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Post by daylilydude on Apr 6, 2015 13:04:42 GMT -5
Can they be transplanted if started in a seed tray?
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Post by paquebot on Apr 6, 2015 19:37:11 GMT -5
If started in trays, best to use the 144 or smaller plug trays and one seed per cell. Those are best for minimal root damage. That method is common for sugar beets and mangels and thus would also work for regular beets.
Martin
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Post by paulf on Apr 7, 2015 10:20:56 GMT -5
Most root crops do not transplant well. I have never started beets anywhere but in the soil where they will grow. Generally follow the seed packet suggestions. Detroit Dark Red Beets are my variety of choice and do fine without early planting and transplanting. (along with cucumbers, melons, onions, carrots, green beans, peas, radishes, potatoes, leeks etc., etc.
Vine crops I have started early and been OK. Cauliflower and broccoli do well from transplants. Tomatoes and peppers are my main transplanters.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 15, 2015 11:41:08 GMT -5
Although most consider beets to be a root crop, they are not when it comes to transplanting. Those which can not be transplanted would be species which have their entire root underground such as carrot and parsnips. With those, the slightest transplant damage would be permanent. The portion of the beet which we eat is produced mostly aboveground and transplanting does not affect it.
Martin
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Post by paulf on Apr 17, 2015 10:13:28 GMT -5
All of the beet we eat is the underground portion just as in carrots and parsnips. You mean mostly you eat the leaves? Never heard of pickled beet leaves. I guess I have never tried transplanting beets since I have such good luck with in-ground direct sowing. It's great to learn something new every day.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 17, 2015 20:26:58 GMT -5
As anyone who has ever grown beets knows, 90% or more of the beet globe grows aboveground. Cylindra types may be up to 8" long and barely able to remain upright due to none of the expanded portion being supported by soil. The only underground portion is the taproot which is not normally eaten. Beets don't have to be dug since the only part of the plant in the ground is that taproot. Garden beets, sugar beets, and mangels all grow the same way and can be transplanted when young without damaging the plant. Rules which apply to other root crops do not apply to those.
As for what is and what is not a root crop, peanuts and potatoes both are produced underground and neither is a root.
Martin
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Post by paulf on Apr 18, 2015 12:17:52 GMT -5
Paquebot, while I will not disagree with your experience, in 45 years of growing beets, almost always Detroit Dark Red, I have never had the beet root above ground. For me, growing beets in both Iowa and Nebraska, the roots have always been underneath the soil line and the leaves above. It is easy t pull the root since the globes are close to the surface but with my soil care must be taken not to separate the stems and leaves from the beetroot when pulling. I agree that no digging is usually involved.
I have never grown sugar beets or mangels, so no comment. Potatoes need to be dug except the method I used: dig a trench a foot deep and wide, put the potato eyes at the bottom of the trench, add a soil and straw mixture and as the eye develops into a plant, continue to add soil and straw mixture (mostly straw) until the mounded straw is several inches above the original soil line. Let the potatoes grow and in the fall pull the dead vine with potato tubers still attached to the roots. Sometimes rummaging through the straw is necessary to find all the potatoes. Never tried peanuts.
Again, I am not disputing your statements, just giving my experiences. For many years I have never tried to transplant beets because direct sowing has worked for me. I love to hear alternative methods. Twenty-five years ago my employees gave me a t-shirt that was a gag gift, but really hit home that it was not really a gag: There's two ways, my way or the wrong way. Life changer and I would bet none of them even remember giving me the shirt.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 18, 2015 22:49:29 GMT -5
We're not disputing the official designation of what is and is not a root crop but those which can be transplanted with minimal damage. Beta vulgaris is just one which has the majority of it's bulbing growth aboveground. Some others are rutabaga, celeriac, turnips, and onions. I've grown beets for longer than 45 years and have Detroit Dark Red as one emerging right now. Unless I "hill" them to cover the bulbing portion, 90% of the beet will be sitting on top of the ground. That variety will be used first for eating as steamed greens and then "baby beets". In the row next to them is another old heirloom, Cylindra. In my rich and loose soil, I expect beets at least 6" long of which 5½" will be aboveground. They are the picklers.
Martin
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Post by daylilydude on Apr 21, 2015 11:36:49 GMT -5
paquebot, paulf, I hope that hilling them is a good thing as that's what I have always done... thinking that they will sunburn...
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Post by paulf on Apr 21, 2015 13:47:53 GMT -5
I must really be in the minority. I have never had to hill beets, but if most of the globe was above ground, that is what I would do.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 21, 2015 23:16:31 GMT -5
Beets don't sunburn!
Martin
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Post by paulf on Apr 22, 2015 15:25:05 GMT -5
How about dry out? In the dirt mine don't.
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Post by paquebot on Apr 22, 2015 23:40:36 GMT -5
Beets don't dry out from being exposed to the sun, either.
Martin
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Post by daylilydude on Apr 23, 2015 4:38:18 GMT -5
Hmmm... paquebot, what would cause the top part of my beets to be very, very hard and a lot darker red if I don't hill them??
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Post by spacecase0 on Apr 23, 2015 20:19:03 GMT -5
I peal all of my beets before I cook them, takes care of that issue entirely
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Post by paquebot on Apr 26, 2015 11:35:57 GMT -5
Hmmm... paquebot, what would cause the top part of my beets to be very, very hard and a lot darker red if I don't hill them?? You've just solved the question and confirmed what I said. Your beets normally grow with most of the globe aboveground. That is natural. Hilling them would not be natural if they developed and remained underground. What you are seeing is normal of any vegetable which produces a globe just at the surface with no stem in between. A beet has the same skin all over its globe. The dry exposed skin will always be tougher than that which remains damp all the time. The same will be true with turnips and rutabagas which are other root crops which may be transplanted. The tops of carrots and parsnips will also be tougher if exposed to the air but it's the same skin as that which never sees daylight. Martin
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Post by paquebot on Jun 21, 2015 21:43:56 GMT -5
Need to update this thread. We all know that anyone from Germany to Russia and in between grow and eat more beets than anyone else in the world. Much of my gardening is in a community garden and we get almost every possible nationality. A new garden neighbor is a Ukrainian and we have been working close to combine our methods. One day there suddenly was a large part of her plots with beets. Since I had tilled that area just a few days before, I asked where she got all the plants and she said that she started them in her house. I then asked if that was the normal way in the Ukraine and her reply was "Most certainly!" They wilted for several days and right back to growing as if nothing happened.
Martin
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jun 22, 2015 11:25:43 GMT -5
Interesting. So it seems that you can transplant beets after all.
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Post by paulf on Jun 22, 2015 11:39:13 GMT -5
Most anything CAN be transplanted. My point is why do it if the growing season is long enough for a good crop by direct sowing. For me, beets, cucumbers, squashes, melons, cabbages and annual flowers do very well without the bother of early starts and transplanting. I work hard enough to raise tomatoes and peppers without adding all those others. Getting lazy in my old crotchety years, I guess.
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Post by daylilydude on Jun 22, 2015 18:19:34 GMT -5
paulf , what... your only 29... right
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Post by paquebot on Jun 22, 2015 20:50:21 GMT -5
One good reason for starting beets is that the seeds are often a cluster rather than just one. What germinates then is also a cluster. If grown just for greens, no problem how thick they come up. If grown just for large bulbs, thinning is then required. I've only saved mangels in that family and there were many which were clusters. In saving seeds from beets, I've seen advice to go over them with a rolling pin to break up the multiples.
Martin
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Post by horsea on Jun 25, 2015 17:00:31 GMT -5
Start beets indoors? Ghastly! You aren't lazy and crotchety in the least, Paul.
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Post by paulf on Jun 26, 2015 13:05:07 GMT -5
In my mind, 29, in my heart, 18, in my body, 102, on my birth certificate, 67. I go by the quote from Mickey Mantle, "If I knew I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself."
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Post by daylilydude on Jun 27, 2015 5:52:28 GMT -5
In my mind, 29, in my heart, 18, in my body, 102, on my birth certificate, 67. I go by the quote from Mickey Mantle, "If I knew I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself."
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