, the assimilation of nutrition occurs more fully, since, once in the soil, some substances sometimes take on a form that is inaccessible to plants;
- thirdly, foliar fertilization of beets can be carried out even when it is no longer possible to fertilize the soil without the risk of harming the root crops;
- fourthly, the method of foliar feeding allows you to distribute fertilizers evenly, which reduces the risk of overdose or accumulation of substances.
So that the beets do not lack molybdenum, boron and copper, these elements are fed precisely by feeding the leaves, just like lime milk (200 g of lime per bucket of water), which feeds the root crops with potassium. Spraying the tops with a salt solution at the rate of 60 g of non-iodized salt per 10 liters of water nourishes the roots with sodium and protects them from the white butterfly and the summer fly.
Beet pests and diseases
Among the diseases, beets are most often affected by phomosis, cercospora blight, downy mildew, root blight and rot. To find out what ails beets, you need to know the symptoms of possible diseases, and only a correct diagnosis will help you decide what and how to treat beets in order to save the harvest.
Fomoz As a rule, it arises from a lack of boron in the soil - this is why foliar feeding of beets with microelements is so important. This manifests itself fungal disease brown or yellowish concentric spots on the lower leaves of the rosette, then black dots appear on them. As a result, dry rot of the heart develops - the tissue inside the root becomes dark brown. Frequent, prolonged rains, fogs, high humidity air. If you find fomoz on the plants, immediately apply root fertilizing with borax at the rate of 3 g per m² and spray the leaves with the solution boric acid(half a teaspoon per 10 liters of water). Next year, add boric acid to the soil at the rate of 3 g per m².
Cercospora blight, or spotting, can destroy up to 70% of the beet harvest, affecting the leaves of the plant, causing them to die, and, consequently, the quality and keeping quality of root crops deteriorates. If you find small light spots outlined by a reddish border on the upper side of the leaves, and a light gray coating on the lower side, add potassium chloride to the soil as a top dressing. As a preventive measure, treat the seeds before sowing with Agat-25 in accordance with the instructions, and spray the soil with a fungicide before planting.
After this article they usually read
The key to a good beet harvest is compliance with agricultural techniques for growing it. Planting of beets must be carried out in a timely manner, according to the ripening dates and the lunar calendar. It is also important to follow watering standards and feed the crop correctly.
Beet varieties for planting in open ground
Beetroot is a very common crop with many varieties and varieties. It can be canteen, sugar or fodder. In country and garden farms, the most popular is table beets, among which there are leaf and root beets.
It is customary among gardeners to classify beet varieties according to ripening time, pulp color (red, red-violet, burgundy) and fruit shape. Early ripening beet varieties ripen within 60-90 days after sowing. They are intended for summer use, but not for storage. Among the popular early ripening varieties beets can be distinguished:
- Nobol;
- Egyptian;
- Bordeaux 237;
- Red ball;
- Cold-resistant.
In order for the fruits to ripen early enough and, at the same time, they can be stored, it is recommended to grow beets in open ground of mid-season varieties. They tolerate temperature changes and drought well and have high disease resistance. The most popular varieties among gardeners are:
- Detroit;
- Bona;
- Bohemia;
- Mulatto.
Late-ripening beet varieties are characterized by good keeping quality:
- Cylinder;
- Renova.
Harvesting of these varieties begins 130-150 days after sowing, so not in all regions they have time to ripen before the onset of cold weather.
Choosing a location and preparing beds for beets
Right choice The plot of land for beets determines not only the quantity of the harvest, but also its quality. Thus, beets, grown and cared for in sunny areas with light, well-drained soil, will give big harvest sweet tubers.
Loamy and sandy loam soils with neutral acidity are ideal for growing beets. On heavy clay soils, hard and tasteless fruits grow, especially if the area has acidic soil and moisture stagnates on it.
Crop rotation rules for beets
- It is better to grow beets in areas where potatoes, onions, and cucumbers previously grew.
- You should not sow beets after cabbage, carrots and tomatoes.
- Every year the area in the garden for beets needs to be changed. Repeated sowing in the same place is possible only after three years.
Beetroot also performs well in mixed plantings. Neighbors such as cabbage, onions, bush beans, and potatoes do not interfere with beets, but also have a beneficial effect on their growth. The proximity of beets to corn and chard is not recommended.
The crop grows well along the edges of the beds, which will save seat, while caring for beets in open ground will be much easier, since they will receive fertilizer and watering together with their neighbors.
Preparing the beds
The area for beets is prepared in the fall by digging with shovels and applying fertilizer. From organic matter, compost or humus is added for digging (half a bucket per m²), from mineral fertilizers - superphosphate and ammonium nitrate (20-30 g/m²) and potassium chloride (10-15 g/m²). In acidic soils, it is necessary to add ash, dolomite flour or lime.
Fresh manure should not be added to the area where beets will be grown. Otherwise, the fruits will grow ugly and contain large amounts of nitrates.
Seed preparation and beet planting procedure
The germination rate of fresh beet seeds is excellent. They are collected into tubers and covered with a common shell. One such tuber can produce up to 5 seedlings. But for better germination seeds and if you want to get early shoots, the seeds should be prepared for sowing.
Germination of beet seeds
Preliminary preparation seeds lies in their germination. To begin with, they are soaked in a nutrient solution for 20-30 minutes. Recipes for preparing a growth stimulator can be different, one of the most popular is:
- dissolve boric acid (2 g) and nitroammophoska (4 g) in 1 liter of warm water;
- add 5 g of superphosphates and a teaspoon baking soda for 1 liter of water;
- It is recommended to add a tablespoon of wood ash or tobacco dust.
You can use ready-made products (Epin, Zircon). After soaking in the stimulator, the seeds are washed and wrapped in a fabric bag. It is necessary to keep them in a humid and warm environment for several days.
Technology for sowing beets in open ground
Seeds are sown in spring, approximately at the end of April - beginning of May, when the soil warms up to 8-10º, in furrows. If beets are planted with seeds in open ground too early, the fruit may not set. Instead, the plants will produce a flower stalk and large leaves.
A distance of 8-10 cm is maintained between the seeds, and 25-30 cm between the rows. The seeds distributed along the moistened furrows are covered with a small layer of soil (1.5-2 cm) and watered. The bed can be mulched with peat or other material so that the soil warms up faster and seedlings appear faster. Pre-winter sowing of beets is carried out in November and the beds are covered with pine spruce branches.
Planting beets with seeds in open ground video
Care when growing beets in open ground
To ensure that the harvest does not disappoint, you need to consider what beets like when grown, and what procedures should be avoided. During the entire growth period, beets need watering, weeding, fertilizing, as well as measures to combat diseases and pests.
Seedling cultivation and picking of beet seedlings
Caring for beets after planting begins with the appearance of the first shoots. Given the multi-sprout nature of seed tubers, crops are often thickened and require thinning. You can do without it only when sowing single-germ varieties. The first thinning is carried out in the phase of two leaves on moist soil.
It is possible to grow and transplant beet seedlings. After germination at home, seedlings with 2-3 leaves are watered and dumped into prepared holes along with a lump of earth.
The second way to increase the volume of plantings is to remove sprouts after thinning; they are planted after shortening the root. They take root quite well and soon catch up with the seedlings.
With the appearance of five or six leaves, a second thinning is carried out. It is also possible to transplant beets with seedlings in June, but they will not take root as well as in the spring.
Feeding and watering
After thinning, the first feeding of beets in open ground with nitrogen-containing fertilizer (urea, potassium nitrate, nettle infusion) is required. Spread it under the root after moistening the soil.
In summer, watering beets in open ground is especially important. It is carried out by sprinkling, abundantly, in the morning or evening hours.
Unevenly moistened soil will negatively affect the harvest. There will be fruits irregular shape, underdeveloped, without a sweetish taste. Irregular watering will lead to cracking of the fruits. After each watering, loosen the soil between the rows, not forgetting to remove weeds.
During the summer, beets need fertilizing every 10-14 days. The most valuable element for her is boron. They are given foliar feeding (2 grams of boric acid per 10 liters of water) when caring for beets in June. A lack of boron in the soil will lead to fruit blight, which will negatively affect their storage.
In order for the beets to be sweet, have a firm structure and a little crunch, it is necessary to fertilize with table salt (1 tbsp per 10 liters of water).
When the beet fruits become the size of Walnut(they will already be visible on the surface), fertilize with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers (azophoska, double superphosphate) every 14 days.
As autumn approaches, watering the beets is gradually reduced and completely stopped two weeks before harvest, as is the application of fertilizers.
Protecting beets from pests and diseases
The main diseases of beets are:
- cercospora;
- Phomasis;
- root rot.
To avoid damage, regular treatment of plantings with copper-containing preparations (Bordeaux mixture or XOM preparation) is necessary.
Great harm Pests that cause beets are:
- beet fly;
- nematode;
- cabbage scoop.
Therefore, growing beets in the country requires regular treatments with insecticides (Karate, Confidor).
Growing beets in open ground video
Harvesting and storing beets
The readiness of beets for harvest is determined only by their size. The most successful root vegetables are medium in size. They store best and are juicier than larger ones. Ripe table beets, planted and cared for correctly, can be harvested no later than September, since they do not tolerate frost. It is removed from the garden earlier than other root crops in dry weather. After digging, it is laid out to dry.
It is advisable to remove the tops from the fruits with your hands, since after cutting them with a knife, the wounds take a long time to heal and the fruits lose their juice. Only healthy, undamaged fruits are stored in separate boxes. Storing on top of potatoes is also acceptable.
Bottom line
Growing a good harvest of beets on your plot is not difficult. It is enough to observe planting dates, carry out watering and necessary fertilizing on time, loosen the soil and not delay harvesting.
