Beetroot fertilizer requirements can be calculated if you know your soil type and have a good idea of the yield potential of your land and climate. These are basic norms and your specific microclimate and variety can have an influence on the total amount applied. These norms do not take top dressings into account, only [...]

The most well known beetroot varieties or cultivars are discussed here. When starting it is advisable to use at least 2-3 different varieties in a test field to assess which variety suits your growing conditions the best. Always keep on doing trials. Don't plant a variety just in one time of the year. Your climate might be more moderate than you think.

Harvesting beetroot Beetroots is harvested in phases. Initially when the bulbs are 25-40mm in diameter. Size will vary according to variety planted and time of season. This is the first harvest and is merely a thinning out process. The second and final harvest is when the bulbs are 50-75mm in diameter. Days to harvest is [...]

Beetroot mechanical weed control Weeds are controlled either by hand or chemically. Since beetroot seed is actually a small fruit with 2-6 seeds inside, the bunches of seedlings are thinned out so that only one seedling is left and at least 75mm apart. One of the biggest problems with weeds is that they compete with [...]

It has already been mentioned in previous articles that the soil must be kept moist until the seedlings emerge. Light regular water applications must be applied from sowing until the seedlings emerge. heavy irrigation will make herbicides less effective. Beetroots grown during alternating dry and wet periods have poor quality and poor emergence. The beets [...]

Sowing beetroot commercially Sowing beetroot is a practice used by commercial farmers. They are not planted with seedlings. Once the seed is cleaned and salts removed they are ready for sowing. In most cases a seed planter is used since commercial growers can plant 50 ha or more, especially for the canning industry. Very little [...]

Beetroot((By Downtowngal [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons)) seed treatment is mostly done by commercial seed companies. There are instances where local seed can be harvested. In this case it is important to understand why it must be washed so that low stands can be avoided. Beetroot seed appears corky and fairly big compared [...]

Beetroot is not grown by many farmers. Mainly because the demand is not that great and commercial companies have the market share. A large portion of the beetroot sold is processed and bottled. A small portion is sold as fresh. This does not mean there are not opportunities. The advantage of growing beetroot is that [...]