The question, when cleaning carrots or beets, excites any vegetable grower, as correctly timed terms guarantee the receipt of useful, quality and well-preserved fruits. Of course, the time for beet harvesting depends largely on the variety and region of cultivation, it can stretch from the beginning of September to early November, but a number of general guidelines can be identified.
Why is it important to remove beets on time?
The peculiarity of beet root crops is that they accumulate the most useful properties and grow best in the autumn period, when the air temperature gradually decreases. That is why early harvesting of beets is undesirable, the fruits will be small and can not be kept well enough. At the same time, delaying the harvesting time to the limit would also be wrong, since the beet frosts are dangerous. The part of the beetroot that comes to the surface is easily damaged by the first frosts, and most of the crop is unfit for storage and can become black inside.
How does the harvest time depend on the weather?
- If the autumn turned out to be very warm, then it is not worthwhile to keep fruits on the beds, they can become fibrous and ligneous.
- If the autumn is too rainy, then the beet harvesting should not be delayed for too long, since the fruits can be saturated with excessive moisture, as a result of which they lose their flavor properties and again it is poorly stored in winter. If even more to start the situation, then the fruits can begin to crack and rot.
- Dry autumn allows to postpone the harvesting of beets for a while, because in such weather the fruits feel comfortable in the soil, they accumulate vitamins well, and later they are distinguished by good cautiousness. It is much better to leave beetroot in the dry autumn months (September, October) than store it in the cellar or cellar.
What are the general guidelines for harvesting?
Proceeding from the foregoing, it is possible to draw up an indicative list of factors on which the timing of beet harvesting will depend on each specific year:
- region of cultivation of culture;
- sort of planted beet;
- weather forecast for the end of summer and autumn;
- the size of the fruit (small can be left in beds to grow, large - to dig out early, if there is a risk of adverse factors);
- appearance of growths, which indicate the ripeness of beets;
- withering of the lower leaves - they may turn yellow or dry.
How to harvest beets correctly?
If you have decided when to harvest beets, you need to proceed to the appropriate action. It is advisable to wait until the sunny dry day. It is best to collect the beet by hand, without digging and using other garden tools. If the digging is necessary, then harvest the fruits from the site on the same day, otherwise they can lose up to 5% of the weight, which is not beneficial for large farms. It is important when harvesting beets not to allow mechanical damage, as the traumatized root crops quickly deteriorate and lose their valuable properties.
Immediately after harvesting, care must be taken for the correct storage of beets . With each fruit, it is necessary to cut the tops so that it does not take on moisture and the beet does not become soft. The plant can not be torn off, as, for example, in the case of carrots, it should be cut at a distance of 2-3 mm from the fetus. If you leave more green, then the kidneys that will germinate in the spring, ruining root crops, if cut closer to the fetus, can damage the head, which will also be an unforgivable mistake. Clumps of dirt are removed from the beets by hands or a dry rag, other methods such as washing, scraping or knocking down for beet fruit are contraindicated.