My beets never grow...

[laf1110]

We always try and grow beets but they never grow. We get little seedlings then they die. The soil we have isn't very good. What kind of things can I use or do to the soil to help the beets out?

[JarDude]

We always try and grow beets but they never grow. We get little seedlings then they die. The soil we have isn't very good. What kind of things can I use or do to the soil to help the beets out?

Manure, manure, manure manure, manure, manure. And when you think you have about enough manure add some more manure.

You can have my beats........Please? LOL

[laf1110]

Lol! That is what I figured...how about carrots? Same deal, we plant them, they spout, we weed, they die. Manure for them too? BTW I wish I could take your beets from you!!!;)

[JarDude]

Lol! That is what I figured...how about carrots? Same deal, we plant them, they spout, we weed, they die. Manure for them too? BTW I wish I could take your beets from you!!!;)

IDK. My bigest problem is getting carrots to sprout. Once they are up I am golden.

[AlchemyAcres]

Have you checked your soil PH? Both beets and carrots can be sensitive to PH.

I'd be very careful using manure with carrots unless it's very well composted and cured....it has the potential of causing branched, stringy carrots.

~Martin

[MollyPitcher]

I've never been able to grow beets either. I do grow carrots, usually a Nantes or Chantenay and some baby carrots for eating whole. I figured that beets would grow next to the carrots, both being cool season root crops here, but nope, can't grow beets to save my life. Carrots, yes, I grow very nice carrots. But my beets sprout and then sit there with just two leaves for a couple months until I get mad and pull them up.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

[JarDude]

I've never been able to grow beets either. I do grow carrots, usually a Nantes or Chantenay and some baby carrots for eating whole. I figured that beets would grow next to the carrots, both being cool season root crops here, but nope, can't grow beets to save my life. Carrots, yes, I grow very nice carrots. But my beets sprout and then sit there with just two leaves for a couple months until I get mad and pull them up.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

It might be the pulling them out part. :rolleyes::D

[Dame]

I grow both beets and carrots, and got my training from a neighbor long before I began growing a garden. Never met the woman, and at the time was mystified by what I saw. Anyway, here I am years later, copying what I saw over the fence.

Beets take a while to sprout and then they just sit there. And sit there. The first few years I grew them, I pulled out what I managed to germinate because I got tired of looking at them. Then there was the couple I missed (they were too small to notice) and they grew huge.

For sprouting both, I use a pile of old cedar salvage fence boards. Rake really well and then make two shallow trenches about a foot apart. Add the seed. For beets cover with maybe 1/4 inch of soil. I leave the carrot seed on the surface. Water well before planting and after making the shallow trench (with the handle of a rake or hoe). Cover the well watered seeds with the fence boards. Check daily to make sure they remain moist and to remove the boards if they are up. Water with fine mist from a drip irrigation system or a watering can. I do not use pressure or much volume as it washes out the seed.

Once germination has happened I move the boards to beside the plants. The boards then provide moisture retention and are handy for seriously adverse weather (hail, heat with wind, torrential rain) until the plants are 4-6" high. Beets like to be hilled up over the bulb. Onions and turnip bulbs like to sit on top of the ground (prevents worms).

I thin and eat as they grow.

As for manure, lots on the heavy feeders: corn, beans, peppers, tomatoes, squash, follow with well hilled potatoes year two and then with root crops two years later, repeat the rotation. For root crops where the soil is not very good, I use lots of organic matter worked into the soil, such as straw, rotted leaf material, peat. Root crops do not like to grow in compacted soils, and where the organic material is rich, often there are only tops.

This has worked for me in a variety of soil conditions.

[MollyPitcher]

So y'all are saying it's normal for beet seed to sprout, getting no more than 1" tall at most, with just the two leaves it produced when it sprouted (cotyledons) and then sit there for 2, 3, maybe 4 months before starting to grow leaves and roots? When I pull them up after 2, 3, or 4 months, they have no root other than one about 1/2" long and about the diameter of a toothpick.

Is this correct? At what point do they start to produce top growth and make a beet below ground? Most beets are between what, 50 and 70 days? 2 months is a little over 50 days, and even adding time to the maturity date because I'm growing in the fall, they should be larger than just two cotyledons and a tiny root. The carrots I plant sprout, grow, form roots and are harvested in that length of time.

[cubcadet]

I used to grow beets, specif. Detroit Dark Red and Cylindra beet back in Jersey. No more than 3-4 hours direct sun, heavy Jersey soil. I used to wait months. Had to water alot. I always was rewarded with pounds and pounds of excellent beets. Lots of greens to boot. Patience is important with beets and carrots. Mulch with grass or hay and chopped leaves. Liming the soil in fall to prepare the garden beforehand. I`d use manure only, I don`t trust it to be free of weed seeds. Cultivate and side dress with clean plant food. Usually leaf miners are a minor pest but, they can be devastating on beet greens. I have had great sucess with Cylindra beets planted amongst my tomatoes. They seem to appreciate the filtered sunlight.
Mulch some come winter and they`ll keep good under the snow. Carrots too.

[cubcadet]

Beets are good crops to start in winter too. They take well to transplanting. Start them a month before you would normally sow spinach. Feb. is good for us in northeast. Just make sure you water the starts in good to get the roots in contact with the soil. I heard some folks say they walk on their beets to jam them into the soil. Wouldn`t recommend it.

[Dame]

I posted to let you know what my experience with beets has been. Like most of my gardening it is generally an exercise in faith. I remain surprised every time a seed turns into a plant.

Right now I have beets that were planted 3 months ago, slightly larger than those that were planted a month ago. I am trusting they will all eventually get large enough to eat.

Last year our storage beets came from a neighbor. They developed during the month of October and were dug towards the end of the month. I do not know when she planted them, I suspect mid May.

[laf1110]

Thanks for all the great advice. I planted them today in a trench filled with manure then covered them with soil about 1/4 in. We planted our peppers in manure for the first time this year and they are doing 10 times better then any other year. The plants and fruit are bigger and they are more productive. We also planted our squash in piles of compost and as my bro in law said today "It looks like a freakin rain forest in there!". Hoping our beets benefit as much as everything else has.

[Dame]

Please let us know how this turns out.

I have never added manure to root crops as the books tell me it generates mostly tops rather than roots. With beets both are good, I actually prefer the tops although they do not store very well.