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Garlic Lady
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Another Beet Question
When I plant beets the outside rows are health and robust but the inside rows are stunted and have dark red leaves. Many do not mature. why does this occur? Happens every year.
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rainbowgardener
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Someone else asked the exact same question earlier this year. Unfortunately our Search the Forum function isn't working very well, so I can't retrieve it.
My first thought is that the outside rows get better sun and the inner rows are more shaded. If the outside rows get the sun just a little sooner, they will start growing faster than the inner ones and so then the inner ones get more and more shaded.
Ways to deal with that would include more space between rows. Maybe mound the inner rows up, so they are higher, to avoid the shading effects. Or just plant outer rows of beets and plant something that would benefit from the shading in the middle, like lettuce and spinach.
My first thought is that the outside rows get better sun and the inner rows are more shaded. If the outside rows get the sun just a little sooner, they will start growing faster than the inner ones and so then the inner ones get more and more shaded.
Ways to deal with that would include more space between rows. Maybe mound the inner rows up, so they are higher, to avoid the shading effects. Or just plant outer rows of beets and plant something that would benefit from the shading in the middle, like lettuce and spinach.
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DoubleDogFarm
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jal_ut
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How crowded are your plants? It is very easy for beets to be overcrowded as those crinkly little things we think of as seeds, are actually capsules with several seeds in them. No matter how thinly we plant them, they will still be overcrowded. Proper beet culture requires thinning. I would thin to one plant every six inches in rows twelve or sixteen inches apart. The beet plant gets quite large and needs the room for leaves to gather sunshine. If you will give them the suggested spacing, they will make you some nice large roots.
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jal_ut
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It makes sense, when planting, to put one seed every six inches in the rows then thin the bunch to one plant when the plants are an inch or two tall. An alternative for a bed planting would be to put a seed every 8 inches both ways then thin the bunch.
I really think the thing you are observing has to do with overcrowding.
I really think the thing you are observing has to do with overcrowding.