Thanks to the creation of new cold-resistant varieties, early beets can be easily grown in Siberia today. It is only important to observe weather conditions, to properly grow and plant seedlings. More on this later.
Features of the choice of varieties for growing in Siberia
The conditions in Siberia cannot be called favorable for vegetable growing, but it is quite simple to grow beets here. The main thing is to choose the right variety.
Characteristics of beet varieties for growing in Siberia:
- Early or medium ripening. The growing season is about 100 days.
- Resistant to temperature changes.
- Cold resistance and unpretentiousness.
- Lack of a tendency to bloom.
The best choice is varieties zoned in Siberia. They are ideally adapted for the harsh Siberian climate. These varieties were bred by domestic breeders, who in their work focused on survival and adaptation in the most unfavorable conditions.
The best varieties for Siberia
Not all beet varieties are capable of producing high-quality root crops in a harsh climate. Due to the late spring and short summer, beets of common varieties do not have time to ripen.
In the conditions of Siberia, it is necessary to plant varieties and hybrids intended specifically for this region:
- Siberian Flat. This is the earliest grade. Its roots are flat, weighing 200-300 g. Resistant to cercospora, not inclined to flowering. With 1 sq. m are collected from 3 to 7 kg. The taste is great.
- Bordeaux 237. Medium early grade. Root crops are roundish, sweetish. Harvested even under unfavorable conditions, good quality. Productivity - 7-9 kg per 1 sq. Km. m.
- Incomparable. Medium early grade. Root crops are oval, weighing 140-400 g. Resistant to cercosporosis. Productivity - 3-7 kg per 1 sq. m. Differs in high keeping quality.
- One-sprout. A late-ripening ball-shaped variety. The weight of root crops is 300-600 g. The variety is still and tasty. m collect 4 kg of beets.
Along with the spring sowing, beets are sown in the fall. This method is especially popular in southern regions with warm winters. However, in Siberia, beets are also sown before winter, for this purpose there are special frost-resistant varieties.
Beet varieties for winter sowing:
Pre-sowing work
To get a good harvest of beets, it is important not only to take good care of them, but also to properly prepare for planting. Presowing preparation is reduced to the processing of seeds and soil.
Seed preparation
Beetroot belongs to crops, the seeds of which can be safely planted without special treatment. But many gardeners prefer to soak the seed in order to accelerate the emergence of seedlings.
Purchased seeds that have undergone special treatment cannot be soaked in water and disinfecting solutions - their protective shell will be broken.
The seeds are not drained and collected independently, it is recommended to pickle in a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate. The pickling time is 12 hours.
Options for preparing seeds for sowing:
- Quick soak. Soak seeds for 8 hours in water. The water temperature during immersion is from +30 to + 35 ° C. After 4 hours of soaking, the water must be changed. The planting material can be folded into a cloth bag before diving.
- Germination. This procedure will take several days. Procedure:
- Place the seeds in a cloth or sprinkle with moistened sawdust.
- Place the seeds in a saucer, and if you use sawdust, cover them with foil or glass.
- Place germinated seeds in a warm place (+ 20 ... + 22 ° C).
- Check the condition of the seeds daily. Keep dry, dampen cloth / sawdust as needed.
- When the seeds germinate, and this usually happens after 2-3 days, immediately plant them in the ground.
Choosing a landing site
When choosing a site for planting beets, first of all, its illumination, predecessors and moisture are evaluated.
Site Requirements:
- Illumination Beets love the sun, so shading must be avoided.
- Predecessors. Beets grow well after nightshade crops, cucumbers, cabbage. Do not plant beets after radishes, rutabagas, celery.
- Neighbors. The culture coexists well with onions, cabbage, dill, salad.
- The soil. Fertile and loose soils with neutral acidity are welcome.
- Moisturizing. Waterlogged and waterlogged areas are not suitable. With a high level of groundwater, culture can be planted, but only in high beds.
Soil preparation
It is best to prepare the soil in the fall, so that the fertilizers applied can be absorbed into the soil. If this opportunity is missed, the site is prepared in the spring, but no later than 3-4 weeks before beet planting.
Soil preparation procedure:
- Dig a site to a depth of 30 cm. Bring a digging bucket of compost / humus and 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate for every square meter of area. Fertilizers are especially important to apply on poor or sandy soils.
- Loosen clay and heavy soils with peat or sand, adding 1/2 bucket of both per 1 sq. m.
- Deacidify acidic soils. For this purpose, it is best to use wood ash - add 200 g per 1 sq. m, in clay soils - 300 g each.
- Having dug up and having made fertilizers, at once level and loosen a site.
- If even in the fall you did all the preparatory work, in the spring, still dig a bed and level the soil with a rake.
In the absence of autumn preparation, add in the spring, instead of superphosphate, nitroammophos - 1 tbsp. per 1 square. m.
Open sowing
Sowing seeds in open ground is the easiest and most popular way to grow. The main thing in this event is to guess the timing of sowing and observe the intervals between seeds.
The timing
In the spring, early beets are planted around mid-May. It was by this time that the soil in Siberia was warming up to + 5 ... + 6 ° C. Moreover, the soil should warm up not only on the surface, but also at a depth of 10 cm.
Mid-season and late beets are planted later, when the soil warms up to + 8 ... + 10 ° C.
Winter sowing is carried out in October-November, focusing on air temperature - it should drop to + 2 ... + 4 ° С.
Spring beet planting
If you are not sure that the weather will be favorable for sowing in 2-3 days, do without soaking the seeds. Then you can easily reschedule the event to a later date.
Sowing order:
- Make grooves 3-4 cm deep on the prepared beds.Observe the interval between rows - 30 cm.
- Water the rows generously and wait for the water to absorb.
- Arrange the seeds in rows 4-5 cm apart.
- Cover the grooves with soil and compact with a plank.
- Re-water the area. But do it carefully so as not to erode the soil. Use a rain nozzle for watering.
If the forecast promises a cooling, cover the crops with a film or other covering material. But remove it as soon as the shoots appear. And if they have already appeared, then pull the film over the arcs so that it does not come into contact with the plants.
Planting beets in the winter
Siberia has hot summers, and in October snow may fall. But his presence should not confuse gardeners. It is enough to clear the powdered beds from snow, and you can sow beets.
Features and order of winter sowing:
- Sow only dry seeds.
- The soil must be dry. There is no need to water the crops.
- Spread the seeds at 10 cm intervals.
- Fill the seed furrows with soil and mulch with peat or sawdust. The thickness of the mulch layer is 2-3 cm.
- Cover crops with fallen leaves or needles. The thickness of the protective layer is 10-20 cm. Lay branches on top and cover with snow.
Seedling method
Seedling method allows you to get an earlier crop. Beets planted with seedlings are ready for harvesting 20-25 days earlier than when sowing seeds in open ground.
Sowing dates for seedlings
Seeds for seedlings are sown about 30 days before planting. Sowing is produced in April, and seedlings are planted in the ground not earlier than the third decade of May. Seedlings are planted in open ground, waiting for a stable warm weather. The soil should warm up to + 10 ° C.
Sowing seeds
Every gardener can grow beet seedlings at home. To do this, you will need containers for seedlings, soil or purchased substrate, as well as seed.
How to sow beet seeds for seedlings:
- Fill pots or containers with a substrate or a mixture of soil, peat and humus (1: 2: 1).
- Water the soil with a disinfectant, such as Fitosporin-M.
- Compact the soil and spray it out of the spray gun.
- Plant seeds in rows with an interval of 2-3 cm, if planting is carried out in containers, or one seed in a glass - if the container is individual. In the first case, you will have to dive seedlings - plant them at the stage of cotyledon leaves in more spacious containers.
- Fill the seeds on top with soil, a layer of about 1 cm.
- Re-spray the soil with a spray bottle.
- Cover crops with transparent film or glass, and place in a warm place.
Seedling Care
As soon as shoots appear, and this happens a few days after sowing, the transparent cover is removed. Seedling containers are placed closer to the light, preferably on the southern windows.
Seedling care:
- Watering. Seedlings watered as the soil dries. Watering should be moderate - beet seedlings do not tolerate waterlogging. Seedlings are watered regularly, but in small portions. Water is poured from the pan.
- Thinning. Each seed gives up to five sprouts, so the plantings are thickened. Using scissors, weakened and defective germs are removed. Neighboring plants should not touch each other with cotyledon leaves.
- Pick At the cotyledon stage, the seedlings can be transplanted into larger containers. Plants are transplanted into the soil with the same composition that was in the original container.
- Top dressing. If seedlings are planted on a substrate, then she does not need top dressing. Home-made soil mixture can be fertilized with mineral complex fertilizers in which nitrogen predominates.
- Temperature. Beet seedlings do not like high temperatures, when seedlings appear, the temperature is lowered from + 18 ... + 20 ° С to + 16 ° С.
- Lighting. Seedlings need 12 hour daylight hours. If necessary, turn on artificial lighting. Phytolamps are placed at a distance of 30-50 cm from seedlings. With a lack of light, the plants will weaken and stretch.
- Hardening. Seedlings are taken out 7-10 days before planting. The walking time is gradually increased, bringing it to several hours.
Planting plants in open ground
Seedlings are planted in open ground when 4-6 true leaves appear. Preparedness of seedlings is not the only condition for planting - favorable weather conditions should be formed.
Beets tolerate transplanting well, but it is important to be careful when transplanting seedlings from individual containers to a permanent place.
Seedling transplant procedure:
- Loosen the bed and level it with a rake.
- Make rows on the garden bed at intervals of 20-30 cm from each other. Or, make separate holes for each seedling. In any case, the distance between adjacent plants should be 6-10 cm, depending on the variety. For 1 square. m should fit from 40 to 50 seedlings.
- Pour warm water over the indentations and when the water is absorbed, move the seedlings into them. Transplant seedlings together with soil lumps. When planting, the roots can be pinched, then the seedlings will take root faster, and the roots will be larger.
- Sprinkle the roots with soil and lightly compact it.
- Water the planted plants. Use warm, standing water.
- Mulch the soil with peat, humus, sawdust. Mulch will retain moisture in the soil and will inhibit weed growth.
Some gardeners cut off all leaves from the planted seedlings, except for the central ones. This procedure relieves the roots, which are very weak after planting, from the load.
Features of growing and caring for beets
Beets are not the most demanding vegetable in the garden, so caring for them is not difficult.
How to care for beets:
- Watering. If the beets are transplanted outdoors, water the beets daily until they are rooted. Reduce watering after rooting. Watering should be rare, but plentiful. Overmoistening can provoke scab, rot and crop loss during storage.
- Loosening. Loosen and weed the soil regularly between rows. Do this carefully so as not to damage the delicate roots of the beets.
- Top dressing. It is best to feed plantings with infusion of mullein - dilute it with water 1: 6. Mineral feed at the beginning of the growing season. When the roots reach a diameter of 2 cm, they begin to accumulate nitrates, therefore, only potassium and phosphorus should be included in the fertilizer at this stage.
To make the beets sweet, feed them with a saline solution a month before harvesting (10 liters - 1 tbsp. Table salt).
When growing beets in Siberia, the main thing is to use cold-resistant, zoned varieties. In all other respects, the agricultural technology of beets in Siberian conditions does not stand out in any way. By watering and feeding it on time, you can get a good harvest of delicious beets.
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Russia. City Novosibirsk
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