Starting beets indoors

Hi all!

I'm just planning my garden, and the prevailing wisdom regarding beets seems to be that you can start them in the garden up to 4 weeks before last frost, but germination may be spotty and slow. Also, you shouldn't start them indoors as they don't transplant well.

However, there's also a few (not many) reports of people doing just that - starting a flat of beet seedlings, planting them out, and having great success.

Has anyone in the permies community attempted starting beets early indoors?

HI Brian,

What kind of volume are you talking?  If you just want a dozen or so, I'd use a tall paper pot (3 inch finished out of 4 inch newsprint). The pot will decompose quickly once you transplant, and the plants don't get transplant shock. If you're talking a whole field, I'd suggest that the flat you use is at least 3 inches deep and quite light material. Beets, like Swiss chard, have a noticeable tap root and if that doesn't form, you'll have to give the plants much more care.

To increase the likelihood of germination success outside, can you cover the bed with row cover to increase its warmth?

Just my thoughts.

I was thinking just a few rows. It sounds like my best plan would be to just direct sow them!

I struggle with direct sowing them and have tried transplanting them.  Neither has become a slam dunk for me.  If I had consistent water on the seed bed, I think I'd have good enough germination in the ground.  

A little off subject but this is the only tread I found on beets. I absolutely love beets. I try growing them every year but to date they have never grown. Obviously I am doing something wrong. How do you get beet seeds to germinate?

When the boys were little I taught them how to figure out how much of each thing to plant based on how much we eat. They came up with 52 quarts of beets with 7 or 8 beets in each jar for a total of 364 to 416 beets. But alas, we could only dream

Thanks for your help

Saralee said, "How do you get beet seeds to germinate?

Here are some threads about beets that you or others might enjoy or find interesting:

https://permies.com/t/12278/Sugar-Beets

https://permies.com/t/129256/Gabe-Brown-approach-sugar-beets

charles dowding likes to multisow beets.  I'm going to try it this year.

https://charlesdowding.co.uk/multisowing/

Saralee Couchoud wrote: I try growing them every year but to date they have never grown. Obviously I am doing something wrong. How do you get beet seeds to germinate?  

Saralee,   Could you provide a rough idea of the region of where you are trying to grow your beets?  Beets are pretty good at germinating in cool, spring soils and can tolerate some warmth for germination, but don't like hot weather.  Another little test would be to take your seed that you obtain and plant some of it in in a small pot in potting soil and some of it in a separate pot in your garden soil and place in a window sill where it won't get too hot.  If the seeds in the potting soil germate and grow, but the seeds in the garden soil don't, then there is something in the garden soil inhibiting their growth.  Often there can be fungi that beet seedlings are suceptible to that can kill the seedlings even as they are trying to emerge, but there may be other factors.  But let's see if we can solve this problem for you one step at a time.  Thanks!....

Heather Staas wrote:charles dowding likes to multisow beets.  I'm going to try it this year.

https://charlesdowding.co.uk/multisowing/

I did this last year and it was a great success!   I direct seeded the previous year and harvested a total of three beets.  Last year I multisowed and ended up with enough to eat fresh and was able to can a few pints as well.  This year I'm multisowing even more beets and trying gold and albino varieties as well.  Harvesting is easy, though you do want to remember to gently twist the beet out if the ground so not to disturb the others.  I also multisowed radishes as well with equal success.

Thank you for all the advice. I live in middle Tennessee, zone 6b. I have tried growing them in Arizona (high desert) and didn't have any success there either. This year I plan to grow them in a raised bed because I can no longer garden traditionally. I had to sell my cows so I plan to bring the bung feeders down and use them. Do you think I should use only store bought soil that is supposed to be sterilized to grow them?   Thanks for everyone's help

Saralee Couchoud wrote:Thank you for all the advice. I live in middle Tennessee, zone 6b. I have tried growing them in Arizona (high desert) and didn't have any success there either. This year I plan to grow them in a raised bed because I can no longer garden traditionally. I had to sell my cows so I plan to bring the bung feeders down and use them. Do you think I should use only store bought soil that is supposed to be sterilized to grow them?   Thanks for everyone's help

If you have raised beds you may wish to try starting the seeds indoors or even outdoors, but in store-purchased potting soil.  If the product is listed as 'sterlized' and is not too expensive on account of that treatment, it may be worth buying a small bag for the sake of the test.  Otherwise, just go with what they have available.  There is one other product that has worked for us when we have seedling disease and that is Soilgard(TM), a preparation of the beneficial fungus Trichoderma virens.  It comes as a powder and has instructions for working it into your soil or potting mix....it has saved our tomato starts many times from disease that can cripple our potted plants before transplanting them into the garden for summer production.  The problem is that product does not appear to be sold in small amounts at a reasonable price, so as a substitute I would recommend to try Mikro-Root (https://www.amazon.com/Mikro-Root-Trichoderma-Management-Solubilize-Bio-Fertilizer/dp/B08HZFYLRC/ref=asc_df_B08HZFYLRC/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=461373853379&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10623307441862856720&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9020213&hvtargid=pla-970352806217&psc=1 ) which would give you a 'testable amount' for your investigations.  With this product, you could do a test in pots where you plant beet seeds in your garden/raised bed soil in one pot and in a second pot do the same except add the recommended amount of Mikro-Root indicated on the package.  A third pot should just have a purchased potting mix for the soil with the beet seeds.  Hopefully this comparison may point to a culprit in preventing your seeds from germinating or emerging properly.  The advantage here is that, if the seedlings emerge in the pot with the Mikro-Root, you could then transplant these into your raised bed because the protection of the seedlings afforded by the fungi in the Mikro-Root product would multiply along with the growth of the plants and hopefully protect them throughout the growing season.  From that point on, you would want to consult with neighbors or others in your region about how the Tennessee heat might affect them as they grow.  In the future, it may be best in that warm region to start beet seeds indoors in mid-winter for transplanting in late winter or very early spring, thereby getting your crop before the heat of mid summer arrives.  Alternatively, you could start the seedlings indoors in mid-summer and transplant them when the cooler temperatures of fall are arriving.  I'm willing to bet that harsh winter that would kill the beets would not arrive until January, if at all.

I hope this may provide some success in some way, Saralee.  For more info, see this brochure from the University of Tennessee:
https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/D70.pdf

I've read that beets like warm temperatures for germination, but prefer to grow in cooler temperatures. I've had good results sowing beets in June or July and harvesting in September or October. The big ones store well, too.

My best varieties have been Lutz Green Leaf for classic red beets, and Boldor for golden beets. I also grow Chioggia for decorative salads. The larger Lutz and Boldor beets last in the drawer of my fridge until March at least.

Thank you for the advice John Weiland, I will try this and try to post pictures of the results

...a preparation of the beneficial fungus Trichoderma virens.  

Trichoderma may work in this situation because beets are chenopods and don't form mycorrhizal relationships. Trich is used to wipe out other fungi in an out of control situation, but then you need to rebuild the soil biology including beneficial fungi. If you don't, you're on the chem fertilizer merry-go-round. There are some EM ("good bacteria")  concentrates for the bacterial portion of the soil biology that'll do for chenopods (beets, spinach, amaranth), but "good" aged compost is the best source for inoculating the beneficial fungi back in.  Elaine Ingham pretty much built her rep on balancing all that; if you can find a soil tech locally, it's worth checking your compost (soilfoodweb.com) .