Beetroot

[Mr_Gardener]

I am new to this forum and would like to say hi to everyone.
Please can I get a bit of advise regarding growing Beetroot. I have had an allotment for a couple of years now. I seem to struggle with beetroot it grows with a lot of leaf but doesn't bulb up so I end up with very small beetroot. Could I be over feeding the soil. I use chicken manure and blood fish & bone as I like to keep as organic as possible. Any help would be greatfully appreciated. Many thanks..

[pepper1000]

I used to always grow boltardy and they never got very big, i also use fish bood and bone and chicken pellets, last year i had the best beetroot i have ever grown and they were kestrel f1 , i am growing these again this year, started off in modules in the greenhouse

[Baldy]

not an expert on beetroot but welcome along - someone with some knowledge will be along shortly

[johnjohn]

Hi Mr Gardener, welcome to the Vine. Perhaps you are overdoing it with the fertilisation. Too much nitrogen in the soil will produce a lot of top growth but not a lot of root growth. Traditionally (I'm not a traditional gardener but many traditions still hold true) you don't manure root crops. Plant out this year crop without the addition of supplements and see how you get on, I expect you will see an improvement.

[johnjohn]

not an expert on beetroot but welcome along - someone with some knowledge will be along shortly

Bl**dy **** hope you're not referring to me!

[Mr Bones]

Hello Mr G and welcome to the vine.
Too much leaf at the expense of root could indicate an excess of nitrogen so chicken pellets may not be necessary. Might be worth a try of half a row without using any added fertiliser to see how they compare. Also, do they need thinning out to give them room to swell.
Good luck with it and let us know how you get on.

Doh, you beat me to it John

[Mrs Bee]

We grow beetroot successfully and always have a good crop.

We have done various varieties and they all grow.

I start some seeds off early by planting in small paper pots under cover and then plant out. We don't do much to the soil apart from watering weeding and a small handful of growmore before we plant them.

I then direct sow more seeds in to the ground when the weather warms up.

In fact I have sown them in some right ratty soil and they have grown. Now I don't know if they are just easy to grow in poor soil or if, as my husband and mother always say, that the seeds come up and grow because they are too frightened of me not to grow.

That might be true too, as he sows seed and they don't come up and sow the same seeds in the same ground and they do.

Perhaps you could try a test and grow one lot of beetroot just as you did last year and do another lot without any fertiliser.

[Muddy_Boots]

Thats a sure sign you have been overdoing it with the fertiliser, too much foliage is a sure sign. I tend to sow my beetroot by hand in a straight line direct in its growing position, the seeds are large enough to handle and you can ensure they are spaced out enough so you don't need to thin them out later.

If you have a part of the plot you have fertilised the least then sow them in that spot, you should get better results.

[Cadalot]

Bl**dy **** hope you're not referring to me!

What you have to remember is that Balders suffers from low self esteem. I have to say I do better when they go into a unfertilised bed, a light sprinkling of coffee grounds as slug defences. Anyway the leafs are yummy and the Egyptians originally grew them for the leafs not the bulb thinking they were harmful.

[Nicos]

No fertiliser at all here either...sown straight into the soil under fleece (to keep them warmer at night and maintain moisture)
I usually sow them in rows along with alternate blocks of carrot, parsnip and radish under the fleece too.