About growing beets
Beet seedlings are very responsive to growing conditions and immediately respond to unfavorable factors. Most varieties today have green leaves and their redness indicates problems with the plant, the causes of which can be many.
Some varieties are naturally endowed with a quality in the form of a reddish tint to the foliage. The purple-red hue of beets in this case is the norm and is characteristic of varieties such as Sugar or Burgundy. The advantage of such crops is tasty root vegetables, but a significant disadvantage is poor storage quality.
How to grow beautiful beets?
The process of growing a vegetable, like any other crop, has its own characteristics. In order to get a good harvest, you need to follow proper care rules and show care and hard work at every stage; Regularly water and fertilize.
In this case, the fertilizer consumption should be such as to provide the beets with the required amount of essential microelements. Caring for young and fragile plants will bear fruit in the future, when harvesting.
Causes of leaf color change
Red beet leaves can be caused by cultivar selection. In most cases, this feature is indicated by the manufacturer on the packaging, so before planting you should study the description of the features of the garden crop.
There are quite a few reasons why leaves may turn red. In most cases, the source of the problem should be sought in the quality of the soil or human actions. The most common causes of red leaves in beets are:
- increased soil acidity;
- deficiency of minerals in the soil;
- plant diseases;
- excessive nutrition of the plant;
- abundant watering.
A lack of potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and sodium in the soil leads to the problem of reddening of the leaves. The problem arises not only when the plant is undernourished, but also when the plant is fed excessively. In this case, the root vegetables become heavily filled with juice, and some of it ends up in the leaves. To eliminate a problem, you need to correctly determine the cause of its occurrence.
Phosphorus and potassium
What other answers exist to the question of why beet leaves turn red? If the plates first faded and became very dark, and then turned red, then the reason, most likely, is not at all a lack of sodium. Perhaps the plants do not have enough phosphorus. Its content in the soil can be increased by applying appropriate fertilizers. You can use, for example, superphosphates.
Sometimes summer residents have a question about why beet leaves turn red and curl (at the same time). A similar problem usually occurs when there is a lack of potassium in the soil. In this case, the plates first lose their bright green color, and then acquire a very dark red tint (almost lilac) and begin to curl. The situation in this case can be corrected by adding some potassium fertilizers to the garden bed. A good solution would also be to fertilize with wood ash. One glass is usually used per square meter of bed.
Why do beet leaves turn red, what to do
If beet leaves suddenly turn red, you need to clarify whether this situation is determined by the characteristics of the variety. The reasons for the abnormal behavior of the plant should be sought in plant care. It is recommended to first carry out a visual inspection of the plant, since when affected by the disease, a change in the structure of the leaves occurs, which from a distance often creates the effect of redness.
The reason for concern should be the fact that the beets, the leaves are covered with bubbles, the surface has become covered with red dots. In this case, treatment and certain actions must be taken urgently.
Soil acidity
An inappropriate soil pH reaction is another answer to the question of why beet leaves turn red. What to do in this case? First of all, of course, you should determine the pH level of the soil in the garden bed. Beetroot is a plant that prefers neutral soils and does not tolerate acidic soils at all. It’s easy to check the soil’s reaction. For this you can use, for example, litmus paper. You can also determine the pH of the soil using vinegar essence and baking soda. If there is no paper, you just need to take a lump of earth from the garden bed, wet it and make a “cake” on some flat surface. Then you should pour some bite on top. If a reaction occurs with the release of bubbles, then the soil is alkaline. If nothing happens - either neutral or sour.
Next, you need to make another “cake” and pour soda on top. If this causes a reaction, it means the soil is acidic, and you no longer have to think about why the beet leaves turn red. This is most likely the reason.
It is best to deoxidize the soil in a bed with beets using wood ash. You can, of course, use dolomite flour or lime. However, these elements act rather “roughly” on the soil. In any case, the ash will not harm the root crops. The rate of its consumption for deoxidation depends on the pH level. On average it is 100 g per 1 m2.
Causes of yellowing leaves
The most common reason for plants turning yellow is lack of water. Beets are very demanding when it comes to watering, and a lack of moisture immediately affects its appearance. At the same time, the plant can tolerate long-term drought conditions, and a temperature of 20-25 C for beets is considered optimal. If the leaves appear yellow, then you need to change the watering regime.
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Often the cause of yellowing leaves is a nitrogen deficiency in the soil. With this problem, a yellow tint is observed closer to the edge of the leaf blade or appears in the form of veins. In this case, the beets are fertilized with mullein or bird droppings, making a solution of 1 liter for every 1 m.
Why did the leaves turn red?
A general change in the color of the tops is often characteristic of excessive watering or a lack of organic matter or mineral nutrition. Less often, the foliage may turn red due to an overabundance of fertilizers and a kind of poisoning of the beets. When red patterns appear, sometimes with points of necrosis, it is worth thinking about the damage to the crop by fungal invasions. Let us tell you in more detail why the leaves turn red and why the beets do not grow.
Soil acidity
The most common cause of redness is increased soil acidity. Beets react seriously to any changes in the acid-base composition of the substrate on which they grow.
You can check this parameter using table vinegar and soda. The products are applied separately to damp clods of earth. If the soil foams under soda, then this indicates an acidic environment, and if under vinegar, this indicates leaching. A neutral medium will not give a reaction in both cases.
Reference
Beets grow well in neutral or slightly alkaline soil.
Lack of substances
Lack of mineral and/or organic substances is the second reason for redness and poor growth of beets. Growth during such starvation slows down and productivity decreases. A lack of minerals can cause a serious decrease in the quality of root crops, including complete loss of the crop. Changes in shade depend on what the plant lacks:
- When phosphorus is deficient, the leaves darken, then turn purple-red throughout the leaf.
- Potassium deficiency is characterized by redness of the leaf along the edges.
- A lack of manganese is expressed, in addition to a change in shade, in the curling of the sheets upward.
Important
Before applying fertilizers, you should make sure that the cause of redness is a deficiency, and not an excess of chemical elements.
If after fertilizing the color does not return to normal, you should think about re-fertilizing the soil. Mineral poisoning has the same negative impact on the quality of root vegetables as their deficiency.
Beetroot diseases
Fungal infections of leaves, or mycoses, are expressed in very characteristic color changes in beet tops. A striking example is cercospora blight, in which the edge of the leaf turns red, and dark spots appear along the leaf blade, followed by the formation of necrosis at the site of their occurrence. With ascochyta blight, the foliage is initially covered with blue-green spots, which gradually turn brown and die. You can read more about beet diseases here.
Pests
The tops of beetroot rarely turn red due to attack by pests. More often, when foliage is damaged by aphids, beet flies or weevils, it turns yellow and gradually dies, and often does not grow. Redness with clear signs of parasites is often associated with loss of nutrients.
Improper care
Improper selection of soil and the introduction of sea sand into the ground can be the reasons for the change in leaf color to red. Excessive fertilizing and watering also have an effect. The bright red foliage of beets clearly signals poisoning by mineral fertilizers and salts contained in sea sand.
How to help beets
In hot weather and when there is a lack of natural watering, maturing plants need to additionally moisten the soil 3 times a week so that an average of 4 liters of water per 1 m2. In a later period, the volume of irrigation is increased, and 1 m² requires from 8 to 10 liters of water, but it is enough to carry out the procedure once every 7 days. 30 days before the planned harvest, watering is stopped. To better retain moisture, it is recommended to mulch the soil using straw, grass or any other material.
If there are obvious problems with the growth and appearance of a garden crop, they turn to the benefits of fertilizing, water it in the required volume, and adjust the content of mineral elements in the soil.
For good growth, beets require good soil, the loamy type is considered the best. Such soil will allow you to get a good harvest with minimal application of compost and fertilizers.
When planting seeds, you should follow the rules of the planting scheme and, if necessary, thin out, otherwise the plantings will thicken, which will negatively affect the yield of root crops. It can be improved by timely loosening and proper watering.
Lack of sodium
Beet leaves acquire a reddish tint due to a lack of several types of mineral elements in the soil. Often a deficiency of manganese and sodium leads to this situation. To replenish the first, feed with slurry. For each linear meter of planting area there should be 1 liter of solution prepared from fertilizer in a ratio of 1:10 with water.
Lack of sodium also leads to reddening of the leaf blades. To solve the problem, soil treatment is carried out with salt water. To eliminate the deficiency of nutrients, it is enough to water the soil twice a season with a solution prepared from 10 liters of water and 1 cup of salt. Treating the soil with wood ash will help improve efficiency.
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Phosphorus and potassium
Reddening of beet leaves is often associated with a lack of phosphorus and potassium. A deficiency of the first element is indicated by the dullness of the leaves, the surface of which becomes dark brown. Phosphorus is an important element, the deficiency of which immediately affects the health of the plant. To replenish it, it is enough to fertilize with superphosphate fertilizer. In this case, the dosages are correctly observed, which are always indicated in the manufacturer’s instructions for the drug. On average, 1 m2 should use from 30 to 45 g of product.
It is more difficult to cope with the problem in a situation where the soil is acidic and at the same time there is a deficiency of potassium. When this problem occurs, beet leaves turn a dark red color near the edges, which is why the disease is often called edge necrosis.
In this case, lime and potassium are added to the soil. The following proportions are used to prepare the solution:
- water - 10 l;
- lime - 200 g;
- potassium chloride - 80 g.
The main components are thoroughly dissolved, and for each linear meter you need to prepare 1 liter of the product. The soil watering procedure must be repeated after 2 weeks.
Soil acidity
Beetroot shows good yield in fertilized soils with neutral acidity. Increased levels negatively affect root crops that grow small, and the deficiency of the element manifests itself in the redness of the foliage. In this case, the acidic soil must be limed. To reduce acidity use:
- chalk;
- wood ash;
- dolomite flour.
When using wood ash, take 2 or 3 cups of the product per 10 liters of water and water the plantings with this solution. Chalk and dolomite flour are added to the soil in the autumn when digging. Using the method will allow the soil not only to normalize acidity, but will also help the beets to generate greater yield by improving the nutrition of root crops.
Ways to solve the problem
What should you do if the tops turn red and the root crop itself grows poorly? How to determine what a vegetable lacks and what to water the beds with to solve the problem? Depending on the cause of reddening of the foliage, the following measures are applied.
The sodium content in the soil is increased in a simple way. Beet plantings are watered with water and salt (200 g of table salt per 10 liters of water). For 1 m² of beds use 1-2 liters of solution. In this case, watering is carried out not at the root, but directly along the tops.
Attention. Excessive sodium content in the soil, which is typical for alkaline soils, has a detrimental effect on beet yield.
Applying appropriate fertilizers will help compensate for the lack of potassium and phosphorus in the soil. Regular fertilizing increases the yield of root crops by 1.5 times. When applying fertilizers, it is important to follow the dosages recommended by the manufacturer. Excess nutrients lead to the accumulation of nitrates in fruits.
Need to know. Applying potassium-phosphorus fertilizers to acidic soil does not give the desired effect. In an acidic environment, phosphorus turns into compounds that are difficult to assimilate and is not absorbed by plants.
Wood ash helps reduce soil acidity. It is sprinkled generously on beet beds. It is good to combine fertilizing with watering. To prepare the solution, 2-3 cups of wood ash are mixed with 10 liters of water. Before watering, the solution is thoroughly mixed.
To reduce acidity in the fall, when digging the garden, dolomite flour and chalk (500 g per 1 m²) are added to the soil.
Beet cercospora
If beets grow poorly, the leaves turn red, and a border appears on their edges, then we can assume that the cause is beet cercospora. Other signs of this problem are brownish-burgundy dry spots on the leaf blade and numerous holes on them. A fungal disease such as cercospora blight attacks different types of beets. Most often it appears towards the end of summer in humid weather. So, due to the disease, the leaves of the beets turn red. What to do in this case?
To prevent the occurrence of this disease, before sowing it is necessary to dip the seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate. When the seedlings appear, they should be sprayed with fungicide once every two weeks or 10 days. It is advisable to treat plants with copper-containing preparations. A 1% solution of copper sulfate is suitable for these purposes. In addition, it is necessary to regularly remove damaged or dried leaves from the beds. In hot weather and dry periods, plants should be watered abundantly and the soil around them should be loosened.
Why do the leaves turn yellow?
This problem usually occurs when beets are watered too infrequently. Leaves may also lose their green color due to a lack of nitrogen fertilizers in the soil. In this case, yellowing usually begins to spread from the veins, and the growth of the plates slows down.
If such a problem occurs, you can feed beets with mullein at a concentration of 1:8 or bird droppings at a concentration of 1:12. Per square meter of bed, 1-1.2 liters of solution should be used.
Well, we hope we have answered the question in sufficient detail about why beet leaves turn red and for what reason they can curl. If such problems arise, you will most likely have to add ash to the garden bed and spill it with a weak solution of table salt. Aphids can be expelled by spraying (infusion of onion peels), and if the plates turn yellow, you should feed the beets with mullein.
What to do if the tops wither
Proper care of the crop - watering regime, fertilization, treatment with antiparasitic agents, etc. - allows you to avoid problems or solve them in a timely manner.
Proper care
First of all, you need to follow the irrigation regime. Do not water beets with cold or too hot water. It should sit for some time in the shade, preferably in plastic watering cans or buckets, since metal containers heat up very quickly.
Attention: There should be no stagnation of water in the beds, as well as excessive drying out, especially during the active growing season.
After the leaves bloom, from about mid-June, watering is reduced to 2-3 times a week in the absence of precipitation and to 1-2 times or less when there is a lot of rain. From the beginning of August, the soil is moistened even less often, and from the middle of the month there is no need to water the beets at all.
At the first signs of fungal infestation, plants are treated with fungicidal agents. It is advisable to treat the seeds with them before planting. If signs of damage by aphids or other harmful insects are detected, insecticidal agents, both industrial chemical and folk, are used.
Top dressing
It is advisable to prepare the soil for sowing beets in the fall by adding organic and mineral fertilizers so that the plants do not subsequently experience mineral starvation. Liquid fertilizing during the growing season is applied until mid-July. The main ones include:
- superphosphate;
- potassium permanganate (5 g of dry matter per 10 l of water) - foliar application;
- watering with lime and potassium chloride (200 g and 80 g per 10 liters of water).
To replenish organic matter, fertilize the soil in the form of slurry (1 part manure to 10 parts water) or diluted bird droppings (at a concentration of 1:20). You should also not forget about folk remedies, such as ash, powdered eggshells, and onion peel decoction.
Why do the leaves curl?
Thus, we have found out why beet leaves turn red. Now you know what to do in this case. But sometimes gardeners have another problem with this crop - its plates simply curl. If at the same time they do not turn red, the reason most likely lies not in a lack of potassium, but in the infestation of aphids. In this case, colonies of these small green insects, as well as their gray larvae, will be clearly visible on the underside of the plates. The fight against beet aphids should begin immediately. Otherwise, the curled leaves will soon turn yellow and wither.
It is best to treat a bed of beets against aphids with an infusion of onion peels (200 g per 10 l) or the drug "Actofit". You can also mix 2 tbsp. l. liquid soap, 50 g of tobacco dust and pour it all with a liter of water.
Causes of red beet leaves
Redness of the tops does not always signal an unhealthy vegetable. There are varieties of beets, the distinctive feature of which is the reddish tint of the leaves (Sugar and Burgundy varieties). In this case, an unusual color of the tops is the norm. Such features of the variety are indicated by the seed manufacturer on the packaging, so before planting you should carefully study all the information on the package.
If the selected variety does not have such a characteristic feature, then redness of the tops indicates a violation of the rules of care or disease of the root crops. There are several reasons for this phenomenon.
Insufficient sodium content in the soil
Normal sodium content in the soil is important during the initial phases of plant growth and development. Young beet sprouts absorb sodium, calcium and magnesium from the ground especially intensively. A lack of sodium negatively affects the development of plants, preventing them from absorbing sufficient amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen.
Sodium enhances the growth of tops, increases enzymatic activity, and promotes the accumulation of sugar in root vegetables.
Insufficient content of potassium and phosphorus in the soil
Another reason for the appearance of burgundy leaves lies in the lack of potassium and phosphorus. If the beet leaves turn dark red at the edges, this indicates insufficient potassium content in the soil. This phenomenon is also called beet edge necrosis. In cases of acute potassium deficiency, the leaves of plants curl and dry out.
With phosphorus deficiency, the tops first acquire a dark green color, and after some time become red.
Increased soil acidity
Beetroot is sensitive to soil acidity. Increased acidity is the most common cause of red and purple leaves in beet beds.
Attention. In acidic soil, beets grow unsightly small leaves, and root crops develop poorly.
Testing soil acidity is easy at home. For this purpose, special acidity analyzers, which are sold in gardening centers (litmus paper, Alyamovsky device, soil composition analyzers), are suitable.
Traditional methods include testing with vinegar and hydrochloric acid. Such methods are not so reliable, but are quick to use and accessible. A lump of soil from the garden is watered with strong hydrochloric acid or table vinegar. If the wetted soil reacts with the formation of bubbles, then the soil is alkaline. If there is no reaction, it is neutral or sour.
Why do beets have white rings? White beets - description and application
Sugar beets are similar in appearance to red table beets.
We are used to seeing burgundy-colored beets on our table. But in our country two more species are grown - fodder and sugar. The first is intended for feeding cattle and small cattle, the second is technical for processing. From the name we can understand that sugar beets are used for sugar production, but some people use them in cooking. By the way, white types of root vegetables do not contain dyes, which so often cause allergies. Farmers plant the crop on an industrial scale, but some summer residents also grow it on their plots.
To create a sugar beet variety, breeders began their work back in 1741. They wanted to find an alternative to cane to make granulated sugar available to everyone. In our country, white sugar beets appeared in the 19th century, and as we see, the crop has been grown from that moment to this day. It is worth noting the fact that root vegetables have become much better in quality - if two centuries ago they contained only 1.3% sugar, now the norm is 20% of the total mass.
On a note! During the production of granulated sugar, pulp remains, which is subsequently used to feed animals; molasses is used in cooking as a sweetener and leavening agent. Also, defecation dirt remains and is used to fertilize the fields.
Why do beets have fiber inside? Why did the beets grow with veins?
Reason No. 1. Lack of moisture
Experienced gardeners know that beets need to be watered generously during the first period of growth, before the plant begins to “work for turnips,” that is, until about July. After this, the sucking root of the young plant will be able to extract moisture itself in very deep layers of soil, penetrating several meters deep. Young plants, immediately after emergence, are watered at the rate of a bucket of water per “square” of the bed, while older plants – one and a half to two buckets.
If proper watering is not provided during this period, the beets will grow tough and streaky. During the growth of root crops, beets are watered only occasionally, during drought, and two weeks before harvesting, watering is stopped, otherwise the beets will crack during digging.
Don’t forget about mulching the soil - this simple agricultural technique will preserve moisture in the soil, and therefore your strength.
Reason #2
If you add a lot of organic matter to beets, especially fresh manure, and not in the fall, but directly before planting, this will negatively affect the quality of the root crop. Organic matter is rich in nitrogen, and nitrogen is responsible for the beautiful leaf apparatus, but not for the turnip. So the tops will squeeze out all the juices from the root crop, and you will be left with a stringy, fibrous vegetable. And if there was not enough watering, beets with veins are guaranteed.
Proper feeding of beets looks something like this: in the fall, fill the bed with compost and at the same time add a tablespoon per “square” of complex mineral fertilizer, or at least ash. In the phase of 4-5 true leaves, beets are fed with a solution of table salt and boric acid. If there is a lack of boron, beets often grow with black voids inside, and sodium (table salt - sodium chloride) makes the vegetable sweeter. The chlorine contained in salt is not harmful to beets in such concentrations.
And the second mineral fertilizing is done when the root crops begin to form. Add potassium chloride and superphosphate - 10 g/sq.m. m, or the same ash.
Additionally, you can feed beets with organic matter only during the period of initial growth - in the phase of 4-6 leaves. If necessary (if the beets look pale, weak, or the soil is obviously poor), fertilizing is repeated after two weeks. For beets, herbal infusion, ammonia or mullein work well. But do not forget that beets are prone to the accumulation of nitrates - this can be judged by the formation of white rings on the cut of the root crop.
Increased acidity level
Excessive acid content in the soil is the most common cause of reddening of vegetable leaves. In acidic soil, the plant stops growing, both above-ground parts and root crops. The leaves become small and subsequently acquire red spots and blotches.
To restore the correct acid balance of the soil, use a solution of water with wood ash. To do this, pour 750 grams of ash into a bucket of water, mix thoroughly, and water the vegetable beds with the resulting solution. Advice!
It is best to reduce soil acidity in advance. In the fall, when digging the beds, lime and ash are added to the soil. By the time of spring planting, the soil acquires a neutral balance of acids.
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Why does the beet leaf dry out?
Beetroot is a culture that quickly responds to pathogens.
Its foliage, like an indicator, immediately shows all changes. A careful examination can help quickly diagnose and provide treatment. The most dangerous diseases that lead to drying out of foliage are the following:
- perenospora or downy mildew. The causative agent is a fungus. You can judge it by its young rosette leaves. The edges of the leaves bend down, turn pale, dry out and crumble when touched. If the weather is damp, the underside of the plate becomes covered with a gray coating of mycelium. The most suitable temperature for the development of the disease is 15-17 ᵒC;
- ramulariasis. Fungal disease. The leaf turns dirty gray, turns pale, and forms through holes, and then dries out completely. Development requires humid conditions, dense crops and 15-17 ᵒC. The vegetable grower loses up to 20% of the harvest;
- Alternaria blight. This mushroom also needs moderate temperature and humidity to develop. It appears on old, lower leaves. Dark spots of irregular shape gradually spread, merge and cover the entire leaf, it curls and dries out. The fungus is especially rampant in those crops where the soil is poor in boron and manganese;
- fomoz. The fungus develops on those plants that are sown in heavy, acidic soils, as well as with an excess of nitrogen fertilizers. The pathogen causes foliage to dry out and forms voids in root crops;
- rust. The fungus develops with the beginning of the spring growing season. Red, warty spots appear on the leaves. Then they enlarge, merge, and the beet tops dry out and tear. Particular occurrence is observed at high humidity and high crop density;
- jaundice. A viral disease that can take up to 40% of the harvest. The disease begins to manifest itself as the tips of the foliage dry out, it becomes denser and becomes brittle;
- rhizomania. The virus settles on the veins. Inhibits growth and forms pale spots, then brown and black. At the same time, the petiole becomes long. The root crop of the affected plants does not enlarge, but becomes covered with small roots and becomes woody.
Redness at home or in a greenhouse
The spread of redness along the stems is possible both while the sprouts are in seedling containers and after they are transplanted into an open bed. In the first case, this may be due to a variety of factors, including:
- You used a purchased planting mixture, which may have contained sea sand rather than river sand. In this case, the entire plant is poisoned, but it is the roots that suffer more than the leaves. Therefore, an urgent transplant into another soil mixture with mandatory rinsing of the roots in water is necessary.
- If an excess of moisture can cause a “black leg,” then a lack of moisture can cause the shade of the seedlings to change. Check the soil for moisture and make adjustments to your watering calendar if necessary.
- Excessive amounts of fertilizer always negatively affect any crop, and beets are no exception. Often, the finished soil already contains enough fertilizer, but some gardeners, in pursuit of rapid growth, apply it again and again. This will simply cause poisoning, which will cause the leaves to turn red and may even wither. If you overfeed the beets, then either transfer them to new soil, or thoroughly rinse the old one in running water.
Why do beets have white stripes inside? Why do beets have white streaks?
Beets are famous for their rich red-burgundy color. However, sometimes gardeners notice that the root vegetables are pale pink in color or have white veins/rings. Why do white veins appear in beets, are they dangerous, what do they mean?
If you notice white streaks in beets, do not be alarmed; it may be due to a special variety of this vegetable. White streaks are often observed in fodder and sugar beet varieties of lower quality, but, of course, you cannot be poisoned by them. Foreign varieties of beets with striped pulp are also known. For example, the Italian variety Chioggia, in which red rings alternate with white ones. In the southern regions of Russia, these varieties are preferred for preparing borscht, considering them more attractive in taste.
If you sowed a regular, red variety of beets, then the reasons for the appearance of white streaks may be the following: low-quality seeds, unfavorable climatic conditions (prolonged droughts or prolonged rainfall), poor soil (low potassium content), a long break between watering the plant or its insufficiency, rapid growth of root crops due to the use of stimulants, oversaturation of fertilizers, high levels of nitrates in the vegetable.
The same can be said about the appearance of coarse fibers, vascular bundles, which are necessarily present in the tissue of the root crop, but under unfavorable conditions they become coarse and rigid. Beets react this way to a deficiency of boron, magnesium, sodium, manganese and iron.
To get an excellent harvest of beautifully colored beets, experts recommend adding ammonium nitrate (35 g), superphosphate (25–30 g) and potassium chloride (35–40 g per 1 sq. m) to the garden bed in the fall. On fertile soils, the dose of nitrogen should be reduced and the dose of phosphorus increased. As a top dressing (two weeks after the second thinning, during the formation of root crops), superphosphate and potassium chloride, 8–10 g per 1 sq. m., are used. m. It is very good to use microfertilizers containing a set of microelements, including boron.
Why do beet leaves look like they are burnt? Fomoz: disease of beet leaves and its roots
A disease of beet leaves, accompanied by the appearance of yellowish or brown round spots on the leaf blades, often with a concentric pattern, is called phomosis, heart rot or zonal spot.
The disease spreads from the lower leaves, which die due to rapidly developing foci of infection. If the disease overtakes the beets in the second year of life, the peduncle also dies, and the root crop itself, if stored, very soon rots. Why do beet leaves turn yellow, and what to do to stop the process and not lose the harvest?
The development of the disease is favored by cool, rainy weather, as well as heavy dew in the second half of summer, when night temperatures are already quite low. With gusts of rain and wind, spores of the harmful fungus are spread throughout the plantation, and the causative agent of the dangerous beet leaf disease waits out the winter in dead foliage left in the garden bed, on affected root crops and even on seeds.
It has been noted that a lack of boron in the soil contributes to the appearance of the disease, and the timely application of this microelement, for example in the form of borax, will serve as both a good preventive measure and a means of combating the disease.
Methods of control and prevention:
- Treating seeds and root crops with Fundazol helps protect beds from the Phoma pathogen.
- During the last growing season, beet plants are fertilized with products containing potassium.
- We must not forget about following the rules of crop rotation, timely weeding of beet rows and thinning of seedlings.
- All fallen plant debris from the beds is removed and burned.
If the disease has already made itself felt on the site, the plantings must be treated with Fundazol or other systemic fungicides. Beets sent to storage are regularly sorted, rejecting rotten and soft root crops, after which containers for vegetables are disinfected and dried.