Planting beets in the spring. Planting and caring for beets - important information necessary for every gardener When to plant beets at what distance

Beet is a biennial plant. In the first year after planting, the plant grows a root crop and a large rosette of leaves. And already in the second year she has flower stems and seeds.

The size, shape and weight of root crops varies and depends on the growing conditions and variety. The shape can be round, conical and even fusiform, and the skin and flesh have different colors. On average, 3-4 kg of root crops can be harvested from 1 m2, but many vegetable growers are striving to increase yields to 4.5-6 kg per 1 m2.

Which neighbors to plant beets with. It is believed that this root vegetable does not grow well next to corn. Yield increases can be achieved by planting it close to plantings of beans, tomatoes, potatoes and spinach. Beets planted next to lettuce, radishes, radishes, onions, kohlrabi and garlic also grow well.

Temperature regime

Seeds germinate at + 5 - 6 degrees, seedlings at this temperature will appear in two weeks. They withstand short-term cold snaps quite well up to -2 degrees. And adult plants can withstand frosts down to -4 degrees. The optimum temperature for plant development is 18 - 20 degrees. But when beets begin to form root crops, the need for heat increases. During this period, the optimum air temperature is 20-25 "C.

Where is it better to plant. It is best to plant beets on loose, well-moisturized and aerated loamy soils with low groundwater levels. On alkaline and acidic soils, the plant gives a poor harvest.

Beet is a light-loving plant. With insufficient sunlight, the plants stretch out, and its yield decreases. Therefore, choose well-lit places for planting.

Planting beets video

Soil preparation. On the site selected for planting, a year before, add organic fertilizers... If you failed to do this, add humus or compost immediately before sowing at the rate of 2-4 kg per 1 m2. If the soil on the site is acidic, add lime in the fall at the rate of 300-700 g per 1 m2. Apply mineral fertilizers in autumn too.

When to plant. Plant beets in the spring when the soil temperature rises to 5-6 ° C. If you want to speed up the emergence of seedlings, pre-soak the seeds for one day in water, and then keep them at + 18-20 ° C until single seedlings appear. Dry the seeds slightly before planting.

If you want not only to shorten the germination time of seeds and increase their germination, but also to get a large harvest of beets in the future, carry out bubbling - saturation of seeds in water with oxygen for 12 hours.

In the garden, beets are planted in three lines.

How to plant.Plant the beets on the beds in three lines, plant the seeds to a depth of 4-5 cm.If the soil in your area is heavy, plant the seeds to a depth of no more than 3 cm.

The beet harvest is often dependent on the weather. Sometimes the crops of this plant freeze out. If you have already encountered such a nuisance, plant beets in two periods: at the beginning and at the end of May. If the first crops freeze or begin to shoot, you will have the second, from which you are guaranteed to get a crop.

Beet care

Caring for beets consists in thinning seedlings, loosening the soil, regular watering and feeding the plants.

Thinning of plantings.

Thinning of beets is carried out twice. Thin the plants for the first time in the phase of 2 true leaves (7-10 days after germination). The distance between the shoots should be 3-4 cm. The second time, thin out in the phase of 3-4 true leaves. This time, make sure that the plants are at a distance of 8-10 cm from one another.

It is best to thin out in the evening after watering or rain: it is easy to pull the plant out of moist soil. Although you can not pull it out, but just pinch it at the ground level. This method eliminates damage to the root system of the plants remaining in the garden.

If, during thinning, you pull out plants in order to transplant them to another bed, remember that varieties with an elongated root crop should not be dived. When such plants are transplanted, their integrity is violated and, as a result, deformed and ugly root crops are formed. But the pick does not affect the quality of a round root crop.

How to plant beets video.

Tillage

When caring for beets, pay great attention to loosening, do not allow the formation of a soil crust. At first, loosen the soil to a depth of 3-5 cm, gradually increase the depth of loosening to 10 cm.If the roots look out of the ground, they should be earthed.

How to water

The most important thing in caring for any plant is regular watering. Beetroot is a moisture-loving plant. The beds should be well moistened before planting and watered immediately after sowing. Throughout summer season water regularly. It is best to irrigate by sprinkling. During the formation and growth of root crops, do not allow long breaks between waterings. Watering should be stopped a month before harvesting.

How to feed beets

During the season, two or three additional dressings should be carried out.

1. Perform the first one immediately after thinning. For her, you need nitrogen fertilizers at the rate of 10-15 g per 1 m2.
2. After the second thinning, add ammonium nitrate (15 g per 1 m2) to the soil.
3. After 15-20 days, when the roots begin to form, superphosphate and potassium chloride (7.5-10 g per 1 m2).

Beetroot rises and grows without problems even for novice summer residents, but not everyone turns out sweet and beautiful. True, those who understand its requirements receive a harvest of high-quality root crops every year.

1. To grow sweet beets, you need to choose the right variety. Domestic varieties have long taken root in our gardens Bordeaux, Incomparable, Red ball and etc.
2. Try to plant it in a well-lit garden bed. In the shade of trees, under the shade of corn, sunflowers, root crops grow unsweetened, poorly colored.
3. The plant is also demanding for soil fertility, although it should not be sown immediately after applying manure: the formation of root crops will be delayed, and the quality will be low, as they say, neither taste nor appearance... In addition, on manured soil, the plant is often affected by fungal diseases. But being sown after crops for which organic matter was introduced (cucumbers, cabbage), beets will form high-quality, tasty root crops.
4. Under the digging of the future beet bed, up to two tablespoons of superphosphate, 1-1.5 tablespoons of potassium sulfate or a tablespoon of nitrophoska and a glass of wood ash per sq. m.
5. In order for the beets to gain “sweetness” and grow without defects, they are fed with fertilizers containing magnesium and boron, for example, magbor. In order for the beets not to lack other nutrients, at the beginning of the growing season they are fed with a complex fertilizer (table spoon per sq. M). Nitrogen is added if leaves grow poorly in spring: 2 teaspoons of urea per sq. m. In the phase of formation of root crops, fertilizing with complex fertilizers is repeated.
6. At the end of the season, "for sweetness", the beets are "salted": they are fed with table salt (a teaspoon in a bucket of water).
7. Beautiful root crops cannot be grown without timely thinning of the seedlings. This plant has the ability to sprout in heaps, even if, when sowing, you spread the glomerular seeds at the right distance. Therefore, at the stage of 2-3 true leaves, the seedlings are thinned, increasing the distance between the plants to 3-4 cm. After 2-3 weeks, another thinning is carried out - up to 6-7 cm. "Rarely" is also not needed: the root crops will grow too large , their quality will deteriorate.

As you can see, caring for beets is not much different from caring for all other root crops. If you follow all these non-tricky recommendations in the fall, you will get an excellent harvest.

Beets are so popular that they are grown on all continents except Antarctica. And this is not surprising, because this root vegetable is not only rich in vitamins and minerals, but is also edible from the roots to the tips of the leaves.

Cultivation of a healthy vegetable is within the power of even a novice gardener. In the article, we will tell you in detail about when and how to plant beets with seeds.

Varieties are divided into early, mid-season and late (depending on the ripening period).

Of the early varieties, Early Wodan, Carillon, Red ball, Mona, Egyptian and Gribovskaya flat, Action, Nastenka are popular. The harvest of such beets can be harvested in 80-110 days from the moment of germination.

Mid-season varieties include Bordeaux-237, Sonata, Crimson ball, Valya, Detroit, Cold-resistant 19. This beet will ripen in 110-130 days.

Late beets are represented by such varieties as Saladnaya, Matrona, Cylindra. Late-ripening beets are harvested 130-145 days after germination.

Sow the culture with both dry and presoaked seeds. More friendly and faster sprouts are provided by soaked and germinated seed material. This is easily explained, because beet seeds are dense and shriveled and they need a lot of moisture and time to germinate.

For soaking, use ordinary warm water.

Important! Sprouted seeds are sown in well-moistened soil, otherwise the sprouts will die.

The prepared seeds will sprout in about 3-4 days. Dry - in 12-15 days. The fresher the seeds, the better germination they give.

Dates of sowing beet seeds

Planting dates affect germination and quality indicators.

Choosing a landing date

When to start sowing beets in open ground? The specific date is determined by the climate of the region and the variety of the root crop. For early varieties, the soil should be warmed up to + 8-10 ° C. Cold-resistant varieties can be sown at soil temperatures of + 5-6 ° C.

Need to know. Beet seedlings are sensitive to low temperatures. Cold snap and frost can ruin the entire crop.

Mid-season and late varieties are sown in early June. By the end summer season they ripen completely.

Determination of landing dates according to the lunar calendar

You can choose a specific sowing date focusing on moon calendar... All root crops are sown with the waning moon.

Most auspicious days in 2019:

1. May - 23;
2. June - 9-11.
3. The full moon is considered the worst time for any planting operation.

Crop rotation rules

The same crop rotation rules apply to beet crops as to other root crops. For planting, do not choose the same place for more than two years in a row. Re-use the area for beets after 4-5 years.

Next to what to plant beets? Good predecessors beets - legumes, cabbage, tomato, cucumber, eggplant.

Root crops love to grow along the edges of the garden. In the central part, carrots, onions, celery, kohlrabi, cauliflower will serve as good neighbors.

How to properly plant beet seeds

Proper placement of plants in the garden will allow you to get the maximum possible yield per unit area.

Sowing instructions

Soak or dry seeds should be properly planted in pre-moistened soil. On the bed, 2-3 grooves are cut with an interval of 15-20 cm. A distance of 40-50 cm is maintained between the beds. The seeds are laid out in furrows at a distance of 8-10 cm from each other.

You should not plant seeds deeply. The sprouts do not have enough oxygen and seedlings will not appear. And finely sown seeds will not have enough moisture.

The optimum sowing depth depends on the soil. The seed is buried in heavy soil by 2 cm, in light soil - by 3-4 cm.

Experienced Farmer Tips:

• beets are sown in moist and warm soil, seeds need moisture and heat for germination;
• the seedlings are carefully thinned out, the thickening of the plants will negatively affect the yield;
• the distance between the rows should not be too large, weeds will begin to actively grow in the free space;
• fresh manure is not used as fertilizer.

What mistakes to avoid:

1. Inexperienced summer residents plant beet seeds too deep into the ground, fearing that it will not have enough moisture. As a result, seeds do not germinate due to lack of oxygen.
2. At the first thinning of seedlings, excess plants are pinched or cut off with scissors. If you pull them out, you can damage the roots of healthy shoots.
3. Beets are sensitive to lack of sunlight. A well-lit place is chosen for sowing.

Beet planting patterns

The answer to the question of at what distance from each other to plant seeds depends on the chosen method of planting root crops.

Experienced gardeners use several schemes, choosing the most convenient for themselves in the future:

1. The so-called belt method is an alternation of wide row spacings with rows of crops. The grooves are laid along the site with an interval of 40-50 cm.A distance of 8-10 cm is left between the seeds.
2. String method. The beds are formed at a distance of 25-30 cm from each other. Seed recesses are made across each bed.
3. Landing tape. Beet seeds, glued on a tape of tissue paper, are laid out in furrows and covered with earth.
4. Growing beets through seedlings. Seedlings are prepared 1-2 months before planting in open ground. Plants are planted with an interval of 10 cm and a distance of 15-25 cm between rows.

Care

After the emergence of seedlings, the planting must be thinned regularly. Further care consists in watering, fertilizing, loosening the soil, removing weeds, protecting against pests.

Top dressing

After the first thinning, the plants are fed with mineral fertilizers. Fertilizer is applied in a liquid or dry state when the first true leaves appear.

Average dosage: 30 g of ammonium nitrate, 80 g of superphosphate, 35 g of potassium chloride per 10 liters of water.This volume of liquid is used for watering 15 running meters row. Superphosphate and potash fertilizers replace ash well.

Fertilizers are applied for the second time 20 days after the first feeding.

Important! Root crops are fertilized until mid-July. Later feeding leads to the accumulation of nitrates in the vegetable.

Experienced gardeners once a month water the beets with a weak solution of sodium chloride. This increases the sweetness of the vegetable and enriches the soil with sodium.

Watering

Particular attention is paid to watering during the period of growing green mass. After the formation of leaves, watering is reduced. Excess moisture leads to cracking of the root vegetables, which degrades the vegetable in winter.

Excessive moisture also affects the taste of beets.

Loosening the soil and removing weeds

In August, some summer residents stop caring for beets, believing that the job has already been done. This approach is erroneous, since at this time the root crop is gaining mass and still needs oxygen, light and moisture. Loosening is especially necessary if the beets are growing in heavy soil.

Pests and diseases

The greatest danger of pests and diseases is on initial stage plant growth. The following insects significantly reduce the crop yield:

1. The beet weevil is a black beetle 1-1.5 cm long, the body of which is covered with scales. The pest hibernates in the soil where the beets were grown. It feeds on young plants, causing their death. Can completely destroy crops.
2. The beetroot flea is a small black beetle 1–2 mm long. The pest spends the winter under the remains of plants and in the spring greedily eats young beet greens.
3. The beet miner fly is a gray insect 6–8 mm long. It lays eggs in beet leaves, forming so-called mines (swellings) with larvae inside. Affected plants die or produce poor crops.

Beets are not insured against diseases. Let's list the most common ones:

1. Korneed. A disease affecting seedlings. Caused by pathogenic microorganisms. It is not difficult to recognize the disease. A constriction forms on the stem, the root darkens and rots. Such seedlings often die. The surviving sprouts develop slowly later. The harvest is small and poorly stored. The choice of high-quality seed material will help protect yourself from the disease.
2. Fomoz. It manifests itself on root crops in the form of dry rot. During storage, such roots decompose quickly, forming foci of infection. The mushroom hibernates on plant debris, in roots during storage. The disease is seed-borne; root-eater develops on the seedlings of such seeds.
3. Cercosporosis - one of the most dangerous diseases of the beet crop. The causative agent of the disease is a fungus that infects leaves. On the greens, spots with a gray bloom are formed, leading to the death of the plant. The causative agent of the disease spends the winter in infected plant parts. Beet seed can also be a source of infection.

Pest and disease control

To avoid damage to crops by pests and diseases, timely removal of weeds, compliance with crop rotation, and tillage in the fall with the introduction of fertilizers helps.

The sowing site is chosen away from the plants, which can be a source of disease and dangerous insects.

Need to know. Plant debris is a wintering place for dangerous insects. Cleaning the site in the fall and burning plant residues deprives pests of shelter for the winter.

When choosing seed material, varieties and hybrids that are resistant to diseases are selected.

If the disease appears, the affected leaves are cut off and removed from the site.

Conclusion

Even a novice gardener can handle the cultivation of beets from seeds. Soaking and preparing seeds for planting improves germination and allows you to get early harvest... In the open field, planting and caring for beets does not require much effort.

Beetroot is a biennial crop. After planting, large leaves grow, as well as a root crop. In the second year, flowers with seeds appear. The root crop has different size, shape and mass. The size of the root crop depends on the variety, as well as the conditions of detention. The root crop has a rounded and conical shape. From one square meter you can collect 3-4 kilograms of the crop. Professionals collect 4-6 kilograms of crops.

Planting a crop requires compliance with some rules. It is advisable not to plant beets next to corn. Corn is able to draw huge amounts of moisture from the ground. In such conditions, the beets will feel hungry.

Landing

The yield is increased if the plant is planted next to such crops:

• Beans.
• Tomatoes.
• Potatoes.
• Spinach.
• Garlic.
• Salad.
• Radish.

Seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of 5-6 degrees. The sprouts begin to sprout in 1 week. Seedlings are resistant to cool climates. Withstand sprouts up to -2 degrees. Adult plant able to withstand temperatures up to -4 degrees. For beets, the optimum temperature is 18-20 degrees. When the beets form a root crop, the need for heat increases. During this period, the air temperature should be between 20 and 25 degrees.

Choosing a plot of land

It is best to plant the crop on loose and moist soil.. The correct option will be a land low in alkalis and acids. On alkaline soils, the plant does not produce crops. It is necessary to plant a plant in lighted areas of the land. Culture begins to stretch when it lacks sunlight. In such conditions, there is a risk of no harvest.

Fertilizer is applied one year before planting. Organic mixtures are used as fertilizer. If fertilization was not successful last year, apply humus before planting. Humus is introduced into the soil at the rate of 4 kg per 1-2 meters of land. If the soil is acidic, then lime is added. Lime is added to the ground at the rate of 300-700 grams per 1 meter.

How to plant seeds

You can start planting seeds then, when the spring temperature reaches 5-6 degrees... Before planting, the seeds are soaked in water so that the seedlings sprout quickly. Seeds are dried at a temperature of 18-20 degrees. During the drying period, single seedlings appear. Sow dry seeds.

The seeds can be sown in such a way that they do not thin out later. To do this, it is necessary to observe the proportions in planting, as well as properly process the seeds. In this case, the distance between the holes should be 10 centimeters. Seeds must be treated with top dressing. Fertilizers that contain oxygen are especially useful. In this case, the seeds will be strong and the sprouts will be strong. Such seedlings appear quickly, and they will not have to be thinned out.

It is necessary to sow in three lines... The seeds are buried in the ground to a depth of 4-5 centimeters. Heavy soil can slow the growth of beets. In heavy soil, it is necessary to sow to a depth of 3 centimeters. The yield depends on the weather conditions. Beets are capable of freezing when the temperature drops below 5 degrees. Planting beets in 2 terms allows you to get a guaranteed harvest. The first planting takes place in early May and the second at the end.

The culture needs to be fedso that there are no problems with the harvest. For 1 season, 3 dressings are carried out.

You can thin the beets twice when needed. First thinning occurs when a plant has 2 leaves. The leaves appear 10 days after germination of seedlings. There should be a distance of 3-4 centimeters between the shoots.

Second decimation occurs when 3-4 leaves appear. The distance between plants should be 8-10 centimeters. Thinning is best done after rain or watering. It is easy to pull the plant out of moist soil. But pulling out the whole beets is optional. To carry out the thinning, it will be enough to pinch the greens. This method eliminates the possibility of damage to the root crop of the remaining plants. You should not dive varieties with an elongated root crop. When transplanting such varieties, the integrity of the roots is injured. As a result, the root crop grows defective.

It should be borne in mind that round roots are not injured during transplantation. Cultivars with such a system are not prone to injury after plucking. To keep the beets sweet, they are fed with fertilizers containing magnesium and boron. Nitrogen is added when the leaves do not grow well.

Watering and soil cultivation

You should pay attention to the care of the soil. The soil is necessary loosen regularly... Loosening eliminates the appearance of dry crust on the soil. At first, the earth is loosened to a depth of 5 centimeters. Gradually, the depth increases to 10. You should huddle the root crop if it looks out of the ground. Beets love moisture very much. The root crop begins to dry out when it looks out of the ground. The crop beds must be watered. The beds are moistened before planting and also after sowing.

During the whole season it is necessary water regularly... It is best to water with a watering can. For watering beets, special sprayers are well suited. These sprayers automatically irrigate. Sprayers distribute moisture evenly throughout the area. Thus, the water evenly moisturizes the entire area. Breaks between watering when the root crop is actively forming are not allowed. Watering stops one month before harvesting.

Plant beets (Latin Beta) belongs to the genus one-, two- and perennial herbaceous plants of the Amarantovye family, although not so long ago the beet, which in Ukraine is called the beetroot, and in Belarus the beetroot, was reckoned to the Marevye family. The main representative of the genus is the common beet, which has three varieties: table beet, fodder beet and sugar beet. Beetroot grows on all continents, except Antarctica. The progenitor of cultivated plant species, wild beets, were used both for food and as a medicinal plant in ancient Babylon. The most interesting thing is that at first only leaves were eaten, and beet roots were used for medicinal purposes.

The ancient Greeks sacrificed beets to Apollo as one of the most valuable plants for them. Cultural forms of beetroot appeared only at the beginning of our era, and in the X-XI centuries they were already cultivated in Kievan Rus. Fodder beets were brought to XVI century in Germany, and began to be engaged in the selection of sugar beets since 1747, when it became clear that sugar contained in cane was found in beets. Today, beet sugar is used more often in many countries than cane sugar, and beetroot (Beta vulgaris) has become an indispensable crop known to be rich in antioxidants, potassium and folic acid that humans need.

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 seedlings are transplanted into the ground after three months - in early or mid-May.
• Lighting: bright sunlight.
• The soil: peat bogs, loams, medium loamy chernozems of neutral or slightly alkaline reaction. Do not grow carrots in soil that has been filled with fresh manure or compost.
• Predecessors: Undesirables: carrots, beets, chard, potatoes, all types of cabbage and other cruciferous crops. Good: cereals and legumes, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, peppers.
• Watering: regular (3-4 times per season), as soon as the topsoil dries out, in dry weather - abundant. The best way is sprinkling. Water consumption per 1 m² of the plot is 20-30 liters. Watering is stopped three weeks before harvesting.
• Top dressing: after the first thinning - with a solution of bird droppings (1:12) or mullein (1:18), spending 12 liters of fertilizer for every 10 m² of the plot. When the beet tops are closed, ash is scattered over the beds at the rate of 1 glass per 1.5 m², after which the area must be watered.
• Reproduction: seed.
• Pests: miner and beet flies, aphids, scoops, fleas and shchitonoski.
• Diseases: red rot (or felt disease), fusarium (or brown rot), root rot, peronosporosis, cercospora, phomosis.

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 submerged in the ground, but protrudes slightly above the surface. In the first year of growth beet, as well as carrots, develops only outlet of large, bare, ovate, basal leaves on long stalks, and roots.

Sometimes by the end of the first year, but usually on the second of the middle of the rosette, an erect, strongly branched, faceted stem appears, 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. composed of complex ears. The beet is a compressed single seed.

Varied beneficial features beets due to the presence of organic acids, iron and fiber in root crops. Because of this, beets are often used in diets to treat hypertension, kidney stones, diabetes, scurvy and other diseases. Big healing power has fresh beet juice.

Growing beets from seeds

Sowing beet seeds

Growing beets in the open field involves sowing seeds both by seedling and non-seedling methods. Despite the fact that beets are cold-resistant crops, they should not be sown in open ground before the air warms up to 6-8 ºC, however, the full development of the plant begins only when the temperature rises to 16 ºC. In addition, if early sown seedlings fall under frost, they will shoot themselves instead of increasing the root crop. To stimulate germination, beet seeds are soaked for a day in cold water or half an hour warm (35 ºC).

The seeds are buried in the ground to a depth of 2-3 cm, and the distance between the rows is observed depending on the variety - from 7 cm if you grow 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 in many varieties of beets the seeds are collected in infructescences of 2-3 pieces, the sprouts appear heap and require thinning at an early stage of development, in the phase of formation of the first pair of true leaves. As a result of the procedure, the distance between shoots should be 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 site 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

Seedling grown early varieties beet, which are rich in vitamin C and carotene, and betanin, calcium salts, iron, phosphorous and other biologically active substances. Young beets are as valuable an early vegetable as radishes, salad, green onions... Choose beet varieties resistant to flowering for growing seedlings - K-249, Polar flat, Cold-resistant 19.

Growing seedlings of beets begins three weeks before 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 wet, light, pickled with Fitosporin to avoid black leg disease, lightly sprinkled with the same substrate and put in greenhouse.

Caring for beet seedlings is no different from caring for any other seedlings - they require slightly damp soil, constant temperature and daily ventilation.

Picking beet seedlings

How to dive beet seedlings, and when to do it? Picking is carried out according to the same principle, with the same signs and with the same interval as when thinning seedlings in the open field. Seedlings dive only once, but if you sowed seeds not in a box, but in cups, then you can not dive the seedlings, but plant them in open ground directly in cups.

Planting beets in open ground

When to plant beets in the ground

Planting of beets in the ground is carried out from mid-May at the stage of development in seedlings of 4-5 leaves. Required condition - soil warmed up to 8-10 ºC at a depth of 8-10 cm, which is possible only if the place under the beets is well lit by the sun.

Soil for beets

Before planting beets, you need to select 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 less than 5 and no more than 8 units. In acidic or too alkaline soil, beets are sick. Do not plant beets on soils that have been filled with fresh manure or compost; beets must take at least 3 years to grow in such areas.

You can plant beets in areas where onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, cereals, eggplants, peppers and legumes grew before them; undesirable precursors for beets are chard, carrots, all types of beets, potatoes, rapeseed and any cabbage.

In early spring, 20-30 g of sulfuric acid ammonium, 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 for digging. If the soil on the site does not differ in fertility, then add 2-3 kg of humus per unit area, and to neutralize the acidic soil, add half a kilogram of fluffy lime to 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 too large root vegetables are inconvenient to use, in addition, they accumulate more nitrates in themselves and are not as tasty as medium-sized root vegetables. To get juicy, sweet roots, seedlings are planted in rows at a distance of 4-5 cm from each other on a cloudy day, the spacing of rows should be about 25 cm. When transplanting, the central root of the seedling is shortened by a third of the length.

After transplanting into open ground, the seedlings are watered with a humate solution for speedy rooting and protected from the sun with a non-woven material, erected over the beds along the entire length of the arc, so that the shelter laid on them does not damage fragile seedlings. After the young beet is taken in, gets stronger, and its root crop acquires a diameter of one and a half centimeters, it will be possible to thin out the seedlings to an interval of 8-10 cm between them, and by July, when the leaves of the tops are practically closed, the shelter is removed, and the area is mulched for protection beets from weeds and moisture retention in the soil.

Planting beets before winter

Planting of winter beets takes place in late October or early November. On a previously dug and fertilized area, grooves 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. Seeds are not covered with a depth of 3-4 cm. Planting beets in the fall involves the mandatory mulching of the site for the winter with humus or peat.

Beet care

How to grow beets

Care of growing beets requires removal from the site weed, regular watering and loosening of row spacings. If you mulched the beds, then you will have to weed, loosen the soil and water the beets much less often. Loosening of row spacings to a depth of 4-6 cm is necessary to destroy the soil crust, which makes it difficult to aerate root crops. The crust is especially harmful to plants during the period of development of the first two pairs of leaves, since it is at this time that the root molt occurs, which retards the growth of the plant and forces it to show increased demands on growing conditions.

Beet processing

Weeds can drown out young plants, which grow very slowly until 4-5 leaves appear, so their timely removal is a very important condition for caring for beets. Before the emergence of seedlings for weed control, the area is sprayed with tractor kerosene at the rate of 35-50 g of kerosene per m². And when 2-3 pairs of leaves appear in seedlings, the site is treated from weeds with a solution of sodium nitrate. Then, when the beets are in effect, the weeds cannot harm them.

Watering beets

Beets normally tolerate a short drought, but if you need a high-quality and rich harvest, watering the beds with beets should be regular, and this is especially important just in hot dry weather. Water the beets as soon as the topsoil dries out, preferably in the evening, and the best way of watering is sprinkling, since this method refreshes and rinses the leaves of the plant. If there is no mulch on the site, the next day after watering, it is necessary to loosen the aisles to a depth of 4 cm.

To increase the sugar content of root vegetables, dissolve a tablespoon of kitchen salt in a bucket of water for watering before watering the beets. Watering too often and too much is just as harmful to the beets as insufficient moisture, since it is the cause of fungal diseases. On average, beets are watered 3-4 times per season, the norm of water per 1 m² is 2-3 buckets. For two or three weeks before harvest watering stop completely - this measure also increases the amount of sugars in the roots and improves their keeping quality.

Top dressing of beets

Beets are very fond of organic matter, and from mineral fertilizers cracks and voids can form in root crops. How to fertilize beets in this case? At the beginning of growth, after the first thinning, it needs nitrogen fertilizers, which can be used as a solution of poultry manure in a consistency of 1:12 or mullein (1: 8) at the rate of 12 liters of liquid fertilizer per 10 m². It is most convenient to make grooves at a distance of 5 cm from the shoots and spill them with a fertilizer solution. When the tops of the rows close together, it is time to apply potash fertilizers, as which you can scatter wood ash over the beds at the rate of 1 glass 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 is more complete, since, once in the soil, some substances sometimes acquire a form inaccessible to plants;
• thirdly, foliar fertilization of beets can be carried out even when it is no longer possible to apply top dressing to the soil without risking harm to 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 experience a shortage of molybdenum, boron and copper, these elements are fed precisely by top dressing through the leaves, as well as milk of lime (200 g of lime per bucket of water), which feeds the roots with potassium. Spraying the foliage saline solution at the rate of 60 g iodized salt in 10 liters of water nourishes and protects the roots of sodium butterfly Belyanko and summer flies.

Beet pests and diseases

Of the diseases, beets are most often affected by phoma, cercosporosis, peronosporosis, root eater and rot. To find out what beets are sick with, you need to know the symptoms. possible diseases, and only a correctly made diagnosis will help you decide how and how to process the beets to save the harvest.

Fomoz arises, as a rule, from a lack of boron in the soil - that is why it is so important foliar feeding beets with trace elements. This is manifested 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 - inside the root crop the tissues acquire a dark brown color. Frequent prolonged rains, fogs, high air humidity contribute to the development of the disease. If you find phomosis on the plants, immediately apply root dressing with brownish at the rate of 3 g per m² and spray the leaves with a solution of boric acid (half a teaspoon per 10 liters of water). Next year, add to the soil boric acid at the rate of 3 g per m².

Cercosporosis, or spotting, It can destroy up to 70% of the yield of beet, hitting the leaves of the plant, because of which they die and hence deteriorates the quality and storability of roots. If you find small light spots on the upper side of the leaves, outlined with a reddish border, and on the lower side a light gray bloom, add potassium chloride to the soil as a top dressing. As a preventive measure treat seeds before sowing preparation Agate-25 in accordance with the instruction, and spray the soil before planting fungicide.

After this article, they usually read

Beetroot is a tasty and dietary product with unique healing properties... This vegetable received a Russian "registration" more than a thousand years ago. Since then, planting beets has been included in the mandatory program of spring-summer work on personal plot... The technology of cultivation of crops, based on many years of experience and observations of vegetable growers, is supplemented by scientific achievements in the field of botany, soil science, and agricultural chemistry.

How to choose the right site and fill the garden, prepare seeds, plant and care for beets in order to get a decent harvest - the answers to these questions are of concern to beginner amateurs and experienced gardeners.

Preparatory work

The harvest of vegetables does not begin with planting, but the right choice and preparation of the beds.

Seat selection

When choosing a place for beets in the garden, we will proceed from the following messages.

• For the growth of the root crop, sunlight and heat are needed, so it is better to place the beds on the south side or in an open area.
• Beets are water-bread, they will have to be watered often, it is more convenient if the water source is closer.
• Often, when planting, table beets are not considered as a separate crop, but a sealant with cucumber, cabbage, beans, are planted along the borders of the ridges.
• Taking into account crop rotation, the optimal predecessors for a vegetable are carrots, zucchini, onions, crops of the nightshade family, the worst are cabbage and beets themselves. If you do not change the garden for several years, this will lead to depletion of the soil and its infection with beet pests and diseases.

Soil preparation

Root crops develop well in loose, water and air permeable soil with a neutral reaction.

Dig a bed for planting beets in the ground before winter after harvesting. Plant residues are embedded as deeply as possible, the clods are turned over, but not broken - for better moisture accumulation. If the soils are acidic, liming is carried out. For this, dolomite flour or wood ash (1 kg / m²) is scattered over the dug surface. Superphosphate (0.3–0.5 kg / m²) and potassium sulfate (0.15–0.3 kg / m²) are added on loams for autumn digging. Sandy loam and peat soils are fertilized in the spring, so that during the winter useful elements did not wash. Nitrogen fertilizers are usually applied before sowing.

Heavy clay soils must be loosened. It will improve the structure, enrich the soil with useful substances, humus, compost from plant residues, rotted sawdust, peat.

Important! Fresh manure is contraindicated for beets. It is a powerful source of nitrogen that easily passes into the root vegetable and accumulates in the form of nitrates.

Presowing soil preparation is carried out 3-4 days before sowing. If a winter fertilizer did not make, tuck the bed of a nutrient mixture of humus (3-4 kg / m²), superphosphate, potash and nitrogen fertilizers (0.2-0.3 kg / m²). Loosen the soil and you can cut grooves.

Seed preparation

Planting beets with seeds in open ground involves them pre-sowing treatment... Now there are many seeds on sale that are ready for sowing - coated, encrusted with protective agents, treated with growth stimulants, etc. They are sown dry. Ordinary seeds are subjected to several simple procedures to increase germination energy and germination.

The simplest thing is to soak for a day simply in warm water or with the addition of trace elements, stimulants, wood ash, manganese (for disinfection). Before sowing, the seeds are dried so that they do not stick together and are evenly located in the row.

Sowing

When the beds and seeds are ready, it's time to start sowing. It remains to decide on the timing of planting beets.

Landing dates

The crop can be sown in 2 terms. In early spring for summer produce. For this purpose, early maturing varieties are suitable, for example, Russian single-seeded, Action F1, Vodan F1. In regions with wet and cold springs, with frequent return frosts, early sowing is impractical. First, the seeds will germinate for a very long time (up to 3 weeks). And secondly, there is a high threat of beet shooting - the pasture of the peduncle in the first year of growing season. Root crops on such plants grow small and inedible.

Storage beets are planted from May 20 to late June. Suitable for summer planting of mid, but not late varieties, so carefully study the recommendations of the manufacturer's terms of vegetation.

In most cases, they practice planting beets in the spring, at the same time interval as potatoes, when the soil warms up to 8–10⁰ heat. There is such a reliable folk sign - when a leaf on a birch blossoms in the size of a penny.

It is interesting! Our ancestors determined Kuzmin's day for planting beets (May 1), and they collected them on the day of veneration of the First Martyr Thekla (September 24).

Possible podzimny sowing of beets. But only certain varieties are suitable for this - cold-resistant and averse to flowering (Podzimnyaya A 474). Such landings have their advantages. The seeds partially swell during the winter thaws, undergo hardening, early spring growth, and form a powerful root system. But root crops grown in this way are suitable only for summer use; it is undesirable to store them.

A garden bed for winter planting is prepared according to the heat: they dig it up, apply fertilizers, cut the rows and leave it in this form until stable cold weather. When the soil is frozen, dry seeds are laid in the grooves and sprinkled with earth. For reliability, the sown ridge is covered with fallen leaves and straw.

Sowing technology

1. String method. Rows are cut on the garden bed at a distance of 20–25 cm and a depth of 3–5 cm. Furrows are poured abundantly with water from a watering can without a strainer. This must be done so that the soil is wet and well compacted, then the seeds will be at the same depth and seedlings will appear at the same time. Seeds are laid out one at a time with an interval of 3-5 cm (with a margin for the percentage of germination). Marking the beds and sowing beets with seeds
2. Tape method. Several rows with a line spacing of 15 cm are combined into wide ribbons. Free spaces of 30–40 cm are left between them - for convenience during weeding.
3. Seeds on a planting belt. This tape can be purchased with the seeds fixed or made by yourself. Drops of starch paste are dotted on strips of toilet paper, and beet seed balls are planted on them. This method saves time - it is enough to shed a furrow, stretch a tape along it and cover it with earth.
4. Planting beet seedlings. Seeds for seedlings are sown approximately in mid-April, preferably in individual containers, for example, peat pots. They are transplanted into open ground at the stage of 3-4 true leaves, with an interval of 15 cm, slightly shaded. A few days before planting, the seedlings are taken out into the street (in the shade) for hardening. Beets take root well, do not go into the arrow, they form full-fledged heads. Advantages of this method: saving seeds, no need to thin out crops, uniform filling of the beds.

It is interesting! Saving space on the site is given by combining various vegetables on the same bed. Beets go well with cabbage, onions, beans, radish, beans. Spinach, lettuce, sown as a beacon crop.

Planting care

Caring for beet crops after germination includes such mandatory procedures as thinning, weeding and loosening, fertilizing, protection from diseases and pests.

Thinning

From one seed beet, 2 to 4 sprouts come out. This feature makes the thinning procedure one of the main elements of agricultural technology. If you miss the moment, the seedlings will drown out each other, "expire", that is, they will freeze in growth and will not form full-fledged root crops.

• The first thinning is carried out as soon as seedlings have appeared, at the stage of 2-3 leaves. Plants are left thickly, after 2–3 cm, in order to select stronger specimens later. Along the way, weeds are removed, the aisles are loosened.
• The second thinning is in a month. The strongest plants are left with an interval of 6–8 cm. At this time, the beets, which have been sitting in place for more than a month, actively begin to grow and form heads.
• The third thinning - check, carried out when small roots appear (3-5 cm in diameter). The distance between them is at least 15 cm, but it is also undesirable more so that the vegetable does not outgrow.

Watering

Beets love moisture, especially at the beginning of the growing season. During the month, she needs abundant watering at least once a week. Further, as the soil dries out. Watering is stopped a month before harvesting, otherwise the root crop will lie badly.

The most effective way to reduce evaporation and keep the soil breathable is mulching. If you have problems with water on the site or you rarely come to the cottage, cover the aisles with a layer of mulch, consisting of unseed weeds, straw, last year's foliage, and high-moor peat. It will retain moisture, prevent weeds from germinating, save you from loosening, and as it decomposes, it will serve as a light organic fertilizing.

Top dressing

To form a good harvest, a single application of the full rate of fertilizers when planting beets in the ground is quite acceptable. If you see that the plants are developing slowly, the roots are not growing, feed them.

After the second breakthrough, water the crops with a solution of mineral fertilizers containing nitrogen, for example, ammonium sulfate at a rate of 30-50 g / m².

Note! To avoid overloading with nitrates, the necessary nitrogen and potassium can be added not in mineral form, but with herbal infusions. They are made like this: fresh plant waste is poured into a container in equal proportions and poured with warm water, insisted for a week. The resulting fermented sourdough is added during watering.

The quality of the fruit is influenced by the presence of trace elements in the soil. To stimulate the growth of the head of the beet, to increase its sugar content, use Macbor - an effective fertilizer consisting of boron, magnesium and calcium. Of folk remedies simple table salt works well - a tablespoon per 10 liters of water.

Pest control

In case of violations of agricultural technology, pests attack the crops - beet fly, aphids, fleas. They damage the tops, which leads to depression, developmental delay, and sometimes death of the plant. They fight this misfortune by spraying with an infusion of ash, tobacco dust, onion peels. Of the biochemicals used Iskra Bio, Bi-58, Aktofit, Calypso, Confidor.

Cleaning

Selective harvesting of root crops begins in July, when individual heads grow up to 5 cm in diameter. Young, vitamin-rich vegetables are processed and consumed with green tops.

Mass harvesting is carried out in the second half of September, before the onset of frost. You can't let the beets stand in the ground. From this it coarsens, pronounced rings appear in the pulp, the taste worsens.

After harvesting, it's time to think about what to plant after the beets for the next year. To replenish stocks in the soil organic matter, it is advisable to plan crops that are not afraid of manure (for autumn digging). These are zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkin, corn. In a year, this place will be good harvest early potatoes, onions, tomatoes, legumes. Beets are returned to this place no earlier than after 3-4 years.

Sowing beets before winter: