Growing beetroot-More than one shoot per seed

[Matt84]

Hi,

I am trying to grow beetroot and have planted some bolthardy seeds. most of the seeds have sprouted however some have planted 2 or even 3 shoots. Should I pull up all the weaker shoots leaving the strongest or should I leave them all, I did see once that Monty Don(I think it was him) trialled leaving all the shoots and he got 2 bulbs from some plants. Would you recommend that I leave them all in or pull some up, would leaving them in affect the size of each bulbs. Any advice would be appreciated.

Kindest regards,
Matt

[zazen999]

I leave them all together, they grow and push each other apart - then I harvest the largest and then leave the others to grow on, then harvest again leaving one to continue.

They are going to slow down now anyway, with winter drawing in and the days getting shorter.

[sewer rat]

I grew Chiogga, Golden and Cylindra this year - I left the first two to do their own thing and thinned the Cylindra - no real difference though I do think the Cylindra reached harvestable size slightly quicker - though again, if I was only growing for myself, this wouldn't be an issue.

[lottie dolly]

i started mine of a few seeds to a modual,then planted into the ground when the roots are bound together,1 lot i put realy to close for comfort,but you know what,the ones nerer the top just keep growing,then when these are pulled out,and so it goes on,so what i thought was a mistack,turned out to be just fine,it slowed some down then when you pick the larger ones,others get bigger,i found i got more out of the space lol,will try it next year,just a shot row,to see if it were fluke,i have some small seedings in the grow barn,but they not doing much,so hoping maybe some leafes to pick,

[Two_Sheds]

some have planted 2 or even 3 shoots.

That's because beetroot seed is actually a cluster (of 2 or 3 seeds)
I let them all grow, then pull the biggest one to eat and let the others fill out a bit more

[peanut]

I sow mine into modules then split them up on planting out, always had good results.

[COMPOST CORNER]

I bought some plants this year (may/june time) thinking they had already been separated, but no they hadn't, as others have said just harvest the ones that are big enough and leave the rest to grow on. Some of mine produced four or five reasonable sized (golf ball size) beets.

[smc999]

I put my seeds in small pots in June and split the seedlings before I planted out into my raised bed. All of them took and they seem perfectly healthy and the couple I've had so far tasted great. I think they were Boltardy too.