Agricultural Technology For Growing Beets. Planting Beets With Seeds, Seedlings. Care. Photo

• Part 1. Beets - useful properties, varieties, varieties
• Part 2. Agricultural technology of growing beets

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 mainly caused by low-quality seeds, the purchase of feed varieties instead of table varieties, violation of agricultural technology and growing conditions. Therefore, before moving on to the agricultural technology of table beets, let's get acquainted with its requirements for growing conditions.

Beet requirements for growing conditions

Temperature regime

Beetroot belongs to the group of heat-loving crops, but it is cold-hardy enough. 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, after germination, the beets can go into the arrow and not form a high-quality harvest. Roots will be small with a dense woody texture, tasteless or herbaceous flavor. For the emergence of seedlings, an ambient temperature of +4.. + 6 ° C is sufficient. Early shoots can withstand short-term frost up to -2 ° C, but the roots will be small. Do not rush to sow beets or sow at several times with a break of 7-10-15 days. One of the crops will fall into optimal conditions and form the yield you need with the expected quality.

Light mode for beetroot

In order to obtain high-quality high yields of any crop (not only beets), it is necessary to know its biology, including the relation to the light regime. Beets are a typical long day plant. The cultivated varieties of beets at the level of genetic memory have fixed this biological feature, and the maximum yield is formed when cultivated with a day length of 13-16 hours. A change in the duration of daylight by 2-3 hours causes mainly the growth of the aerial part, and the development of the root crop slows down.

Old, resistant varieties of beets are more strongly attached to the light regime and react negatively to changes in the length of light. To obtain high-quality harvests, 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 have little reaction to the duration of lighting. In addition, breeders have now developed varieties and hybrids that practically do not react to the longitude of illumination. Therefore, it is better to buy modern varieties and hybrids (F-1) of table beet.

Beet to moisture ratio

Beets are able to provide themselves with moisture to a sufficient extent. But with insufficient rainfall, it needs watering. Irrigation rates should be moderate, since excess moisture at a sparse standing density forms large roots, often with cracks.

Beet requirements for soil conditions

Beet is a neutral soil plant. On acidified soils, the yield is insignificant with a low taste of the root crop. The culture prefers floodplain soils, light loams, chernozems. Does not tolerate heavy clay, stony, saline soils with high water levels.

Beet requirement for predecessors

The best predecessors are early harvested crops, including cucumbers, zucchini, early cabbage, early potatoes, early varieties of eggplant and sweet peppers, early tomatoes. The harvesting time of the predecessor is especially important when sowing table beets in winter. The soil must be fully prepared for sowing.

Features of agrotechnology of beetroot

Selecting beet seeds for sowing

As a botanical plant, beets are interesting in the way they form fruits. The beet is a one-seeded nut. When the seeds ripen, the fruit growers grow together by the perianth and form a glomerulus, which also has a second name, "beet seed". Each glomerulus contains from 2 to 6 fruits with a seed. Therefore, when sprouting, several independent, easily separated sprouts appear. When sowing, seedlings of beet seedlings need to be thinned out. Reception is usually carried out manually, which is accompanied by high expenditures of labor time and, accordingly, a rise in the cost of production when cultivated in large specialized farms.

Breeders have developed single-seeded (one- sprout) varieties of table beet. According to their economic characteristics, they do not differ from the varieties that form seed infructescence. Their main difference is the formation of 1 fruit, which excludes thinning during care. Compound fruits at home are ground with sand before sowing. When grinding, the seed is divided into separate seeds.

Of the single-seed (single-seeded) beet varieties, 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 aforementioned beet varieties are mid-season, high-yielding. The pulp of root vegetables is tender, juicy. They are distinguished by good keeping quality, long-term storage. They are used fresh and for winter preparations.

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 (dressing, patrolling, pelleting, etc.). When buying beetroot seeds, be sure to check the package recommendations. Sometimes treated seeds do not need to be presoaked. They are directly sown into moist soil. In other cases, seeds are germinated in wet wipes, which accelerates the germination of seedlings.

Soil preparation

After harvesting the predecessor, autumn shoots of weeds are necessarily provoked 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 sq. m. plot area. To neutralize the acidified soil, add fluff lime 0.5-1.0 kg per 1 sq. m and mineral fertilizers - nitroammofosk 50-60 g per 1 sq. m. Instead of nitroammofoska, you can prepare a mixture of mineral fertilizers. Ammonium sulphate, superphosphate and potassium chloride, respectively 30, 40 and 15 g / sq. m. mix, scatter over the site and dug 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 an even sowing depth.

Sowing dates of beetroot

Beets are sown in spring when the soil warms up in a 10-15 cm layer to + 10 ° C. Roughly 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 and the first decade of June. The above sowing dates are more suitable for early beet varieties. Medium and late beet varieties 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, thanks to the temperate climate, it is possible to grow all varieties of table beets - from the early ones with the production of root crops in technical ripeness in mid-July to the latest varieties with the harvest in September and the first half of October. In these regions of Russia, including non-chernozem ones, podzimny sowing of beets (late October-early November, November-December) with cold-resistant varieties that are resistant to shooting is widely used. When sowing in winter, beets take off an early harvest of root crops at the end of June.

Technology of spring sowing of table beet with seeds

Sowing beet seeds in spring can be done with dry and more practical germinated seeds. Seeds are sown in furrows on a flat field. Sprouted seeds are sown in moist soil. In dry soil, almost all shoots die.

Furrows are cut every 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 the crops. The distance in the row is 2-3 cm, which, when thinning, is increased to 7-10 cm, which ensures the production of standard (10 cm in diameter) root crops. On single-seeded beet crops, thinning is combined with the harvesting of a bunch crop, and when sowing with seed crops, 2 thinning is performed.

Technology of planting beet seedlings

Seedlings of table beets are usually grown in a short summer, combining the initial development in greenhouses and greenhouses with further development in the open field. Beets can be cultivated on warm ridges, covering with 1-2 layers of spandbond from the early cold. Seeds are sown in greenhouses or a greenhouse in prepared soil 10-12-15 days before the planting period in open ground. Sowing an ordinary one. To obtain more seedlings, sowing is carried out with glomeruli. The distance in the row is 12-20 cm, depending on the variety, and between the rows is 30-40 cm. In the phase of 4-5 leaves (approximately 8 cm in height), a pick is made, leaving 1-2 plants in the nest. Dived plants are planted in the ground or in separate peat-humus and other containers for growing, if the weather is not established. When transplanting beets, it is necessary to treat the central root as carefully as possible. Damaging it will delay the growth of the transplanted plant. When stable warm weather sets in, young plants are planted in open ground. Peat-humus is immediately planted in the ground with plants. If the pots are reusable, the transplant is carried out by the transfer method. With this method, only a small amount of non-standard (deformed) roots are obtained. When transplanting, the following rules are observed:

• beet seedlings are transplanted on a permanent basis no more than 8 cm in height. The older the seedlings, the more non-standard root crops in the crop,
• to prevent shooters, when transplanting beet seedlings should not be buried too deep,
• Leave the distance in a row at least 12-15 cm, and between rows, to reduce shading, up to 25-30-40 cm.

Winter beet sowing technology

For winter sowing, the ridge planting method is most suitable. It provides a better soil warming in the spring, which means a very early harvest of root crops and early beam products. Podzimny sowing of beets is carried out in October-November, or rather, when a steady cooling is established, without the return of warm days. On the tops of the ridges, the seed is sown into furrows to a depth of 4-6 cm to keep it from sudden frosts. The seeds in the furrows are sprinkled with humus earth on 1-2 cm, slightly compacted and additionally mulched on top by 2-3 cm for insulation.

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 harvests of different early ripening crops can be removed from one compacted bed. Spring sowing of beets can be combined on the same bed with carrots, onions for greens, radishes, radishes, spinach, salads, including cabbage, leafy, watercress. When harvesting early beets in the first ten days of July, you can occupy the vacated area with repeated sowing of onions for greens, radishes, lettuce, dill. After harvesting greens, you can sow peas or other crops like green manure.

Beet care

Caring for table beets includes:

• in maintaining 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, beets develop very slowly and do not tolerate contamination;
• keeping the row spacings free from soil crust to ensure free gas exchange;
• carrying out timely feeding;
• maintaining optimal humidity of the site.

Beets begin to germinate at a soil temperature of +8.. + 10 ° С and +5.. + 7 ° С of the environment. However, seedlings appear late and very unevenly at this temperature. The optimum air temperature is +19.. + 22 ° С. Seedlings appear on the 5-8th day and by the 10-12th day the culture enters the forks phase. In the next 10 days, there is a powerful development of the aboveground part of the culture (leaf apparatus), and then the development of the root crop begins.

Loosening the soil

The first loosening is carried out 4-5 days after germination. Loosening is performed very carefully, gradually deepening the treated layer from 2-4 to 6-8 cm. The soil is loosened in the aisles, in the furrows of the ridge, on the sidewalls of the ridges after irrigation and rain. Timely destruction of young weeds slightly injures beet plants and provides the crop with optimal conditions for growth and development. Loosening is stopped after the leaves close.

Beet thinning

Thinning is carried out when sowing table beets with compound fruits (glomeruli). 3-5 seedlings develop from seedlings. Single-seeded varieties generally do not need to be thinned unless a bunch is provided. Thinning is performed in cloudy weather after preliminary watering. It is easier to pull the plant out of the moistened soil without damaging the neighboring one. Beets are thinned 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 the plants. The beet is negatively related to the greater sparseness of beets. When thinning polyseed crops, 1-2 seedlings are left in place. In this case, thinning is carried out in the phase of 2-3 leaves. Plugged plants are used as seedlings, planting plants at the edges or in the sides of high ridges.

The second thinning is performed with the development of 4-5 leaves. In this phase, the beet has already formed a 3-5 cm root crop. In the second thinning, the tallest, most developed plants are removed. They reach bunch ripeness and are used for food. At the same time, the condition of the plants is monitored and diseased and crooked plants are removed along the way. The distance in the row for the normal development of the root crop is 6-8-10 cm.

Beet feeding

During the growing season, at least two dressings of medium and late beet varieties are carried out. Early beets, with a good autumn fertilization, are usually not fed. For gardeners, especially for beginners, it is difficult to calculate the required amount of fertilizers. 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 fertilize with nitroammophos - 30 g sq. m or a mixture of mineral fertilizers at a rate of 5-7 g / sq. m, respectively, sodium nitrate, superphosphate and potassium chloride.

On depleted soils, it is better to apply the first feeding 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 introduced at a distance of 6-10 cm from the beet row in a 3-4 cm furrow. Use a 10 linear meter bucket of mortar. Watering is carried out from a watering can close to the soil so as not to burn the leaves. After adding 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, without 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 overfeeding with nitrogen is the appearance of voids in the root crop.

The second feeding of beets is carried out after 15-20 days or after the second thinning. For feeding, superphosphate and potassium magnesium or potassium chloride are used in a dose of 8-10 g / sq. m (1 teaspoon with top). Mineral oil can be replaced with wood ash, spending 200 g per sq. m of area, followed by embedding in a 5-8 cm layer of soil.

Foliar dressing

Micronutrient fertilizers boron, copper and molybdenum are best applied in the form of foliar liquid dressings by spraying. Aboveground mass. You can buy a ready-made mixture of microfertilizers or replace it with ash infusion.

In the phase of 4-5 leaves, well sprinkle the beets with boric acid solution. Dissolve 2 g of boric acid in hot water and dilute in 10 liters of water. This technique will protect the beetroot from heart rot. The finished preparation of microfertilizers is bred according to the recommendation and the plants are treated.

If there are no ready-made microfertilizers, they can be successfully replaced by an infusion of wood ash. Ash infusion can be used for 2 foliar dressings: 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 the beets, it is advisable to spray the plants with a solution of potash fertilizers, which will increase their keeping quality.

Want sweeter beets? Do not forget to salt it with ordinary table salt. Dissolve 40 g (2 spoons without a top) of non-iodized salt in 10 liters of water and pour over the beets, consuming a bucket of solution per sq. m of land area. To reduce the amount of dressings, combine the salt solution with a solution of trace elements, and spray it in June and early August.

Watering the beets

Juicy root vegetables 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 over the leaves. The crop does not tolerate rising soil temperatures. From overheating, constant mulching is necessary until the leaves close. Watering is stopped 3-4 weeks before harvesting.

Protection of beets from diseases and pests

The most dangerous diseases of the beet are fungal and bacterial damage to the root system and root crops. 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 struggle is carried out by agrotechnical measures and processing with biological products.

• Sowing is carried out only with healthy inoculum treated with bioprocessing agents. It is more expedient to buy ready-made, processed and prepared seed for sowing.
• All crop residues, weeds, in which mushrooms, bacteria and other sources of diseases winter, are removed from the field.
• The acidified soil is lime-lime in time, providing normal conditions for the development of culture.
• They constantly monitor the state of the culture and remove diseased plants from the field.
• They provide the culture with not only macro - but also microelements that well protect plants from diseases.

Of the biological products to combat rot, planriz is used for soil cultivation, and phytosporin, betaprotectin, phytodoctor, agrophil are used for diseases of the aerial part of plants.

The most common pests of table beet are leaf and root aphids, beet and miner flies, beet scutellus, beet flea, etc. Of biological products against pests, bitoxibacillin, dendrobacillin, entobacterin, lepidocide, etc. are used.

Dilution of biological products, doses and period of use are indicated on the package or accompanying recommendations. Biopreparations can be used in tank mixes, after a preliminary test for compatibility. Despite their safety, when processing plants with biological products, personal protective measures must be observed. Be careful! Biologicals can cause an allergic reaction (mostly dusty forms - powders).

Harvesting beets

The root crop must be harvested before the onset of frost (end of September - first half of October). Beetroot harvesting begins when the leaves turn yellow. Frozen root crops are poorly stored and are affected by fungal rot and other diseases in storage. After harvesting, the root crops are sorted, separating absolutely healthy ones. The tops are cut off, leaving hemp up to 1 cm. Healthy roots are dried and stored. Storage temperature is +2.. + 3 ° С. Storage methods are various: in boxes with sand, sawdust, dry peat; in plastic bags, in bulk, etc.

• Part 1. Beets - useful properties, varieties, varieties
• Part 2. Agricultural technology of growing beets