Rules for planting and growing beets in the garden

Table beet endures cold snaps, so it is widely grown in open ground. It is not very demanding in care, but standard agricultural practices will make the root crop large, juicy and tasty.

Beet variety selection

When choosing beets for planting, they are evaluated according to several criteria – by ripening time, by taste, by color and shape.

Varieties of beets according to different criteria:

  1. By maturity. Varieties are divided into three categories:
    • Early candle. From germination to harvesting takes from 80 to 110 days. Popular early varieties: Carillon, Bolivar, Egyptian, Red Ball, Nastenka, Vinaigrette.
    • Average. Vegetation period – 110-130 days. Popular mid-season varieties: Sonata, Crimson ball, Delicacy, Globus F1.
    • Late. Root crops ripen in 130-145 days. The best late varieties: Matrona, Citadel, Fron, Cylinder.
  2. Keeping quality. Not all beet varieties are well stored. Most often, late varieties are stored for storage. But among the early and middle beets, there are also long-term root crops. The following varieties are recommended for storage: Nosovskaya flat, Crosby, Rocket F1, Madame Ruzhette F1, Tenderness, Gypsy.
  3. Taste. The sweet taste of beets depends on their sugar content. Root vegetables with a high sugar content not only taste good, but are also suitable for processing. Delicious juices are obtained from them, they are introduced into the children’s menu. The sweetest varieties of beets: Bravo, Ordinary Miracle, Kozak, High, Mulatto.

Experts have compiled a table beet rating, in which they have collected the best varieties:

Preparing for planting

The success of beetroot cultivation largely depends on the quality of the soil and the timing of planting. We will learn how to prepare soil and seeds for planting, and how to choose the right site.

Optimal timing

Beets are a relatively heat-loving crop, which should not be rushed to plant. When determining the timing of sowing, the climatic features of the region are taken into account.

Temperatures recommended for sowing beets:

  • Air – from +15 to +18 °C.
  • Soils – from +6 to +10 °C.

Approximate sowing dates for different regions:

  • Southern regions – in the second half of March or in April.
  • The middle lane (Moscow region) – mid-May.
  • Ural and Siberia – the second half of May.

The planting time is also affected by varietal affiliation – early varieties are sown the earliest, late-ripening – the latest.

If late beets are sown too early, their root crops grow tough and tasteless.

Beets can be sown before winter. Do this before frost. For winter sowing, only special varieties are used. For the winter, crops are covered. Winter beet sprouts early, providing an early harvest.

Crop rotation

When choosing a site for planting beets, it is necessary to take into account which crop grew on it earlier. The table beet has favorable and unfavorable predecessors.

Beets grow well after:

  • potatoes;
  • Luke;
  • Pumpkins
  • peas;
  • cucumbers;
  • beans;
  • garlic.

Beets are not recommended to be planted after:

  • cabbage;
  • carrots;
  • celery
  • beets.

Neutral predecessors:

  • courgette;
  • pepper;
  • radish;
  • greenery;
  • radish;
  • tomatoes.

Beets are not recommended to be planted in one place. Between crops of culture should pass at least 3-4 years.

Site selection and preparation of soil

In order for the table beet to grow large and tasty, it needs to create favorable growing conditions. And this process begins with the selection of a site.

When choosing a site, the following requirements are taken into account:

  • Good lighting is required.
  • Soils should be nutritious and loose. Peat soils, sandy loams, loams are suitable for beets.
  • Beets need space to grow, so there must be enough space between adjacent plants for the root crop to grow.
  • The culture can be planted in a “border” along potato or cucumber plantations, near beds with onions or herbs.
  • Beets require frequent watering. To prevent stagnant water, it is necessary to plant the crop in well-drained areas.

Landing site

It is recommended to prepare the soil for planting beets in the fall:

  1. Remove plant debris and dig up the soil, introducing organic matter – manure or compost. Fertilizers should be deepened by 30-35 cm.
  2. If the soil is highly acidic, sprinkle slaked lime over it – 0,5-1 kg per 1 sq. m. You can also use crushed egg shells, dolomite flour or wood ash.
  3. Apply mineral fertilizers in the fall – potassium sulfate or superphosphate. Scatter the granules over the soil and dig up the beds. For 1 sq. m – 300 g of fertilizer.
  4. In the spring, re-dig up the bed and sprinkle peat or rotted sawdust on top.

Dosage of fertilizers when preparing the soil for beets:

Fertilizer Quantity, g per 1 sq. m Ammonium sulphate 20-30 Ammonium nitrate 15-20 Potassium chloride 10-15 Superphosphate 30-40

If you exceed the dose of fertilizers, the roots will be of poor quality – with loose pulp, cracked, with voids.

It is recommended to make beds for planting right before sowing seeds, then there will be more moisture in the soil and seedlings will appear faster.

Preparing the seeds for planting

Beets have large seeds that are easy to plant at the right intervals. If the purchased seeds are pink or green, then they have already been processed in fungicides and stimulants, and are completely ready for planting.

Treated purchased seeds cannot be soaked or germinated, they must be planted in the ground in a dry form.

Untreated seeds are brown or sandy in color. Such planting material must be prepared for planting.

How to prepare seeds:

  • Germination test. Soak the seeds in salt water. After a few hours, check the result – discard all the floating seeds, they are not viable or will give small root crops.
  • Disinfection. Soak the seeds for 12 hours in a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate.
  • Hardening. Alternately soak the seeds in hot and cold water – for several hours.
  • Processing in a stimulator. Seeds that have been tested for germination, wrap in gauze and immerse in a solution of “Zircon”, “Epin” or other stimulant. The exposure time is from 30 minutes to 4 hours, depending on the type of preparation.
  • Drying. Remove the seeds from the stimulant, rinse thoroughly and place them in a warm place for 24 hours. During this time, the seeds will swell, and some will even begin to peck – now they are ready for sowing.

If the seeds are planted before winter, then the preparation comes down to checking for germination and disinfection. Excessively swollen seeds are able to germinate, which will lead to their death.

Disembarkation instructions

Beet seeds are relatively large, so there are no difficulties in sowing them. Unlike carrots, radishes and many other crops, beet seeds do not need to be mixed with sand – they can be evenly distributed over the planting area without this.

Seed sowing

If the soil has warmed up, you can start sowing. You should not rush, the soil should warm up to a depth of 8-10 cm. Seeds planted in cool and moist soil can rot before they sprout.

The procedure for sowing beets in open ground:

  1. On the beds, draw furrows 2 cm deep. To make them even, with a dense bottom, use a board. Push it into the loosened soil. The distance between the furrows depends on the size of the root crops:
    • for small beets – 10-15 cm;
    • for large beets stored for storage – 20-30 cm.
  2. Water the furrows with a watering can. Water carefully so as not to wash out the soil.
  3. When the water is absorbed, spread the seeds along the grooves. The distance between seeds is from 4 to 10 cm. The interval is selected taking into account the variety and purpose of root crops.
  4. Fill the grooves with soil or rotted humus.
  5. Water the plantings through the rain nozzle.

Planting seedlings

To obtain early harvests of beets, a seedling method of cultivation is used. The first root crops are already in July. Seeds are sown for seedlings in March-April, and planted in the ground in April-May, depending on the region.

Seedling transplant

Beet seedlings are transplanted into open ground when they have 2-3 true leaves.

When growing beet seedlings, overgrowth should not be allowed. If the roots of the seedlings rest against the bottom of the seedling container, then the root crops may grow deformed.

Seedling order:

  1. Make holes in the prepared beds. Their size should be such that the roots of the seedlings fit comfortably in them. The intervals between holes depend on the variety:
    • cylindrical beets – 10-12 cm;
    • medium-sized beets – 12-15 cm;
    • beets with large rounded roots – 15-20 cm.
  2. Water the wells and wait for the water to soak in.
  3. Plant the seedlings in the holes, placing the roots evenly, without bends.
  4. Water the seedlings again.
  5. Cover the plantings with covering material for 2-3 days – until the seedlings take root.

If the weather is hot, water the plantings every day. When the plants take root, the frequency of watering is reduced to 1 time per week.

When growing beets using the seedling method, you do not have to deal with thinning the plantings.

Features of winter and spring sowing

Beetroot belongs to crops planted both in spring and before winter. If the seeds safely overwinter, then it will be possible to get early beets without growing seedlings.

Subzimney sowing

In late autumn, when winter crops are sown, beet sowing begins. The harvest of winter beets ripens 2-3 weeks earlier than analogues sown in spring.

Features of winter sowing:

  • The optimal sowing time is the last days of October or the beginning of November, when the soil has already cooled down.
  • Even if the snow has already fallen, sowing can be done. The main condition is cool earth so that the seeds do not sprout. They should only swell in the soil, no more.
  • For winter sowing, choose seeds that are resistant to cold.
  • In autumn, the number of seeds planted should be 20% more than in spring.
  • Most of all, varieties that are resistant to flowering and bolting are suitable for winter sowing.
  • In order for seedlings to sprout as early as possible in spring, the seeds are planted on ridges. Grooves 5-6 cm deep are made on the formed ridges.
  • Seeds laid in furrows are sprinkled with a mixture of substrate and humus. Crops are insulated with compost.

spring sowing

Spring sowing is most common among gardeners. This is the easiest and most win-win option for growing table beets, practically devoid of risks and surprises.

Features of spring sowing:

  • You can plant the seeds dry, without soaking. Especially if it rained shortly before sowing and the soil is moist.
  • The looser and lighter the soil, the deeper the seeds are laid. The sowing depth during spring sowing varies from 2 to 4 cm.

You can learn about the intricacies of planting beets in the following video:

Caring for beets in the open field

Beets are an unpretentious and drought-resistant crop that does not require much care from the gardener. But in order to get a good and high-quality harvest, it is important to provide the beets with the right care.

Temperature and light conditions

Beets are a light-loving crop. Good lighting is necessary for her throughout the growing season.

Light mode features:

  • The optimal length of daylight hours is 13-16 hours a day.
  • With a reduction in daylight hours to 10-11 hours, beets stop the growth of root crops, only the aerial part grows.

How temperature affects beets:

  • Beets are able to sprout while in the ground, the temperature of which is only +3 … +5 ° C. True, germination is delayed, the first shoots appear only on the 23-24th day.
  • The higher the temperature, the sooner the beets will rise. At a temperature of + 20 … + 25 ° C, the vegetable sprouts in a week.
  • If during the germination of beets the temperature rises above +25 ° C, the seedlings may die.
  • When plants have 3 or more leaves, they will be able to withstand adverse temperatures more steadfastly.
  • If the temperature drops by several degrees from the minimum allowable, the growth of root crops stops, the quality and quantity of the crop decreases.

The subtleties of watering

Beets are resistant to drought, but this quality should not be abused, as a lack of moisture can adversely affect yields.

Features of watering beets:

  • If the weather is hot and dry, plantings are watered by sprinkling.
  • Water for irrigation is better to use warm and separated.
  • The frequency of watering immediately after emergence is once every 2-3 days.
  • To retain moisture in the soil and reduce the frequency of irrigation, the soil is mulched, for example, with dried grass.

Watering alternates with loosening the soil. It is necessary to loosen the beets very carefully so as not to damage the growing root crops. The beets do not need hilling.

Thinning

From one beet seed, 2-4 sprouts can appear at once, so the plantings have to be thinned out. If this is not done, the root crops will not be able to develop normally and will not grow to their varietal sizes.

During the planting season, beets are thinned out twice:

  1. When seedlings have 2-4 true leaves. By this time, the plants reach a height of 7-8 cm. First, the weakest shoots are removed, and at the same time weeds are pulled out.
  2. When the plants are at the stage of root formation. A distance of 8-10 cm is left between neighboring plants. Varieties with large root crops are thinned out more strongly, leaving gaps of 15-20 cm.

Feeding

Beets have enough fertilizer laid before planting. It is necessary to make top dressing only with a noticeable lag in growth of plants.

Beet roots are ways to actively accumulate nitrates, so it is recommended to feed the culture with natural fertilizers.

How to feed beets:

  1. Periodically water with herbal infusions diluted in water, or yeast solutions.
  2. 2-3 times during the planting season can be watered with a weakly saturated saline solution – 10 tbsp is dissolved in 1 liters of water. l. salt.
  3. Apply any complex fertilizer, observing the dosage indicated in the instructions.
  4. If ash has not been applied since autumn, it can be used in summer. Every two weeks, ash is added to the water for irrigation – one glass per 10 liters.
  5. In insufficiently fertile soils, ready-made mineral fertilizers can be applied:
    • Potassium. Delivered twice a month. Any potash fertilizer is suitable, with the exception of manganese – it makes the soil acidic.
    • Nitrogen. They are brought in only when necessary. Fertilizer is poured into furrows dug at a distance of at least 5 cm from the roots.
    • Bor. Bring in twice a season. 10 g of boron are diluted in 2 liters of water.

Harvesting and storage of crops

Beets ripen in 50-70 days. But during the growing season, root crops can be used for food throughout the season.

Beet harvest

Features of cleaning and storage:

  • Beets must be harvested before frost. If the root crops freeze, they will quickly deteriorate during storage.
  • Underripe beets do not store well, while overripe beets are rough and prone to cracking.
  • Beets are harvested in dry weather, when the soil is easily shaken off the root crops.
  • It is recommended not to cut the tops, but to unscrew them so as not to damage the root crops.
  • Root crops are sick and with traces of damage, as well as too small and excessively large, they are not stored for storage.
  • The beets removed from the soil are immediately stored for storage.
  • The optimum temperature in the basement is +2…+3 °C.
  • If root crops are pollinated with chalk – 250 g per 10 kg, or sprayed with infusion of needles – 1 g of needles are infused in 50 liter of water for 4 days, then they will be better stored.

Diseases and pests of beets

Beets have high vitality and immunity. Most of her illnesses are associated with violations of agricultural technology and lack of nutrients.

Table beet diseases and their control measures:

Diseases Symptoms How to fight? Phomosis Yellow-brown spots with a concentric pattern appear on the leaves. Root crops infected with phomosis rot during storage. The seeds are treated with “Fundazol”. Cercosporosis Red spots appear on the leaves, and a gray coating appears on the reverse side. Feed with ash or potassium chloride. Seeds are treated, sprayed with copper-containing preparations every 10 days and treated with fungicides. Fusarium Leaves turn yellow and wilt. The fungus also infects root crops. Sprayed with boric acid. Carry out liming of acidic soils. Root beetle (black leg) Affects seedlings. The stems become thin, blacken, the plant dies. There is no cure. Prevention – improving soil aeration.

The main pests of beets:

  • Medvedka. Lives underground, digs passages and damages root crops. Treatment of holes and paths with a solution of boric acid is recommended. Scatter granular poison, for example, “Thunder”.
  • Nematodes. The larvae feed on the root system of the beetroot. Leaves of affected plants wither. Plants affected by nematodes are pulled out and destroyed.
  • Beet fly. On the affected plants, the leaves, eaten by the larvae of the fly, turn yellow and wither. Control measures – deep pre-winter digging, weeding, spraying heavily affected plantings with any contact insecticide.

Also, beetroot plantings are harmed by fleas, slugs and wireworms. They fight them mainly with preventive measures and natural remedies – they scatter tobacco dust, ground pepper or wood ash on the soil.

What to do if the beets have grown large?

Too large beets can only please inexperienced gardeners. Abnormally large root crops often have a fibrous texture and poor taste. They take a long time to cook and do not store well.

To avoid overgrowth of root crops:

  • Leave between adjacent plants the intervals corresponding to the variety.
  • Dig up root crops when they reach the size characteristic of a particular variety. The optimal size for most varieties is 5-6 cm in diameter.

Large root crops can be fed to livestock. They are introduced into the mix or cut into pieces.

Useful Tips

The taste of beets depends not only on the variety, but also on the growing conditions. The taste characteristics of the root crop are affected by the composition of the soil, watering, fertilizing, and much more.

How to get tasty and sweet beets:

  • Choose a variety with a high sucrose content.
  • Plant beets after onions or potatoes.
  • Deacidify acidic soils – it is impossible to get tasty root crops on them. But on alkaline soils, the most delicious beets grow.
  • Salted water increases sugar content in beets. In 10 liters of water, dilute 2 cups of ash and 1 tbsp. l. salt. Water the plants with this solution.

About what can not be done when growing beets and why spots on the leaves may appear, you can see in the following video:

The main difficulty in growing table beets is getting tasty and sweet root crops. Strict adherence to agricultural technology and careful care of plants helps to achieve the goal.

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Anna Evans

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