Beet transplants doing poorly

[gumbo2176]

I transplanted about 100 beet starts 4 days ago that I put in a double planted row about 5 weeks ago. I was as gentle as possible when digging them up and separating them to allow enough space to develop, but they have wilted badly and about half of them don't look like they will make it.

I have at least 100 more to thin and transplant, so does anyone have any suggestions for a better rate of survival??? I've made sure they are well watered and our temperatures during the day are only getting into the mid/upper 70's. I did the same thing in the fall and didn't have this much loss with an earlier crop.

[SPierce]

What was your process for hardening them off- I wonder if there was some sort of shock there, or at least something in your soil that might have thrown them?

[gumbo2176]

What was your process for hardening them off- I wonder if there was some sort of shock there, or at least something in your soil that might have thrown them?

They were direct planted into the rows as seeds, sprouted and allowed to grow to about 5 inches tall before I moved them between my tomato plants in the adjacent row. Same soil, same growing conditions of mild 70+ daytime and 50+ nightly temperatures.

[jal_ut]

You would really do better to plant the beet seed in the ground where it will grow, then thin them. Thinning beets is necessary even if you space the seed 4 inches apart. That thing we plant and call a seed is actually a capsule with several seeds in it. If we plant a seed every 4 inches then thin when small, the roots will get very large and well shaped.

Just thinning the group damages the roots of the one you leave. If thinned when small the damage is minimized.

About all you can do is keep your plants watered well and hope they decide to take off.

Setting them out near evening, firming the soil well and watering well after transplanting is the best you can do. It gives them a few hours to make soil contact before the sun hits them.

Good luck.

[jal_ut]

Oh, we were writing at the same time. I am thinking they are too large for good transplanting, or thinning without damaging the plants roots badly. It is best to thin them when the plants are only 2 inches tall.

[url=https://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137ch8.html]Check this out![/url]

You see, by the time the plant is 5 inches tall the root is already 2.5 feet deep. You have most likely only dug up 1/6 of the roots, if that. You could prune the top growth to leave only the youngest leaf and that would balance the plant better.

You might consider just thinning them by cutting the extras off rather than pulling and let the remainder stay where they are. This would not damage the roots of those left. They will make you some usable roots quickly.

[gumbo2176]

Oh, we were writing at the same time. I am thinking they are too large for good transplanting, or thinning without damaging the plants roots badly. It is best to thin them when the plants are only 2 inches tall.

[url=https://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137ch8.html]Check this out![/url]

You see, by the time the plant is 5 inches tall the root is already 2.5 feet deep. You have most likely only dug up 1/6 of the roots, if that. You could prune the top growth to leave only the youngest leaf and that would balance the plant better.

You might consider just thinning them by cutting the extras off rather than pulling and let the remainder stay where they are. This would not damage the roots of those left. They will make you some usable roots quickly.

Thanks for the input James. That was my next option, to simply cut out the extras in the group. I just wish there was some other way to package the seeds instead of the cluster of seeds. It seems like such a waste.

Speaking of small seeds. My wife bought a packet of flower seeds last week that she wanted put in a bed I prepared for them. Like lettuce seed, there was a very small foil packet inside the paper one. When I opened the foil packed I swear they were so small I could have put all the seeds contained in it on the end of my thumb. They actually made lettuce seed look huge by comparison. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe such beautiful plants can come from something so small.

[jal_ut]

I just wish there was some other way to package the seeds instead of the cluster of seeds. It seems like such a waste.

Apparently it is not easy to thresh the capsules and extract the seed. Beet seed has always been like this. When raising sugar beets, it would really save the farmer a bunch if he didn't have to manually thin the cluster. I am sure if it was possible to economically separate the seed it would have been done long before now.

Beet seed is rather expensive because it is so bulky. Then you need to thin out lots of what comes. I know where you are coming from. What I have been doing is growing my own seed. I keep some beets in the pit until spring then plant them. Beets are biennial and they will bloom and have seed the second year. It is easy to gather the seed.

I wonder if a supermarket beet would bloom if you planted it?

[gumbo2176]

Well, after 2 days of cooler, overcast and wet weather, it appears many of the transplants are picking up and starting to look like they will make it. I wouldn't have given them much chance of turning things around 3 days ago the way they looked. Hopefully, the direction they seem to be heading will produce me a nice crop of beets before the summer heat hits.

[!potatoes!]

you know, I remember johnny's seeds selling a 'monogerm' beet - where each fruit only had the one seed in it, so it didn't need to be thinned the same way. I assume they still have it.