Beetroot Problems
Dudley Horler
Posts: 24
in Fruit & veg
I live in South Somerset and for the past two seasons I've planted beetroot boltardy and each time the leaves have grown but the actual beet has failed to form. It's the same this year and I'm now trying to grow them in raised beds filled with compost. I water them every day if we don't get rain. Any ideas?
0
Posts
How widely spaced are the plants? Each beetroot seed is in fact a cluster of seeds, so they do need to be thinned to allow space for the roots to form.
How long have they been in the ground ?
sounds like a lack of thinning to me. Each seed as figrat has said is actually several plants, like most things they grow bigger if thinned out. Don't just bung the thinnings on the compost though, tasty and bright addition to any salad dish!
Sounds to me as if they might be too wet, very few things need watering every day.
Last year mine took ages and ages to develop good roots - I put it down to the wet and cold - when the weather turned warmer and sunnier in early August (remember that?) my second sowing bulked up quite quickly.
Hopefully yours will improve now you've had some warmer weather
Yep, beetroot need plenty of sun and warmth. And they'd only need watering every day in the hottest conditions.
the beetroot were planted in a tape, with the seeds already properly spaced hopefully! I've been watering them every day as it's been hot and dry recently, and because they are planted in a raised bed filled with compost, so I watered them thinking that there would be a lack of water retention. The leaves have grown but there is still very little to show belowground. I would add that before we moved to Somerset we lived in Reading, Berks and had no problems whatsoever with beetroot in our allotment soil. Perhaps that's where I'm going wrong, by comparing the growth in one area to another?
I start beetroot in march in individual modules. This waythe root does not get disturbed when the beetroot goes in the ground. My beetroot is planted between tomatoes in greenhouse. they get the warmth & light they need & are picked well before tomato leaves reduce the light.
Hi i have in my garden note book only water beetroot when parched as watering encourages leaf growth and not root development. Mine last year were rubbish maybe it was all that rain. Hopefully they will be better this year only very small at the moment.
Dudley, if the bed is full compost it should retain plenty of moisture. One of the benefits of using compost. It might look dry on top but it's probably damp underneath. Test it by sticking a finger deep into the soil.
I grow beetroot here in central Italy where it gets stinking hot and I rarely water every day.
Italophile, I think I'm a big culprit of over watering vegetables in the garden, I think we assume because things need to grow round in shape they need lots of water. Thinking back my best beetroot crop was when my neighbour ( dare I say lazy) looked after things for us for 18 days. Other stuff didn't fare well. Lesson learned.