How To Get A Good Harvest Of Beets? Tips And Tricks For Growing Large And Tasty Beets. Photo

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

Beetroot is a fairly common vegetable crop in our beds. But more and more gardeners are complaining about breeders, claiming that the beet varieties have lost their qualities. Root crops have become woody, herbaceous flavor. Gone is their pleasant sweetness. The more experienced assure that nothing has changed, and the beets are still producing high yields of delicious root vegetables with a pleasant sweetness. An analysis of the questions of our readers showed that not everyone takes into account its biological characteristics when growing beets, does not fulfill agrotechnical requirements, which leads to disruption of metabolic processes in the plant, worsening the quality indicators of root crops.

Content:

• What you need to know about beets?
• How to get large and sweet beets?
• How to improve the taste of beetroot?
• General care of beets

What you need to know about beets?

Beets are a long-day plant and with early sowing, when the main quality indicators of the future root crop are laid, they lack the light intensity.

Does not tolerate heavy shading of beets. When sown under trees, falling into the zone of the root system of perennial horticultural crops, it develops poorly under the influence of lower soil temperatures, lack of lighting and nutrients, which take away stronger and more active tree roots.

Beets, forming root crops, need an increased amount of nutrients and their lack, especially in combination with uneven and untimely watering, limit cell growth. The root crop remains small, the tissues are tough.

The lack of nutrients, and most importantly, the violation of their ratio in the soil significantly affects the taste of beet root crops. Beets are unique for their high sodium content and their ratio to calcium (10: 1). Experiments have shown that sodium, when even a small amount of sodium salts is introduced into the soil, displaces potassium and other elements from the soil absorbing complex (AUC), making them available to plants. Exchange processes between sodium and cations of other elements contribute to an increase in the mass of the root crop and its sugar content by 0.5-1.0%.

The poor quality of the beetroot can be caused by the increased acidity of the soil, which interferes with the supply of nutrients to the plants.

How to get large and sweet beets?

The location of beets in the crop rotation

When growing beets in culture rotation, the best predecessors are nightshades (sweet peppers, eggplants), pumpkin seeds (zucchini, squash), onions, and garlic. Lacy penumbra of asparagus beans and peas create optimal conditions for beets when planting in compacted beds. Still, root crops for beets are poor predecessors.

Beet requirements for soil quality

Like other crops, beets prefer well-heated areas, so it is best to place them in raised beds that provide good lighting. The plot must be leveled, as the beets cannot stand long stagnation of moisture. In terms of its physical state, the soil must have good drainage properties, be light, moisture-absorbing, breathable, so as not to experience a deficiency of oxygen.

The soil for beets should be neutral with a pH of 6.5-7.2 units. Increased acidity reduces the quality of root crops, so the soil (if necessary) is deacidified. The procedure is usually carried out in the fall in order to dilute it in time with the introduction of fertilizers. Fertilizers in this case are applied for spring tillage. With increased acidity, some nutrients become inaccessible to beets. Dolomite flour or lime is used as deoxidizers.

Soil preparation

After harvesting the predecessor, the bed is cleaned of tops, weeds and other debris. Water to provoke autumn weed shoots. On the shoots of weeds, mineral fertilizers are applied - nitroammofosku or a complex of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers with a minimum addition of nitrogen fertilizers and dug up to 25-30 cm.

It is useful for beets to sow green manures before winter. Beets are often affected by scab. Sowing a mixture of green manure crops from radish, rapeseed and mustard will not only serve as a good fertilizer and fluff up the soil with its roots, but also disinfect it from scab, wireworm and rot. Siderat can be dug up in the fall when the green mass grows up to 10 cm, or it can be left for spring soil preparation.

If the soil is loamy, heavy in composition, they are dug up again in the spring. If green manure was not used, improvers of the physical condition of the soil - agroperlite or agrovermiculite - can be added to reduce the density of the soil.

Beet fertilization

Beets do not like to "overeat", therefore, nitrophosphate 60-70 g / sq. Is introduced for the main tillage in autumn. m, ammophos 50-60 g / sq. m with the addition of potassium sulfate 30-40 g / sq. m. or fertilizer-mixture for vegetable crops. The lack of nutrients is replenished with dressings during the growing season of the crop. On highly fertile soils, only 1/3 of the fertilizer norm or 1-2 glasses of ash per square meter is applied for the main cultivation. m area.

Sowing dates for beets

If the spring is warm without return frosts with daytime temperatures in the range of + 17 … + 13 ° С, then you can sow beets when the soil warms up to + 3 … + 4 ° С. If the spring is protracted and the sowing is frozen, then the root crop may go into flowering and not form the long-awaited tasty root crops. Therefore, there is no need to rush to sowing beets, it is necessary to wait for stable warm weather and good soil warming up to + 5 … + 6 ° С in the root layer.

Beet sowing scheme

The seeding pattern for beets is ordinary, with a row spacing of 40-45 cm or two-line, with a distance between the lines in the tape 25-30 cm and between the belts -40-45 cm. Seeding depth on dense soils is 2.0-2.5 cm, on light - up to 3-4 cm. Depending on the air temperature, seedlings appear on 5-6 or 10-11 days.

To keep the soil moist, after sowing the beets, the bed is covered with a film until individual shoots appear. You can cover with cardboard and water it systematically. Moisture will saturate the cardboard and prevent a dry crust from forming on the soil.

During the growing season, the optimum temperatures for beets are + 18 … + 22 ° С. When the temperature rises above + 25 ° С, the metabolic processes in the root crop slow down, it becomes fibrous, sugar content is lost. To curb the effect of negative temperatures, it is necessary to constantly keep the soil mulched, increase the amount of watering, which will reduce the temperature of the soil, and use fog-like spraying of plants.

How to improve the taste of beetroot?

Formation of standing density

Beet seedlings form bushy shoots and, if timely measures are not taken, too small and numerous root crops will be formed. Therefore, the plant density plays a significant role in the formation of root crops that are optimal in diameter and shape.

Thinning of seedlings and young seedlings of beets is carried out twice:

• In the phase of 2 true leaves. The distance between the seedlings is 3-4 cm. 2-3 beets are left in the bunch;
• In the phase of 4-5 true leaves. The distance between young plants increases to 7-8 cm. Only one most developed plant is left.

When thinning beets, especially the first one, the seedlings are pinched at the ground, but not pulled out. When pulling, you can also pull out neighboring plants.

Beet seedlings from the second thinning can be used as seedlings for replanting to other crops in compacted beds.

With a delay in thinning, the overall crop yield is noticeably reduced

Sometimes, after the emergence of seedlings or after the first thinning, a massive “death” of beet seedlings begins. Probably, the root system of young seedlings was affected by the root fungus. It is necessary to immediately treat the soil with phytosporin-M or planriz according to the instructions.

Beet feeding

Timely and correct supply of nutrients to the culture plays a major role in obtaining high-quality root crops with a high content of sugars, vitamins, trace elements and other compounds necessary for a person.

Top dressing will be ineffective if not combined with watering, hilling, weeding. All feeding must be completed by the beginning of August. The most intensive feeding of beets is necessary in mid-July (10-20 days). During this period, beets consume the greatest amount of nutrients to form the quality of the root crop.

Beet feeding scheme:

• The first feeding of beets is carried out in the phase of 2 true leaves (after the first thinning) with potassium fertilizer at the rate of 15-20 g per 10 l of water. Instead of potash fertilizer, you can use an infusion of wood ash for feeding. Insist 1 glass of ash in a bucket of water for 3-4 hours, filter and water. Irrigate with a nutrient solution along the grooves located at a distance of 10 cm from the rows of beets. The nutrient solution should not get on the plants.
• In the initial stages of development, the plants should form healthy, normally developed tops. Therefore, for the growth and development of beet leaves, the next feeding is carried out after the second thinning with urea or kemira-wagon at the rate of 30 g / sq. m of landing area. In this phase, you can also use the fertilizers "soluble", "Rost-2", containing, in addition to nitrogen, trace elements.
• The third feeding of beets is carried out in the phase of closing plants in a row. Add 20 and 25 g of superphosphate and potassium sulfate and a glass of ash per sq. m.

In the growth phase of the root crop, to increase the sugar content of the beets and the formation of tender pulp, it is necessary to sprinkle the plants with boric acid at the rate of 2 g of the preparation per 10 l of water.

To increase the sugar content of the root vegetable, salt the soil under the root vegetable with table salt in the phase of 8-9 true leaves. During this period, the culture needs an increased sodium content in the soil. Dissolve a tablespoon of table salt in 10 liters of water and pour the beets along the furrows. One bucket of solution is enough for 10 running meters of watering.

The lack of sodium can be recognized by the reddening of the leaves (not to be confused with a varietal trait). When redness appears, experienced gardeners recommend literally pouring beets from a watering can with a fine nozzle. This procedure will increase the sugar content and increase the size of the root vegetable. Do not increase the salt concentration. The development of plants from salting will slow down. Salt water can be sprayed on plants up to 3 times during the warm season.

Beets are very responsive to boron, copper and molybdenum. In between the main dressings, the plants are sprayed with a solution of trace elements.

Proper watering of beets

Water the beets with warm water, since cold water can provoke the appearance of fungal diseases of the root system.

In the heat, beets should be watered daily in the morning or evening hours at moderate rates. When using mulch irrigation, you can water less frequently by monitoring the moist state of the soil under the mulch.

Do not allow the topsoil to dry out, and then water with an increased rate of water.

Starting from June, the number of waterings is reduced to 2 - 3 times a week. The soil under the root crops should be moist. In rainy weather, beets are not irrigated.

From the beginning of August, the watering rate is reduced, and from the middle - the watering is stopped. In the last month, excess moisture negatively affects the quality of root crops, reducing their sugar content.

General care of beets

In addition to feeding, thinning, watering, beets are very responsive to the state of the soil cover. The soil clogged with irrigation retards the development of the root crop, squeezes it out of the soil (except for the "Cylinder" variety). Therefore, during the growing season, it is very important to carry out weeding in a timely manner, which will loosen the soil and increase the access of oxygen to root crops.

The first loosening of beets is carried out 3-4 days after the end of mass shoots. The subsequent loosening of the soil is repeated after watering or precipitation. After watering and absorbing moisture, the soil is mulched with fine mulch. When extruding root crops, hilling is used.

Thus, strict implementation of agrotechnical methods of growing beets will help to obtain high-quality root crops with a high sugar content and tender pulp.