Growing Beets: Feeding, Watering, Loosening The Soil

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Such an unusual common beet

After the plants have 4-5 true leaves, we feed them with a solution of nitrophoska - 40 g per 10 liters of water; you can add 0.5 g of boric acid to this solution. The fact is that on limed soils, sometimes the beet lacks boron, and under these conditions it and root celery can get sick with heart rot. Boron influences the general development of plants, increases carbohydrate metabolism in them, influences the intake and movement of various mineral elements, and, which is very important, promotes the development of aerobic bacteria and some useful fungi in the soil.

If your soil is peaty, then you can use copper fertilizers, but in small quantities. The fact is that vegetable crops carry no more than a few tens of grams of this element per hectare, although the role of copper in redox reactions in plant cells is one of the most important, mainly in the synthesis of many enzymes. Apparently, copper salts in peat soil are poorly available to plants. The best way to provide plants with copper is foliar feeding with 0.03-0.01% solution of copper sulfate.

The following should be said about trace elements: the use of the same element on different soils can give completely opposite results. At the same time, different microelements will have different effects on the same soil. For example, where manganese micronutrient fertilizers are needed, but boric fertilizers are not required, and vice versa.

After any top dressing, we loosen the bed to a depth of 4 cm. The beets respond well to loosening the soil, you can loosen it several times per season. It is necessary to saturate the soil with air. In contrast to atmospheric air, soil air contains more carbon dioxide, it is necessary for photosynthesis, oxygen in the soil is necessary for the root system of our beets and for the nutrition of microorganisms. With a lack of oxygen, aerobes do not work, poisons for plants are formed (FeO; H2S; CH4). Therefore, the renewal of soil air, its enrichment with oxygen is necessary for beets and many other plants. The older the plant, the deeper the loosening - up to 10 cm.

Remember to water the beets when dry. But keep in mind that she cannot stand soils with a close standing of groundwater, and she does not tolerate excess moisture well. It is known that the process of oxidation of ammonia and ammonium salts to nitric acid salts is carried out by a group of bacteria - nitroficators, which are strict aerobes, i.e. they need oxygen. Excess water prevents its free flow into the soil, which means that the availability of nitrogen to the plant is disrupted. There is reason to believe that excess moisture disrupts the ratio of iron bacteria, sulfur bacteria, which can cause plant toxicosis. It is necessary to plant beets in such conditions on the ridges. For those who have peat soil, which is far from ideal for beets, if it is poorly cultivated, increase the rate of potash fertilizers by 1.5 times.

On sandy loam soils, there is usually not enough nitrogen for beets; it can be increased by 20-50% of the average recommendations. But the main thing when growing beets is a well-done liming on acidic soils. Both acidic and alkaline reaction of the soil solution inhibit the development and activity of beneficial microorganisms. Moreover, in such environments, a number of compounds are formed that, even in small concentrations, are fatal to plants - these are hydrogen sulfide, ferrous forms of iron and a number of others.

It can be noted that beets tolerate higher concentrations of soil solution better than other vegetable crops. For example, beet seedlings are 6 times more resistant to high concentrations of soil solution than carrots. Therefore, many gardeners have no problems with the germination of beet seeds. Please note that the seedlings of many vegetable crops are very sensitive to the increased concentration of the soil solution, both organic and mineral components.

At a high concentration of the soil solution, the so-called physiological dryness occurs, when the nutrients in the solution cannot be absorbed by the plants. This is explained by the fact that the osmotic pressure of the soil solution exceeds the osmotic pressure of the juice in the root cells. Accordingly, the osmotic pressure is different for different groups of plants. Some gardeners often do not take into account the individual characteristics of each vegetable crop.

Beets are a plant with a highly developed leaf apparatus, and a powerful root system penetrates to a depth of three meters, so it is responsive to high doses of fertilizers. For the development of the root system, beets need phosphorus in the early stages of growth; it should prevail in fertilization. This can be granular superphosphate applied directly to the rows by direct sowing or when growing seedlings.

It is important to keep in mind that phosphorus moves poorly along the soil profile; it usually accumulates in the layer where it was introduced. The availability of phosphorus to plants is provided by microorganisms. The mechanism of the conversion of phosphates is as follows: carbon dioxide is formed from the vital activity of microorganisms, combines with superphosphate, and the released PO4 ions are consumed by beet roots.

If the soil is well cultivated, i.e. it has a sufficient amount of humus, it has normal acidity, good aeration - in this case, the plant will have a correct phosphate diet - there will be more microorganisms. Therefore, it is very important for the gardener to take care of saturating the soil with humus, and this is necessary not only for beets, but also for any vegetable crops. It is known from agronomic practice that on soils where humus is less than 1.5%, vegetables can not be planted, even the most innovative fertilizers will not help.

Humus is a carrier and source of nutrition for all plants. I will not simplify its structure to a diagram, nature is not a diagram, but a mystery. I will only say that the species composition of soil microorganisms and the intensity of their activity influences humus formation. In our climatic zone, the accumulation of humus is possible only with the systematic introduction of large doses of organic matter, plowing green manure into a soil close to neutral acidity. It should be borne in mind that our community of soil organisms does not allow southern microorganisms into their world - aliens that work well on black soil. Because microorganisms have a very ancient tradition (already millions of years) - to form soil in accordance with the geographical and climatic position. Nature is very conservativetherefore, disturbances in species diversity inevitably lead to disturbances in the structure of communities and to the destruction of entire ecosystems and, ultimately, can lead to ecological disasters.

Do not worry that you do not have black soil on your site, it is a very thin ecosystem, which is so easy to ruin with improper agricultural technology, as we were able to see on virgin lands, and our soils can only be improved.

In the meantime, let's continue to deal with fertilizing for beets, and we will plant them on our clay or peat soil. As they say, hope for humus in our north, and do not forget superphosphate. Note that the application directly with the seeds of NPK in the form of a complex fertilizer, and not superphosphate, gives a negative result. Shoots appeared on the garden bed, after 2-3 weeks the leaves begin to grow intensively. The plant has an increased need for nitrogen. By the period of formation and formation of the root crop, potassium is intensively absorbed.

The critical period in the diet of beets begins when the root crop grows rapidly, in our zone this occurs in early August. Such a strong growth of the root crop lasts 20-25 days. During this short period, beets absorb up to 65% of all nutrients, here you cannot do without top dressing, during this period they are most effective. I do not name specific fertilizer rates, they can be different for each site. Once upon a time, doctors, until the last regular reform of medicine, had a good rule: "Do no harm."

Beets can eat a lot of mineral water, the harvest will be record-breaking, but do not forget that the times of records have passed, the taste of beets is important for you, not the growth of the gross product. It should be borne in mind that the fertilizers that we apply under the beets in the fall and under the catch crop (spinach) in the spring are not enough for the record beets. Because, unlike, say, carrots, it makes little use of the effects of fertilization, but they are necessary to raise the overall fertility and improve the soil structure, i.e. her habitat. Beets respond well to direct fertilization, but only when the necessary soil conditions are created for them. This principle, when you have fertile soil and the necessary fertilizing of the crop is carried out at the right (critical) time and in the right (optimal) amount, I consider rational in our climatic zone. Somewhere in Iran, India or Egypt, beets feel great even without mineral supplements.

For the active synthetic activity of microorganisms in the production of nutrients, the optimum temperature of the soil environment is 28 … 32 ° C and the presence of a large amount of organic material for nutrition. If we have accustomed our favorite vegetables to while away the summer in "communal apartments", and we do not have such long summer months, and we are in places so close to the Arctic Circle, then we should not throw our favorites into the cruel element of northern nature.

Of course, beets are a fairly cold-resistant plant, adult plants can tolerate -3 ° C, but seedlings can die even at 0 ° C. For beets, an increased temperature of 24 … 28 ° C is required during the period of growth of its vegetative apparatus, and the root crop is well formed at 15 … 25 ° C. Its origin affects - beets hate shade, with a lack of light, the quality of root crops deteriorates, what can you do, southerner.

Summing up, it can be noted that in our zone of risky agriculture this is one of the most unpretentious and useful crops. We did not observe the development of diseases on Dutch hybrids. Against the flea-flies, if they appear, ash helps, such a solution also works well: 40 g of table salt per 10 liters of water + 300 g of finely chopped dandelion roots, insist for 3 hours - it will drive away many insects, they sometimes need to spray beet plants. Considering that over the past ten years the treatment of agricultural crops with biopesticides in Russia has decreased 6 times, the production of biological products - 20 times, and an unfavorable phytosanitary situation is recorded on 70% of the agricultural land used, then dandelions are a good option for protection while they are being tested new innovative drugs within the framework of national projects.

Many people grow beets by direct sowing of seeds into the ground, but we prefer seedlings, perhaps because weeds grow quickly in our garden, and weeding them at the stage of crop emergence is not the most rewarding task. We remove the beets at the end of September, sometimes later, the main thing is to remove them before severe frosts, then they are well stored.