When to remove beets from the garden for storage, how many days do they grow?

Harvesting beets, like other root vegetables, is extremely important. Correctly created conditions and proper care increase the shelf life of beets. If you don’t know when to harvest beets and carry out the procedure much earlier, ignoring the deadlines, you are likely to be left without a harvest in the winter. A guarantee of a rich harvest is compliance with all rules and recommendations when collecting beetroot.

The importance of cleaning

If you know what variety the vegetable belongs to, it’s easy to determine the time of digging. The manufacturer provides detailed information on each seed package.In addition, every gardener must be guided by the main criterion - the hardness of ripe fruits. This is easy to check.

Ignoring the timing of harvesting leads to the fact that the vegetable grows again. Root vegetables are covered with light stripes. Later, young roots are formed on them, which are also white. The final sign of re-development of the culture is flowering.

The appearance of such factors signals that the vegetable is ready for harvest. Light stripes may not form on the tops, but much lower. A person may not even suspect what state of maturation the plant is in. To see them, you need to pull the root crop out of the soil.

Gardeners are advised to carefully inspect the land plot. Determine whether the tops of the fruits are sticking out from the ground. If the vegetable continues to grow, it means it is not yet ready to be dug up. Therefore, garden cleaning is postponed to a more favorable time.

In this case, the soil is loosened and fertilizers are applied. It could be potassium salt, urea or superphosphate. They also do not forget about systematic watering of the crop.

Collection rules

At first glance, the process is very easy. But, it requires compliance with a number of important nuances and taking into account cultural characteristics:

1. Beets are harvested in dry weather without precipitation. The slightest amount of moisture negatively affects the shelf life of fruits.
2. Root crops are pulled out from the ground with your hands, carefully holding onto the tops. This will help avoid damage to the vegetables during harvesting. High soil density requires the use of a fork or shovel. You need to dig in the vegetable carefully so as not to cut it. The presence of cracks causes the development of fungus and infection of neighboring healthy fruits.
3. The dug up beetroot is freed from tops.To do this, use pruning shears or ordinary household scissors. It is recommended to leave a small tail, about 1 cm. If the root is long, it is also trimmed.
4. The harvested crop is dried, laid out under a canopy in the open air. As the fruits dry, the beets are turned over to the other side.

Before root crops are placed in storage, they are sorted, laying out large and small ones separately. It is better to throw away vegetables with signs of disease immediately so that they do not infect neighboring ones. Also keep damaged ones aside and use them as soon as possible. The storage space can be a cellar, basement or pantry.

When to harvest beets: guidelines

To determine the appropriate harvest of root vegetables, you should focus on the basics. First of all, this is the time of planting in the ground and the crop variety. Each species has a certain ripening period. This process can be modified by weather conditions.

In recent years, the weather has been unstable at the same time. Therefore, cleaning should be done not based on dates, but on the appearance of the vegetable. You can collect beets from the garden in the following cases:

1. The main role is played by the growing season, which differs for each specific variety. The manufacturer states this on the packaging. Early ripening varieties are ready for harvesting 65–85 days after planting. As a rule, this falls at the beginning of August. Mid-ripening and late varieties ripen no earlier than 3.5–4 months.
2. Signs of maturity can be determined by appearance. If the root ripens, the tops gradually fade. The lower leaves turn yellow and after a while dry out completely.
3. The timing of harvesting is determined by the shape of the root crops and their size.At the same time, they must correspond to the characteristics of the variety.
4. The appearance of growths in beets.

The signal for urgent harvesting of beet fruits is frost. The rule gains relevance when it comes to late-ripening varieties. In this case, root crops are dug up even if they are not completely ripe. If the top of the vegetable is caught by frost, this will prevent it from being stored in the cellar in winter.

It is not advisable to remove vegetables from the garden before the specified time. Cool weather at the end of summer and early autumn promotes active vegetation. As a result, the weight of the fruit increases. At this time, the soil allows root crops to accumulate valuable vitamins and minerals.

When to remove beets from the garden for storage: guidelines for carrots

A suitable reference point for determining the ripening of beet is carrots. People who know gardening recommend digging up the vegetable before starting harvesting carrots. Beet fruits are much larger and protrude significantly above the ground. This makes them vulnerable to the first frost.

Early varieties will grow in July. The size of a mature root crop ranges from 5 to 10 cm. Second-class varieties reach 15 cm.

Late varieties

Beets tolerate cold without problems. Therefore, a temperature of 2–3 °C is not an obstacle to full development. Of course, we are talking about late varieties. Table beets have a later digging period and are harvested in mid-autumn. Late varieties are much tastier than early ones.

In addition to taste, the crop is distinguished by good yield. The collection of root crops depends on the size. Small ones are left in the ground until fully ripe, and large ones are selected immediately. It will take some more time for the small fruits to grow and be ready to be harvested.

You can dig up beets according to the Lunar calendar.It is better to harvest fruits during the waning moon. There is no specific date for each year, as it is constantly changing. This is mainly in autumn, towards mid-October.

The date for collecting root crops depends on the location of germination. Moderate climatic conditions promote faster ripening of crops than dry or cold weather.

Rules for storing beets

When to dig up beets for storage is not the only question that interests gardeners. A properly prepared crop may not be stored well in an inappropriate room. It is important to create appropriate conditions for this:

1. Beets collected from the garden can be stored in the refrigerator for a short period of time. Thus, fresh vegetables are always kept at hand.
2. Root crops that grow in open ground are usually stored in a basement or cellar. The place should be cool and dry. Temperature range from 0 to 3 °C. The indicator should under no circumstances fall below.
3. The floor and walls in the room must prevent the penetration of moisture. Make sure that there are no rodents and get rid of them in a timely manner.
4. Root vegetables can be packaged in boxes, baskets or bags. For better storage, they are sprinkled with sand or sawdust.
5. In the absence of special containers, vegetables are distributed over the entire surface of the rack.

Over the years of growing root crops, housewives have used their own proven storage tricks. They recommend placing potatoes and beets in the same box. Moreover, the last one should be on top. How many days can vegetables be stored? Until mid-spring or longer.

Cleaning is a simple process, however, it requires compliance with the basic points. Special attention is also paid to cultivation - care, watering and fertilization.If you follow the basic rules of collection and storage, you can enjoy fresh vegetables for a long time. Namely, before planting the seed for a new harvest.