Beets

[GoDawgs]

Okay... for the last three years I've sworn every one of those years that I'm done trying to grow beets. And every one of those years I've gone ahead and put out some seed. So I swore again this year not to grow and and what did I do? Buy some fresh beet seed while at the feed 'n weed for a bale of wheat straw. Heavy sigh.............

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by GoDawgs

Okay... for the last three years I've sworn every one of those years that I'm done trying to grow beets. And every one of those years I've gone ahead and put out some seed. So I swore again this year not to grow and and what did I do? Buy some fresh beet seed while at the feed 'n weed for a bale of wheat straw. Heavy sigh.............

I might try in the fail and see what it does.
Bulls blood is a good one.

[imp]

Has anyone tried growing sugar bets? They are tasty at a young age, usually yellow or white so no bleeding and the tops are very good and much milder than most beet tops/ greens are raw or cooked.

[rockman]

We will try the baked beets. I pull ours at 2". Pickle in usual way. I start seeds in a slight raised row last of March. I make 2 rows 1' apart and 4" tall. Hoe down middle of each row to ground level. I put 12-12-12 in bottom with some 20 mule team borax. Cover with 3 and 1/2" then plant seed, cover with 1/2". Water every other day. Once growing good , I water in the trench between the rows. rockman

[DonDuck]

I wanted to clear a bed of beets yesterday so I can prepare it for winter greens. It only had eight or ten beets left in it. Half the beets were hard ball size and the others were smaller than a pool ball. I baked the large beets in the oven wrapped in foil and the smaller beets were cooked in the air fryer. I wanted to see if air fryer cooked beets without foil would peel as easy as the baked beets. Both methods cooked well, but the air fryer peels were pretty dry and leathery, but did peel well.

[DonDuck]

Originally Posted by imp

Has anyone tried growing sugar bets? They are tasty at a young age, usually yellow or white so no bleeding and the tops are very good and much milder than most beet tops/ greens are raw or cooked.

There used to be a huge sugar beet mill near Hereford, Texas. They would pile those things sky high in harvest season and then take a few months extracting the liquid from the beets and processing the liquid into white granulated sugar. The beet pulp went to the cattle feed lots and was then fed to the cattle. It never entered my mind that they could be eaten by humans. Most of the sugar beets I saw were huge in excess of ten lbs. each

[imp]

Though sugar beets can be grown to quite a large size, for table use, pulling them small is better though they do not really get woody or bad if they get larger. The greens are a bit milder and tasty as well.


Beet pulp is often used for dog foods and pig chows too. Chickens can enjoy beets and greens and even some of the pulp, too.

[Locomatto]

I must confess that I have only been growing beets for a couple years; however, I've observed a couple things that have worked well for me.

1) Beets seem like a bit of shade - I have had the best success when I've grown beets in areas that get at least partial shade. I've even grown them in full shade (directly underneath a cherry tree) without issue.

2) Like most root crops, the softer the soil, the better

Bonus observation: The smaller beets always seem to taste better to me, and have a better texture. As a result, I will plant the seeds closer together and harvest the beets when they are a little larger than a golf-ball.

Hope that helps

[DonDuck]

Some people also grow fodder beets or mangle beets to feed their livestock including chickens. They produce huge beets up to twenty lbs. each. I never did it, but you can supposedly harvest one of the giant beets, slice it in half; and toss it into the chicken coop and the chickens will love you for it and be healthier for it. I wonder if you can get some red eggs. They say "you are what you eat. The chickens probably look like they are wearing red lipstick on their beaks after eating red beets all day.


https://sustainableseedco.com/produc...=3172038311976

[imp]

Lol on the red eggs!! You won't get those, but like feeding the chicks sweet potatoes or carrots, the yolks get nice and deep orange.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by DonDuck

There used to be a huge sugar beet mill near Hereford, Texas. They would pile those things sky high in harvest season and then take a few months extracting the liquid from the beets and processing the liquid into white granulated sugar. The beet pulp went to the cattle feed lots and was then fed to the cattle. It never entered my mind that they could be eaten by humans. Most of the sugar beets I saw were huge in excess of ten lbs. each

There was a plant in my town,Longmont,CO,too. I remover those piles in the fall as big as huge warehouses out by the railroad tracks.